FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34  
35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   >>   >|  
Woman verse by verse. Solomon is describing a rich woman with an "establishment," a sphere and husband and children, as if a woman's life was not complete without this. And no more it is; it may be very useful and very beautiful, but it is not complete. Girls are often blamed for thinking too much about marriage: I think they do not do it enough,--at least in the right way; you are not fit to be wives now, and you should aim at becoming so, and to do that, you must be fit to manage your house and to teach your children; if you fit yourselves to be perfect wives, you will at least be very perfect old maids, and find plenty to do for other people's children! But your life would then be incomplete. St. Paul is misquoted when his words in Cor. vii. 34 are used to condemn marriage; our Lord puts it before all other earthly ties, and it is used as a type of His love for His Church, which should guard us from two errors in connection with it. If married love is to be a type, however faint, of Christ's love for His Church, there must be no unworthiness connected with it; "no inner baseness we would hide;" no marrying for the sake of being married, for the dignity and position, or the worldly advantages it may bring; and there must be no matchmaking or flirtation that a woman need be ashamed of afterwards. "Let the wife see that she reverence her husband," says St. Paul, and the husband must be able to reverence her. And there must be no selfishness, no getting entangled in engagements that must bring trouble on others; to marry _for_ money is degrading, but a woman may redeem it by being a good wife; to marry _without_ money means debt, which is irretrievably degrading, and is altogether selfish instead of romantic. But, married or single, rich or poor, Solomon's Virtuous Woman gives us principles to go on. "_The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her_." Is not trustworthiness a main point in those we respect? Do we not require our Virtuous Woman to be reliable, not to repeat what we say to her, not to forget her promises, in short, that we know "where to have her"? "_She will do him good and not evil all the days of his life_." It would distinctly do him evil if she did his work for him! This is a great temptation of capable people; it is so much easier to do a thing yourself than to see others bungling over it; but remember, that _not to do other people's duties is as much a duty as it is to do your own_. Unselfish
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34  
35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
husband
 

people

 

children

 
married
 

Church

 
Virtuous
 

perfect

 

degrading

 

complete

 

reverence


marriage

 
Solomon
 

principles

 

engagements

 

altogether

 

selfish

 

irretrievably

 

redeem

 

romantic

 
single

selfishness

 

entangled

 
trouble
 

promises

 

temptation

 

capable

 

distinctly

 
easier
 

duties

 
Unselfish

remember

 

bungling

 

trustworthiness

 

safely

 
respect
 

forget

 

require

 
reliable
 

repeat

 

manage


incomplete

 
misquoted
 

plenty

 

sphere

 

establishment

 

describing

 

beautiful

 

thinking

 

blamed

 

marrying