the specific duties of husbands and wives. The husband is charged to “dearly love his
Wife” and “wisely maintain and manage his authority over her.” Husbands are
warned that love based on “beauty, riches, lust, or any other slight grounds, is but a
blaze, and soon vanisheth, but if grounded on these considerations, and especially on
this union of marriage, it is lasting and true.”^82 The wife in turn is to “be in
submission to her husband” and “be an helper to him all her days.”^83 Further,
Ambrose affirms that the wife is to submit to her husband only if those things reflect
Christ. In response to the question “[w]hat if her husband command things contrary
to Christ? Must she therein be subject? No.”^84
Second, the Puritans reversed the order for the purpose of marriage. To
appreciate the radical shift there is need for some awareness of the medieval context
that the Protestant Reformation inherited. Marriage was prohibited for the clergy in
the West and while the laity were permitted and even encouraged to marry, virginity
had held an elevated status for over a millennium.^85 In most sections of the church the
general perception was holiness was most likely to be attained through a life of
virginity. Reflective of this strong mindset, the Protestant Reformers continued to
speak of virginity and chasteness, but now redefined it according to the exclusiveness
to one person as husband or wife.^86 Further, Article Thirty Two of the Church of
England’s Thirty Nine Articles explicitly approved of clergy marriage, though not
(^82) Ambrose, Media (^) (1657), 324. (^)
(^83) Ambrose, Media (1657), 327.
(^84) Ambrose, Media (1657), 328.
(^85) McGinn, “Mysticism and Sexuality,” 48-51 and McGinn, “Tropics of Desire,” 134-
- For a summary of the status and restrictions of marriage within the Western
Catholic Church at this time see Ryken, Worldly Saints, 40-2; Packer, Quest for
Godliness (^86) Calvin, , 260Institutes-1; and, 4.12.28. Doriani, “Puritans, Sex, and Pleasure,” 142.