disgust. How soon will every other dress be displaced by the shroud, and every other decoration be stripped off to make way for the flowers that are strewed in the coffin upon the corpse, as if to hide the deformity of death. But the graces of the heart, and the beauties of the character, are imperishable; such let a wife be continually seeking to put on; "for she that has a wise husband, must entice him to an eternal dearness, by the veil of modesty, and the robes of chastity, the ornaments of meekness, and the jewels of faith and charity; she must have no paint but blushings; her brightness must be her purity, and she must shine round about with sweetnesses and friendship, and then she shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when she dies." 5. Economy and Order in the management of her personal and domestic expenditure, is the obvious duty of a wife. You are to preside in the direction of household affairs; and much of the prosperity and comfort of the little community, will depend upon your skilful and prudent arrangements. There is a manifest disposition in this age, in all classes of society, to come as close as possible to the habits of those above them. The poor are imitating the middling classes, and they are copying the upper ranks. A showy, luxurious, and expensive taste is almost universally cherished, and is displayed, in innumerable instances, where there are no means to support it. A large house, a country residence, splendid furniture, a carriage, a retinue of servants, and large parties, are the aim of many, whose creditors pay for all.Christian families are in most imminent peril of worldly conformity in the present day; and the line of demarcation between the church and the world is fast wearing out. It is true they have no cards, they do not frequent the theatre, or the ball room, and perhaps they have no midnight routs ;-but this is all for many are as anxious about the splendor of their furniture, the fashion of their habits, the expensiveness of their entertainments, as the veriest worldling can be. Now a wife has great influence in checking or promoting all this. It has been thought that this increasing disposition for domestic show and gaiety, is to be attributed chiefly to female vanity. It is woman that is generally regarded as the presiding genius of such a scene: she receives the praise and the compliment of the whole, and she therefore is under the strongest temptation to promote it. But let her consider, how little all this has to do with the happiness of the family, even in its most prosperous state; and how a recollection of it aggravates the misery of adversity when a reverse takes place. Then to be found in debt for finery of dress, or furniture; then to have it said that her extravagance helped to ruin her husband; then to want that, for bread, which was formerly wasted on luxury; then to hear the whispered reproach of having injured others by her own thoughtless expenditure!-Avoid, my female friends, these miseries: do not go on to prepare wormwood and gall to embitter still more the already bitter cup of adversity. Endeavor to acquire a skilfulness in domestic management, a frugality, a prudence, a love of order and neatness, a mid-way course between meanness and luxury, a suitableness to your station in life, to your Christian profession; an economy which shall leave you more to spare for the cause of God, and the miseries of man. Rather check than stimulate the taste of your husband for expense; tell him that it is not necessary for your happiness, nor for the comfort of the family; draw him away from these adventitious circumstances, to the mental improvement, the moral culture, the religious instruction of your children. Let knowledge, piety, good sense, well-formed habits, harmony, mutual love, be the sources of your domestic pleasures: what is splendor of furniture, or dress, or entertainments, to these? 6. A wife SHOULD BE MOST ATTENTIVE TO ALL THAT CONCERNS THE WELFARE AND COMFORT OF THE CHILDREN, if there be any. For this purpose, she must be a keeper at home.— "That they may teach the young wives to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home." And how can the duties that devolve upon the female head of a family, be well discharged if she be not a keeper at home? On this I have dwelt already in a former chapter, but its importance will justify my returning to the subject again. How much has she to attend to, how many cares to sustain, how many activities to support, where there is a young family? Whoever has leisure for gossipping, she has none: whoever may be found wandering from house to house, "hearing or telling some new thing," she must not. A mother's place is in the midst of her family; a mother's duties are to take care of them. Nothing can excuse a neglect of these: and yet we often see such neglect. Some are literary characters, and the welfare of the household is neglected for books. Not that I would debar a female from the luxury of reading, nor sink her to a mere domestic drudge, whose ceaseless toils must have no intermission, or solace from literature; far from it: but her taste for literature must be kept within due bounds, and not be allowed to interfere with her household duties. No husband can be pleased to see a book in the hands of a wife, while the house is in confusion, and