WEDDING-RING, FIT FOR THE FINGER: LAID OrEN IN A SERMON, PREACHED AT A WEDDING IN ST. EDMOND'S. Bt WILLIAM SECKER, LATE PREACHER OF THE GOSrEL. iJ, Genesis 11 13» And the Lord God said, It is not good that tl%e man should be W alone ; I will make him an help meet tor hmi. VEDDING-RING, FIT FOE THE FINGER. A Sermon on Genesis ii. 18. id the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone : I mil make him a help-meet for him. uman misery is to divine mercy, as a black soil a sparkling diamond ; or as a sable cloud to the n-beams, Psalm viii. 4. — Lord, what is man, that ■)u art mindful of him ? Man is, in his creation, angelical; in his cor- ption, diabolical ; in his renovation, theological ; his translation, majestical. There were four silver channels in which the irystal streams of God's affection ran to man in s creation. 1. In his preparation. 2. In his Assimilation. In his coronation. 4. In his Association. 1. In his preparation. Other creatures received e character of their beings by a simple fiat ; but lere was a consultation at his forming ; not for ie difficulty, but for the dignity of the work. The painter is most studious about that whid intends to make his master-piece. The font meats were taken out of their elements to mak the perfection of man's complexion : the fire] purified! the earth was refined. When man moulded, heaven and earth was married ; a from the one was espoused to a soul from the o ~. In his assimilation. Other creatures; made like themselves, but man was made God, as the wax hath the impression of the upon it. It is admirable to behold so fair a pit in such coarse canvas, and so bright a char; in so brown paper. 3. In his coronation. He that made man, all the rest, made man over all the rest ; lie a little lord of a great lordship : this king crowned in his craddle. 4. In his association. Society is the solac humanity ; the world would be a desert, witho comfort. Most of man's parts are made in pairs; no that was double in his perfection, must no! single in his condition. And the Lord said, <£c\ These words are i the iron gate that opened to Peter of its own ac« dividing themselves into three parts : — 1. An Introduction: And the Lord God a 2. An Assertion : It is not good that man sk he alone. 3. A Determination : I will mak help-meet for him. In the first there is a majesty proposed. Inl second there is a malady presented. In the t there is a remedy provided. Once more let me put these grapes into tho pr 1 . The sovereignness of the expression : the Lord God said. 'J. The soiitaryness cf i ^tion: It Unot go*?,** j The mitableae- I of the provision ; I will make, tfc In the first there is the worth of veracity. In | the second, there is the want of society. In the third, there is the work of dmmty. Of theso m U their order. And first of the first. 1. The sovereignness of the expression : And tU | Lord God said, <£c. , - * * Luke i. 70. "As he spoke by the mouths o prophets." In other scriptures he used ^It mouJis, but in this instance he makes use of bis ow, they were the organs, and he the breath ; they he streams and he the fountain. How he spake, it is harTto determine : whether eternally, internally or externally. We are not to inquire into the manner of speaking, but into the matter that is Token ; whic P h lead? me, like a directing star, rem he suburbs to the city, from the porch to the palace from the founder of the mine, to the treasure that is in it : It is not good, &c. In which we have two things ;| 1. The Subject. 2. The Predicate. , The subject, Man alone. The predicate, It is not good, Sc. 1. The subject, M an alon: Take J this ill two branches. h As it is limited to one man. 2. As it is lengthened to all men. First As it is limited to one man : And so it is taken particularly : Man, for the first man. When all other creatures had their mates, Adam wanted his • though he was the emperor of the earth, and the 'admiral of the seas, yet in Paradise without a companion ; though he was truly happy, yet he was not fully happy ; though he had enough for Ms board, yet he had not enough for his bed ; though he had m&rft creatures to serve him, yet I ho wanted a creature to solace him ; when he w t v compounded in creation, he must bo completed bv conjunction ; when he had no sin to hurt him tin he must have a wife to help him : It is not aood that man should be alone. Secondly, As it is lengthened to all men : And so it is taken universally, Heb. xiii. 4. Marriage is honourable unto all It is not only warrantable but honourable. The wholo trinity hath conspired together to set a crown of glory upon the head of matrimony. 