Conjugial Love (Acton) n. 125

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125. VI. THAT THE HUSBAND DOES NOT REPRESENT THE LORD, AND THE WIFE THE CHURCH, BECAUSE BOTH TOGETHER, THE HUSBAND AND HIS WIFE, MAKE THE CHURCH. It is a common saying in the Church that, as the Lord is the head of the Church, so the husband is the head of the wife; from which it would follow that the husband represents the Lord and the wife the Church. But the Lord is the head of the Church, and man, man and woman, and still more husband and wife together, are the Church. With these, the Church is first implanted in the man and through the man in his wife; for the man receives its truth in his understanding, and the wife receives it from the man. If the reverse is the case, it is not according to order. Sometimes, however, it is the case, but with men who are not lovers of wisdom and therefore are not of the Church; also with those who depend as slaves on the bidding of their wives. But of this matter, something may be seen in the Preliminaries, no. 21.


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