the children's comfort unprovided for. Much less should a taste for company be allowed to draw a wife too much out of the circle of her cares and duties. To be wandering from house to house in the morning, or to be engaged till a late hour, evening after evening, at a party, while the family at home are left to themselves, or to the care of servants, is certainly disgraceful. Even attention to the public duties of religion must be regulated by a due regard to domestic claims. I am aware that many are apt to make these claims an excuse for neglecting the public means of grace almost entirely: the house of God is unfrequented; sermons, sacramental seasons, and all other religious meetings, are given up, for an absorbing attention to household affairs. This is one extreme; and the other is, such a devotedness to religious meetings, that the wants of a sick family, the cries of a hungry infant, or the circumstances of some extraordinary case of family care, are not allowed to have any force in detaining a mother from a week-day sermon, a prayer meeting, or the anniversary of some public institution. It is no honor to religion, for a wife, under such circumstances, to be seen in the house of God: duties cannot be in opposition to each other; and at such a time, her's lie at home. It must be always distressing, and in some cases disgusting, for a husband on his returning to a scene of domestic confusion, and seeing a neglected child in the cot, to be told upon inquiring after the mother, that she is attending a sermon, or a public meeting. There is great need for watchfulness in the present age, when female agency is in such requisition, lest attention to public institutions should most injuriously interfere with the duties of a wife and a mother. I know very well, that an active woman may, by habits of order, punctuality, and despatch, so arrange her more direct and immediate duties at home, as to allow of sufficient leisure to assist the noble societies which solicit her patronage, without neglecting her husband and children: but where this cannot be done, no society whether humane or religious, should be allowed to take her away from what is, after all, her first and more appropriate sphere. She must be a keeper at home, if any thing there demands her presence. language of prayer now is-" OUR FATHER:"-of every motion made to go and seek the Lord of hosts there is a ready acceptance-"I will go also." And what will be your joy and crown of rejoicing in that day, when, before assembled men and angels, he will say, O blessed be the Providence which attached us in yonder world, and has still more perfectly united us in this. The woman thou gavest to be with me, led me not to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but to the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.* Such appear to me to be the leading duties of a wife. Motives of a very high and sacred character may be offered for a diligent performance of them. Her own comfort, and that of her husband, is, of course, most vitally connected with a fulfilment of her obligations: and the welfare of her children is also deeply involved. And then, her character shines forth with peculiar lustre. A GOOD WIFE is a high attainment in female excellence: it is woman in her brightest glory since the fall. But there But how is this solicitude to be employed? The is one consideration of supreme importance men- apostle tells us: "that they may be won by the contioned by the apostle, to which I shall direct your versation of their wives, while they BEHOLD your attention. "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to chaste conversation, coupled with fear." Your reyour own husbands, that if any obey not the word, ligion must be seen embodied in your whole chathey also may without the word be won by the con-racter and conduct. It must commend itself to their versation of the wives, while they behold your judgment, by what they perceive, as sincere. It chaste conversation, coupled with fear." Powerful must be consistent; for a want of uniformity, howand yet tender consideration! Mark, my female ever earnest it may in many respects and at many friends, the implied eulogy passed by the apostle on times appear, will produce disgust. You must "let your sex, where he seems to take it for granted, that your light shine before them, that they seeing your if one party be destitute of religion, it is the hus- good works, may glorify God." You must ever apband. And facts prove that this assumption was pear invested with all the beauty of a lovely examcorrect. Religion flourishes most amongst the fe- ple, which, silent though you be as it respects your male part of our species: in our congregations, and tongue, is living eloquence. Your religion must in our churches, the greater number is of them.