1 . ( God the Father. Marriage was a tree planted within the walls of Paradise ; the flower first grew in God's garden. b 2. The Son. Marriage is a crystal glass, wherein Oiinst and the saints do see each other's faces. & \he Holy Ghost, by his overshadowing of the blessed virgin. Well might the world when it saw her pregnancy, suspect her virginity ; but her mat- rcmonial condition was a grave to that suspicion • without this, her innocency had not prevented her infamy; she needed a shield to defend that chastity abroad which was kept inviolable at home loo many that have not worth enough to nre" serve their virginity, have yet will enough to cover their unchastitj ; turning the medicine of frailtv mto the mantle of filthiness. Certainly she is mad that cuts off her leg to get her a crutch; or S venoms her face to wear a mask. Paul makes it one of the characters of those that should cherish the faith, 1 Tim. iv. 3. not tl}ortt mamage ; which is not only lawful but also uonourab le ; to forbid which, is damnally sinful arid only taught by the influence of devils. 7 One of the 1 opes of Rome sprinkles this unholy and impure drop upon it, Carnis pollutionem et imnundiliem m: ' * > is strange that should be a pollution which before corruption ; or that impurity l olinel in the state of innocency ; or f£,S that to be a sin .which they L to bo a sacrament; strange stupidity!- °a feSrd may be laid at the doe o cnasg, 1 a leaden crown set upon mine (that mighty at as of the WgUW ops a concubine before a companion.— 1 hey m Sv women for their lusts, to choose any for ir i " e -Their tables are so largely spread that $ £not feed upon one ■Lx of a virgin-state, it is like him that com ifasting'when he had filled ffcjjjg lows not, that virginity is a pearl of a spaiU Je * but the one cannot be set up, without tho her be thrown down : No oblation will pacify tho mer, but the demolishing of the latter. % hough o find many enemies to the choice of marnagc ?t it is rare to find any enemies to tho use qt il a'e They would pick the lock that want. SB? andpluck the Jit that do not .plant the ■ee. The Hebrews have a say mg, " that he u, ot a man that hath not a wife. ' Though they limb too high a bough, yet.it is to bo feared w uch flesh is full of imperfection, that is, not tcnumg d propogation : though man alone may be , goou, etf It is not aood tliat man slwuld be alone. V hit j , cads mo from the subject to the predicate, U is Now, it is 'not good that man should be m a ingle condition on a threefold consideration. s 1. In respect or sin, which would not el* prevented : Marriage is like water, to quen J sparks of lust's fire, 1 Cor. vii. 2. Neverthll avoid fornication, let every man have his oven I Sc. Man needed no such physic when he J perfect health. Temptations may break naj best sense, and lay its Paradise waste ; but a \ life is a prison of unruly desires, which is attempted to be broken open. Some, indeed * themselves to a single life, merely to avoid] charges of a married state ; they choose rath] live in their own sensuality, than to extiJ those flames with an allowed remedy : It is M to marry than to hum : — to be lawfully couj than to be lustfully scorched. It is best to these flames with ordinate fuel. 2 It is not good in respect of mankind, x then would not be propagated. The Roman hi rian, relating the ravishing of the Sabine mi excused them thus, 'Without them mankind wi fall from the earth, and perish.' Marriages turn mutability into the image of eternity springs up new buds when the old are withe: It is a great honour for a man to be the fathei one son, than to be the master of many sens Without a wife, children cannot be had lawfu without a good wife, children cannot be had comf ably. Man and woman, as the flock and the sci being grafted in marriage, are trees bearing frui the world. Augustine says, « They are the first I of human society, to which all the rest are join Mankind had long ago decayed, and been life taper fallen into the socket, if those breaches wli are made by mortality were not repaired by ma rnony. 