Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/70

 from her husband; and if she depart, that she remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband."(12) And again: "A woman is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband die, she is at liberty."(13) It is for these reasons that marriage is "a great sacrament";(14) "honorable in all,"(15) holy, pure, and to be reverenced as a type and symbol of most high mysteries.

Furthermore, the Christian perfection and completeness of marriage are not comprised in those points only which have been mentioned. For, first, there has been vouchsafed to the marriage union a higher and nobler purpose than was ever previously given to it. By the command of Christ, it not only looks to the propagation of the human race, but to the bringing forth of children for the Church, "fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God";(16) so that "a people might be born and brought up for the worship and religion of the true God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."(17)

Secondly, the mutual duties of husband and wife have been defined, and their several rights accurately established. They are bound, namely, to have such feelings for one another as to cherish always very great mutual love, to be ever faithful to their marriage vow, and to give one another an unfailing and unselfish help. The husband is the chief of the family and the head of the wife. The woman, because she is flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone, must be subject to her husband and obey him; not, indeed, as a servant, but as a companion, so that her obedience shall be wanting in neither honor nor dignity. Since the husband represents Christ, and since the wife represents the Church, let there always be, both in him who commands and in her who obeys, a heaven-born love guiding both in their respective duties. For "the husband is the head of the wife; as Christ is the head of the Church. . . Therefore, as the