- diffuse its lustre over your whole character, and imCan we account for this by natural causes? Partly. press itself most deeply on your relation as a wife, They are more at home, and therefore more within and a mother: it must be a new motive to all that reach of the means of grace; they are more sus- respect, and reverence, and devotedness, and meekceptible: they are less exposed to those tempta-ness, which have been laid before you, and it must tions that harden the heart through the deceitful- lead you to carry every conjugal and maternal virness of sin; they are subject to more affliction, which tue to the highest degree of perfection. It must be softens the heart, and prepares it for the seed of the attended with the most profound humility, for if kingdom: but all this is not enough, for without there be any spiritual pride, any conscious and magrace, all these advantages are unavailing; we must nifest sense of superiority, any thing approaching resolve it therefore into divine purpose, divine in- to the pharisaic temper, which says, "Stand by, I terposition, and the arrangements of divine wisdom. am holier than thou," any thing like contempt of Female influence in all civilized states is great: your husband, as an unconverted sinner, you will and God has generally made much use of this excite an inveterate prejudice, not only against rewherever the gospel has come, as one of the means ligion, but against yourself; religion will be hated for spreading religion. He pours his grace on them, by him for your sake, and you for religion's sake. that their influence may be employed with others, When you venture to speak to him on the subject especially their husbands and their children. If of piety, it should be as remotely as possible from then, in any case, a Christian woman be united to all lecturing, all dictation, all reproach, all conan unconverted man, she must cherish and display scious superiority; and with all possible tenderness, a deep, and tender, and judicious solicitude for his meekness, humility, and persuasive affection. Nesalvation; and "what knowest thou, O wife, whe- ver talk to him of his state before others, and never ther thou shalt save thy husband." I would not en- talk at him. Nor is it likely to accomplish the obcourage unequal marriages; I would not have the ject you have in view, to weary him by continual single try the doubtful and dangerous experiment, importunity. Many defeat their own end, by an inof marrying an irreligious man, in the hope of con- cessant introduction of the subject, and sometimes verting him; in such cases, the conversion is often with an asperity which increases the revulsion, the other way; but where the union is formed, there which its own nature is calculated, in such a mind, I say, nourish the anxiety, and employ every dis- to produce. An occasional hint, and that of the creet exertion for his eternal welfare. Many in- most tender, respectful, and delicate kind, is all stances have occurred, in which the unbelieving that you should attempt, and then leave your examhusband, has been sanctified by the wife. She has ple to speak. Occasionally, you may put an indrawn him with the cords of a tender and judi-structive volume in his way, and solicit his perusal cious love, to a consideration of the subject of personal religion. Think of the value of a soul, and of the ineffable glory of being the instrument of its salvation. But O! to be the means of saving the soul of a husband! Think how it will strengthen the bond, and sanctify and sweeten it, which unites you on earth and in time; and at the same time adding, or his company, although they may not be what to it a tie, by which you shall "not lose one another in the valley of the shadow of death," but be reunited as kindred spirits, though not as man and wife, in heaven, and through eternity. Think, O wife, of the happiness-the honor that awaits you. What is the triumph you have acquired over him by your charms, compared with the victory you will obtain over him by your religion? What pleasure will attend you the remainder of your days-now you are of "t one heart and one mind:" now you "take sweet counsel together." The privileged of it. Do not bring your religious friends too much about you, so as to annoy him; especially, keep away as much as possible, any that may have a less portion of discretion than the rest; and confine yourself to the more judicious and best informed.Never rudely interfere with his pursuits, his read you can cordially approve. Till he is enlightened from above, he will not see the evil of these things, and to attempt to interrupt him, in any other way, than by the mildest and most respectful expostulation, will only do harm. Should he wish to draw you from the high pursuit of eternal life, you are not, of course, in this case, to yield to his persuasion, nor in any thing to concede, where your conscience is decidedly concerned in the matter. You * Mr. Jay. must be firm, but mild. One concession granted by you, would only lead to another. But still, even in this extremity, your resistance of his attempts to interfere with your religion, must be maintained in all the meekness of wisdom, and must be attended with fresh efforts to please, in all things which are lawful. If such a line of conduct should subject you to reproach, anger, and persecution, a most painful and by no means an uncommon case, you must possess your soul in patience, and commit your way to Him that judgeth righteously. Many a persecuting husband, has been subdued, if not to religion, yet to kinder conduct, by the meek and uncomplaining temper of his wife." To conclude. Let us all seek after more of the spirit of true religion-the spirit of faith, of hope, of prayer: a faith, that really believes the word of God, and looketh habitually to the cross of Christ by which we obtain