3. It is not good in regard of the church, wli 9 ould not thun have been expatiated. Where there , n0 o-eneration, there can be no regeneration, latere* makes us creatures before grace makes ius hristians. If the loins of men had been ess ruitful the death of Christ would have been less uccessful. It was a witty question that one put to dm that said, < ' Marriage fills the earth, but virgin- ty fills the heavens How can the heavens be full £ the earth be empty ? Had Adam lived in mno- ;e ncy without matrimony, there would have been 10 servants of God in the church militant, nor no aints with God in the church triumphant. But 1 vill not sink this vessel by the over-burthen ot it, lor press this truth to death by laying too great i load upon its shoulders. There is one knot which [ must untie, before I make a farther progress, mz. 1 Cor. vii. 1. It is good for a man not to touch % looman. Do all the scriptures proceed out of the *ame mouth ; and do they not all speak the same truth ? The God of unity will not indite discord : and the God of verity cannot assert falsehood. If good and evil be contraries, how contrary then are these two scriptures ? Either Moses mistakes God, or Paul mistakes Moses, about the point of mar- riage. To which I shall give a double answer. 1. There is a public and a private good. In respect of one man, it may he good not to touch a woman ; but in respect of all men, It is not good that man should he alone. 2. Moses speaks of the state of man created ; Paul of the state of man corrupted: Now, that which by institution was a mercy, by corruption may become a misery ; as pure water is tainted by running through a miry channel, or as the sun- beams receive a tincture by shining through a coloured glass. There is no print of evil in the taSSS 10 world, but sin was the stamp that made it. ] that seek nothing but weal in its commission, J find nothing but woe in the conclusion. AVi leads me from the solitariness of the condit Man alone, to the suitableness of the provision wilt make an help-meet for him. In which wo have two parts, 1. The Agen^ will make. 2. The Object, An help. 1. The Agent, / will make. We cannot 1 a house without tools, but the Trinity is at libe To God's omniscience there is nothing impossi We work by hands, without ; but he works v out hands. He that made man meet for 1: makes a meet-help for man. Marriages arc < sented above, but consumated below, Prov. xviii, Though man wants supply, yet man cannot su; his wants, James i. 17. Every good and per gift comes from above, Sc. A wife, though be not a perfect gift, yet she is a good gift. Tl beams are darted from the Son of Righteousn Hast thou a soft heart ? It is of God's breala Hast thou a sweet wife ? She is of God T s # maii Let me draw up this with double application. 1. When thou layest out for such a good; earth, look up to the God of heaven ; let him m thy choice for thee, who made his choice of tl Look above you, before you, about you ; notli makes up the happiness of a married condit like the holiness of a mortified disposition : acco not those the most worthy, that are the ni wealthy. Art thou matched to tlio Lord ? Ma in the Lord. How happy are such marrk where Christ is at the wedding ! Let none those who have found favour in God's eyes,l favour in yours. 2. Give God the tribute of your gratulation 11 your good companion?. Take head of paying youv rent to a wrong landlord : when you taste of th* stream, reflect upon the spring that feeds it. Not* thou hast four eyes for thy speculation, four hands for thy operation, four feet for thy abulation, and four shoulders for thy sustentation. What the sin against the Holy Ghost is, m point of divinity, that is unthankfulness, in point of morality, an offence unpardonable. Pity it is, but that moon should be ever in an eclipse, that will not acknow- ledge her beams to bo borrowed from the sun. He that praises not the giver, prizes not ^ the gift. And so I pass from the Agent to the Object, A help. She must be so much, and no less ; and so much, and no more. Our ribs were not ordained to be our rulers. They are not made of the head, to claim superiority ; but out of the side, to be con- tent with equality. They desert the Author of nature, who invert the order of nature. The woman was made for the man's comfort, but the man was not made for the woman's command. Those Shoulders aspire too high, that content not themselves with a room below their heads. It is between a man and his wife in the house, as it is between the sun and the moon in the heavens, when the greater light goes down the lesser light gets up ; when the one ends in setting, the other begins in shining. The wifo may be a sovereign in her husband's absence, but she must be subject iti her husband's presence. As Pharaoh said to Joseph, so should the husband say to his wife, * thou shalt be over my house, and according to thy word shall all my people be ruled, only on the throne will I be greater than thou," Gen. xli. 40. The body of that household can never make any good motion, whose bones are ont of place 12 The woman must be a help to the man in these four things : — 1. To his piety. 