#48 Matrons Train Younger Women to Love Their Husbands and Children

Thus he instructs matrons to be good teachers and to train younger women to love their husbands and children. I have said what it means to love one’s husband, namely, not merely to cohabit with him but to respect one’s husband, to regard him as lord, to submit to him in all things, not to be domineering. This is a rare quality in a woman, for the female sex inclines naturally toward what is forbidden to it; it wants to reign, to rule, and to judge. From this there come marital discord, blows, and beatings. To love children means not only to educate them for the world but to see to it that they are provided for in body and in soul. For such love the rod and discipline are required, as Prov. 3:11 and 23:13 say; and Ecclesiasticus says (Ecclus. 30:1): “He will whip him often,” because there is foolishness in the heart. Such love is also rare. People love their children for the sake of the pomp of the world. They adorn and save their possessions for them. They do not enrich their souls with the arts, with study, with sound literature. (Luther’s Works, v. 29, p. 54 on Titus 2:8)