salvation, and to the eternal world where we shall fully and for ever enjoy it: a hope that lives in the expectation and desire of glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life and a spirit of prayer which leads us daily and hourly to the throne of divine grace, for all that aid of the Holy Ghost, which we need, not only for the duties that refer to our relations to another world, but for those which devolve upon us, in consequence of our relation in this. "Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come." The same principle of divine grace which unites us to God, will bind us closer to each other. Religion contains in it, not only the seeds of immortal virtues, but of such as are mortal: not only the germs of excellences which are to flourish in the temple of heaven, but which grow up in the house of our pilgrimage upon earth, to enliven with their beauty, and to refresh with their fragrance, the domestic circle. A good Christian cannot be a bad husband, or father: and, other things being equal, he who has most piety, will shine most in all the relations of life. A Bible placed between man and wife as the basis of their union, the rule of their conduct, and the model of their spirit, will make up many a difference, comfort them under many a cross, guide them in many a strait, wherein flesh and blood will be confounded and at a loss, support them in their last sad parting from each other, and re-unite them in the world where they shall go no more out. "Those married pairs that live, as remembering that they must part again, and give an account how they treat themselves and each other, shall at the day of their death, be admitted to glorious espousals; and when they shall live again, be married to their Lord, and partake of his glories. All those things that now please us, shall pass from us, or we from them; but those things that concern the other life, are permanent as the numbers of eternity: and although at the resurrection, there shall be no relation of husband and wife, and no marriage shall be celebrated but the marriage of the Lamb, yet then shall be remembered how men and women passed through this state, which is a type of that; and from this sacramental union, all holy pairs shall pass to the spiritual and eternal, where shall their portion, and joys shall crown their heads, and they shall lie in the bosom of Jesus, and in the heart of God to eternal ages." Amen. CHAPTER III. completest happiness this life is capable of, should be so uncomfortable a one to so many as it daily proves. But the mischief generally proceeds from the unwise choice people make for themselves, and an expectation of happiness from things incapable of giving it. Nothing but the good qualities of the person beloved, can be a foundation for a love of judgment and discretion; and whoever expect happiness from any thing but virtue, wisdom, good humor, and a similitude of manners, will find them selves widely mistaken."-SPECTATOR. THE preceding chapters make it evident, that marriage is a step of incalculable importance, and ought never to be taken without the greatest consideration and the utmost caution. If the duties of this state are so numerous and so weighty, and if the right discharge of these obligations, as well as the happiness of our whole life, and even our safety for eternity, depend, as they necessarily must do, in no small measure, upon the choice we make of a husband or wife, then let reason determine, with what deliberation we should advance to such a connection. It is obvious, that no decision of our whole earthly existence requires more of the exercise of a calm judgment than this; and yet observation proves how rarely the judgment is allowed to give counsel, and how generally the imagination and the passions settle the business. A very great portion of the misery and of the crime with which society is depraved and afflicted, is the result of ill-formed marriages. If mere passion without prudence, or covetousness without love, be allowed to guide the choice, no wonder that it is improperly done, or that it is highly disastrous in its consequences; and how often are passion and covetousness alone consulted. To use the beautiful language quoted by me in another work, where I have treated briefly the subject of this chapter, I would remark, "that they who enter the marriage state, cast a die of the greatest contingency, and yet of the greatest interest in the world, next to the last throw for eternity. Life or death, felicity or a lasting sorrow, are in the power of marriage. A woman indeed ventures most, for she hath no sanctuary to retire to, from an evil husband; she must dwell upon her sorrow, which her own folly hath produced; and she is more under it, because her tormentor hath warrant of prerogative, and the woman may complain to God, as subjects do of tyrant princes, but otherwise she hath no appeal in the causes of unkindness. And though THE MAN can run from many hours of sadness, yet he must return to it again; and when he sits among his neighbors, he remembers the objection that lies in his bosom, and he sighs deeply." If, however, it were merely the comfort of the married pair themselves that was concerned, it would be a matter of less consequence, a stake of less value; but the well being of a family, not only for this world, but for the