Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; (2) While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. (3) Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; (4) But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. (5) For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: (6) Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. (7) Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. (8) Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: (9) Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. (10) For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: (11) Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. (12) For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. (13) And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? (14) But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; (15) But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (16) Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. (17) For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
It is a blessed and sweet testimony to the purity of the faith, in the lives of the regenerated, when, from Christ formed in the heart as the cause, all the gracious consequences flow as the effect. And where the hidden man of the heart, as the Apostle calls it, is truly formed; there all the relative and social afflictions, in the several circumstances of public and domestic life, will be the result. The tree made good by grace, in the renewed life, the fruit will be also good. But without this change of nature, by grace, after all the high-sounding commendations, which, from age to age, human philosophy hath said so much about, in praise of moral virtue; there can be no bottom to work upon.
I admire the Apostle's expression, the hidden man of the heart; and which, he saith, is not corruptible. And indeed, it is impossible it should. For it ariseth from the quickening, and regenerating work of God the Spirit; and, therefore, liveth and abideth forever. The properties of it in the source and spring from whence it flows, are hidden; but the blessed consequences, in the streams, arise above ground, and are seen. The world knoweth us not, (said John), because it knew him not, 1 John 3:1. Who shall say, how the Lord hath access to our spirits, so as to keep alive the grace he hath first imparted at regeneration; to excite and call forth the desires of the soul upon the Person, and work, and offices, and relations of Christ? Who shall number the incomings of grace, or the outgoings of the spirit; in prayer, in praise, in the longings after Christ, or the soul-embraces of Christ? These are transactions of the new born child of God; both in joy and grief, perfectly unknown to the world, and in which the stranger cannot intermeddle. The follower of the Lord Jesus, like Jesus himself, hath bread to eat, which the men of the world know not of; but which are in the daily feastings, of the hidden man of the heart, from the manifestations of Jesus.
Reader! are you in the habit of these things? Do you know them? Yes! if so be the Spirit of Christ dwell in you. Then you can speak of this hidden man of the heart; and though hidden from the world, yet well known and sweetly enjoyed by you. And you can tell me also, that sometimes, what from the dullness and deadness of your affections, what from sin and Satan, the world, and numberless other thwarting circumstances, this life is hidden for the moment, from yourself. The holy flame is not extinguished, for all the waters cannot quench it; but the ashes cover it from view. And what a mercy is it, that amidst such rubbish, as the best of men carry about with them, in the mass of sin and death of their bodies; the Lord keeps it by his grace, still alive. The Holy Ghost sweetly assigns the cause by his servant, the Apostle Paul. Your life is hid with Christ in God. And hence also, the blessed promise that follows is made secure. When Christ who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory, Colossians 3:3. See Commentary also there.
If I pause over those verses, in which the Apostle speaks of the plain attire, and lowly deportment of the holy women, our venerable mothers in Israel; it shall only be to remark, with what grace their appear to our imagination from the account. I have often thought, that there is a sanctity in the very garments of those professing godliness, which rebukes the light and frivolous dress of the carnal. The mother of Sisera, however unconscious of it, paid a very high respect to the daughters in Israel, when, to the everlasting reproach of her own infamous character, she concluded her son (though gone, like Judas in after ages to his own place), had robbed their industry, Judges 5:28 to the end.