next; and equally so the well being of their descendants, even to a remote period, depends upon this union. In the ardor of passion, few are disposed to listen to the counsels of prudence; and perhaps there is no advice, generally speaking more thrown away, than that which is offered on the subject of marriage. Most persons, especially if they are already attached to a selected object, even though they have not committed themselves by a promise or even a declaration, will go on in the pursuit, blinded by love to the indiscretion of their choice; or desperately determined, with the SOME REMARKS ON THE FORMATION OF THE MARRIAGE knowledge of that indiscretion, to accomplish, if UNION. "Methinks it is a misfortune that the marriage state, which, in its own nature, is adapted to give us the Number 43 possible, their purpose. Upon such individuals, reasoning is wasted, and they must be left to gain wisdom in the only way by which some will a 'quire it, painful experience. To others who may be yet ferent thing to what it is now. Nothing fades so soon as beauty; it is but like the delicate bloom of an attractive fruit, and if there be nothing agreeable underneath, will be thrown away in disgust when that is brushed off; and thrown away, too, by the very hand of him that plucks it. It is so comcharms of mind increase by acquaintance, while those of the exterior diminish: and that while the former easily reconcile us to a plain countenance, the latter excite, by the power of contrast, a distaste for the insipidity, ignorance, and heartlessness with which they are united, like gaudy, scentless flowers growing in a desert. Instead of determining to stake our happiness upon the act of gathering these blooming weeds to place them in our bosom, let us ask, how they will look a few years hence, or how they will adorn and bless our habitation? Let us ask, will the understanding, united with that countenance, render its subject fit to be my companion, and the instructer of my children? Will that temper patiently bear with my weaknesses, kindly consult my tastes, affectionately study my comfort ?Will those manners please me in solitude, as well as in society? Will those habits render my dwelling pleasant to myself and to my friends? We must try these matters, and hold our passions back, that we may take counsel with our judgment, and suffer reason to come down and talk with us in the cool of the evening. disengaged, and disposed to hearken to the language of advice, the following remarks are offered. In the affair of marriage, BE GUIDED BY THE ADVICE OF PARENTS, OR GUARDIANS. Parents have no right to select for you, nor ought you to select for yourself, without consulting with them. How far they are vested with authority to prohibit you from marry-monly remarked, as to be proverbial, that the ing a person whom they disapprove, is a point of casuistry, very difficult to determine. If you are of age, and able to provide for yourselves, or are likely to be well provided for by those to whom you are about to be united, it is a question whether they can do any thing more than advise and persuade; .but till you are of age, they have positive authority to forbid; and it is an undutiful aet in you to form connections without their knowledge, and to carry them on against their prohibitions. Their objections ought always, I admit, to be founded on reason, and not on caprice, pride, or cupidity: for where this is the case, and children are of full age, and are guided in their choice by prudence, by piety, and by affection, they certainly may and must be left to decide for themselves. Where, however, parents rest their objections on sufficient grounds, and show plain and palpable reasons for prohibiting a connection, there it is the manifest duty of sons, and especially of daughters, to give it up. A union formed in opposition to the reasonable objection of a discreet father or mother, is very rarely a happy one; and the bitter cup is rendered additionally bitter in such a case, by the wormwood and gall of self-reproach. What miseries of this kind have we all seen! How many beacons are set up, if young people would but look at them, to warn them against the folly of giving themselves to the impulse of an imprudent attachment, and following it to a close, against the advice, remonstrances, and prohibitions of their parents. Very seldom does that connection prove otherwise than a source of wretchedness, on which the frown of an affectionate and wise father and mother fell from the beginning; for God seems to rise up in judgment, and to support the parent's authority, by confirming their displeasure with his own. Marriage should in every case be formed UPON THE BASIS OF MUTUAL ATTACHMENT. If there be no love before marriage, it cannot be expected there should be any after it. Lovers, as all are supposed to be who are looking forward to this union, without love, have no right to expect happiness; the coldness of indifference is soon likely, in their case, to be changed into aversion. There ought to be personal attachment. If there be any thing, even in the exterior, that excites disgust, the banns are forbidden by the voice of nature. I do not say, that beauty of countenance, or elegance of form, is necessary; by no means; a pure and strong attachment has often existed in the absence of these; and I will not take upon me to determine, that it is absolutely impossible to love deformity; but we certainly ought not to unite ourselves with it, unless we can love it; or, at least, are so enamored with the fascination of mental qualities that may be united with it, as to lose sight of the body in the charms of the mind, the heart, and the manners. All I contend for is, that to proceed to marriage against absolute dislike and revulsion, is irrational, base, and sinful. : But love should respect the mind, as well as the body for to be attached to an individual simply on the ground of beauty, is to fall in love with a doll, a statue, or a picture; such an attachment is lust or fancy, but certainly not a rational affection. If we love the body, but do not love the mind, the heart, and the manners, our regard is placed upon the inferior part of the person, and therefore, only upon that which by disease, may be next year a very dif Such then, is the love on which marriage should be contracted: love to the whole person; love to the mind, and heart, and manners, as well as to the countenance and form; love tempered with respect; for this only is the attachment that is likely to survive the charms of novelty, the spoliations of disease, and the influence of time; that is likely to support the tender sympathies and exquisite sensibilities of the conjugal state; and render man and wife to the verge of extreme old age, what it was the intention of him, who instituted the marriage union, they should be,-the help and the comfort of each other. By what language then, sufficiently strong and indignant, can we reprobate those compacts, so disgraceful, and yet so common, by which marriage is converted into a money speculation, a trading enterprise, a mere business of pounds, shillings, and pence? How cruel a part do those parents act, who, for the sake of an advantageous settlement, urge their daughters into a union, from which their hearts revolt; or persuade their sons to marry wonen, towards whom they feel no affection, merely for the sake of a fortune! Unnatural fathers and mothers! is it thus ye would lead your children, decorated as sacrifices, to the shrine of Mammon, and act the part of priests and priestesses yourselves, in the immolation of these hapless victims!! What, will you assist in the rites of this legal prostitution? Can none others be found but you, the natural guardians of your children's interest, to persuade them to sell their persons, and barter all the happiness of their future lives for gold? Will you make yourselves responsible for all the future miseries of your children, and your children's children, by recommending such a sordid compact? Forbear, I entreat you, for your own sake, for your children's sake, and for the sake of society, to recommend a marriage, which is not founded on pure, and strong, and mutual attachment. Young people themselves, should be extremely careful on their own part, to let no persuasions of others, no impulse of their own covetousness, no anxiety to be their own masters and mistresses, no ambition for secular splendor, induce them to enter into a connection, to which they are not drawn by the solicitations of a pure and virtuous love. What "How ill the scenes that offer rest, And heart that cannot rest agree." will a large house, splendid furniture, a gay equip- | the conduct of mankind, a very large portion of huage, and fashionable entertainments do for their man misery. In the business before us, it would alpossessor, in the absence of connubial love? "Is it low none to marry till they had a prospect of supfor these baubles, these toys," exclaims the wretched port. It is perfectly obvious to me, that the present heart as it awakens, alas! too late, in some sad generation of young people are not distinguished by scene of domestic woe, "is it for this I have bartered a discretion of this kind: they are too much in haste away myself, my happiness, my honor? to enter the conjugal state, and place themselves at the heads of families, before they have any rational hope of being able to support them. As soon almost as they arrive at the age of manhood, whether they are in business or not, before they have ascertained whether their business will succeed or not, they look round for a wife, and make a hasty, perhaps an injudicious selection. A family comes on before they have adequate means of maintaining it; their affairs become embarrassed; bankruptcy ensues; their prospects are clouded for ever; they become burdens upon their friends; and their misery, together with that of the partner of their folly, and of their hapless children, is sealed for the term of their existence upon earth. How many instances of this kind have we known, and which may be considered as sad, and true, and impressive comments young people exercise their reason and their foresight; or if they will not, but are determined to rush into the expenses of housekeeping, before they have opened sources to meet them, let them hear, in spite of the syren song of their imagination, the voice of faithful warning, and prepare to eat the bitter herbs of useless regrets, for many a long and weary year after the nuptial feast has passed away, O there is a sweetness, a charm, a power to please, in pure and mutual affection, though it be cherished in the humblest abode, and maintained amidst the plainest circumstances, and has to contend with many difficulties, compared with which, the elegancies and brilliancies of worldly grandeur, are but as the splendor of an eastern palace, to one of the bowers of the garden of Eden. Let the man nobly determine to earn his daily bread by the sweat of his brow, and find his daily task sweetened by the thought that it is for the woman he loves, rather than roll about in his chariot, and live a life of splendid indolence and misery, with the wo-on the imprudence of improvident marriages. Let man he does not love: and let the other sex, as nobly and heroically determine to trust to their own energies, but especially to a gracious providence, rather than marry without affection, for the sake of a settlement. Then there is another error committed by some having been disappointed in a connection which they hoped to form, they become reckless for the future, and in a temper of mind bordering upon revenge, accept the first individual who may present himself, whether they love him or not. This is the last degree of folly, and is such an act of suicidal violence upon her own peace, as can neither be described nor reprobated in terms sufficiently strong. This is to act like the enraged scorpion, and to turn their sting upon themselves; and in an act of spleen to sacrifice their happiness to folly. And in fact, on whom does this mad spite fall? Upon the individual who has done them no harm, but that of attempting to heal the breach that has been made in their happiness, and to whom in return they carry a heart, which they have virtually given to another. How much more rational, how much more conducive to their own comfort, and how much more honorable is it in a case like this, to wait till time, and piety have healed the wound, and left the heart at liberty for another attachment; and even to remain in perpetual celibacy rather than marry without that which alone can constitute a virtuous marriage, sincere affection. Marriage should ever be contracted, WITH THE STRICTEST REGARD TO THE RULES OF PRUDENCE. Discretion is a virtue, at which none but fools laugh. In reference to no subject is it more frequently set aside and despised, than in that, which, of all that can be mentioned, most needs its sober counsels.For love to be seen standing at the oracle of wisdom, is thought by some romantic and silly young people, to be a thing altogether out of place. If they only were concerned, they might be left to their folly, to be punished by its fruits; but imprudent marriages, as we have already considered, spread far and wide their bad consequences, and also send these consequences down to posterity. The understanding is given to us to control the passions and the imagination; and they, who, in an affair of such consequence, as choosing a companion for life, set aside the testimony of the former, and listen only to the advice of the latter, have, in that instance, at least, forfeited the character of a rational being, and sunk to the level of those creatures, who are wholly governed by appetite, unchecked by reason. Prudence would prevent, if it were allowed to guide Prudence forbids all unequal marriages. There should be an equality, as near as may be in AGE; "for," says Mr. Jay,"how unnatural, how indecent, is it to see an old man surrounded with infants and babes, when he can scarcely see or hear for the infirmities of age! How unnatural, how odious is it, to see a young man fastened to a piece of antiquity, so as to perplex strangers to determine, whether he is living with a wife or a mother." No one will give the woman in the one case, or the man in the other, the credit of marrying for love; and the world will be ill-natured enough, and one can hardly help joining in the censoriousness, to say that such matches are mere pecuniary speculations; for generally speaking, the old party in the union, is a rich one; and as generally, they carry a scourge for the other in their purse. A fortune has often thus been a misfortune for both. Equality of RANK is desirable, or as near to it as possible. Instances have occurred, in which respectable men have married servants, and yet maintained their respectability, and enjoyed a full cup of domestic comfort: but these cases are rare, and generally contain some circumstances of peculiarity. And it is much less perilous for a rich man to descend into the vale of poverty for a wife, than it is for a rich woman to go down for a husband. He can much more easily raise his companion to his own level, than she can. Society will much more readily accommodate themselves to his error, than to hers. Much of the happiness of the conjugal state, depends upon the relatives of the parties, and if the marriage has offended them, if it has degraded them, how much of bitterness is it in their power to throw into the cup of enjoyment. Many a wife has carried to her grave, the sting inflicted upon her peace, by the insults of her husband's friends: and in all such cases, he must receive a part of the venom. "It has been said, that no class of men err so much in this article, as ministers. But surely this cannot be admitted. It cannot be supposed that those whose office it is to inculcate prudence, should themselves be proverbial for indiscretion. It cannot be supposed that those whose incomes are li |