2. To his society. 3. To his progeny. 4. To his prosperity. To his piety, by the ferventness of her excitation. To his society, by the fragrantness of her conversation. To his progeny, by the fruitfulness of her education, To his prosperity, by her faithful preservation. 1. To his piety, by the ferventness of her ex- citation, 1 Pet. ii. 7. Husband and wife should be as the two milch-kine, which were coupled together to carry the ark of God ; or as the two cherubims, that looked one upon another, and both upon the mercy-seat ; or as the two tables of stone, on each of which were engraven the laws of God. In some families married persons are like Jeremiah's two basket of figs, the one very good, the other very evil ; or like fire and water, whilst the one is flaming in devotion, the other is freezing in cor- ruption. There is a two-fold hinderance of holiness: 1. On the right side. 2. On the left. On the right side ; when the wife would run in God's way, the husband will not let her go ; when the fore- horse in a team will not draw, he wrongs all the rest ; when the general of an army forbids a march, all the soldiers stand still. Sometimes on the left : How did Solomon's idolatrous wife draw away his heart from heaven ? A sinning wife was Satan's first ladder, by which he scaled the wall of Para- dise, and took away the fort-royal of Adam's heart from him. Thus she, that should have been the help of his flesh, was the hurt of his faith ; his nature's under-proper, became his grace's under- miner ; and she that should be a crown on the head, is a cross on the shoulders. The wife is often to the husband as the ivy is to the oak, which draws awav Iris sab from him. 13 2. A help to Lis society, by the fragrautuess of her conversation. Man is an affectionate creature ; now the woman's behaviour should be such towards the man, as to requite his affection by increasing his delectation ; that the new-born love may not be ruined before it be rooted. A spouse should carry herself so to her husband, as not to disturb his love by her contention, nor to destroy his love by her alineation. Husband and wife should bo like two candles burning together, which makes the house more lightsome ; or like two fragrant flowers bound up in one nosegay, that augments its sweetness : or like two well-tuned instruments, which sounding together, make the more melodious music. Husband and wife, what are they but as two springs meeting, and so joining their streams, that they make but one current? It is an un- pleasing spectaclo to view any contention in that conjunction. 3. To his progeny, by the fruitfulness of her education ; that so her children in the flesh may bo God's children in the spirit, 1 Sam. i. 11. Hannah she vows, if the Lord will give her a son, she would give him to the Lord, to serve him. A spouse should be more careful of her children's breeding, than she should be fearful of her chil- dren's bearing. Take heed, lest these flowers grow in the devil's garden. — Though you bring them out in corruption, yet do not bring them up to dam- nation ! — Those are not mothers but monsters, that whilst they should be teaching their children the way to heaven with their lips, are leading them the way to hell with their lives. Good education is the best livery you can give them living ; and it is the best legacy you can leave them dying. You let out your cares to make them great, 0 lift up 14 your prayers to make theru good, that before y ( die from them, you may see Christ live in then Whilst these twigs are green and tender, tht should be bowed towards God. Children at servants are in a family, as passengers in a boat husband and wife, they are as a pair of oars,; row them to their desired haven. Let these snu pieces of timber be hewed and squared for tl. celestial building. By putting a sceptre of gra; into their hands, you will set a crown of glory up( their heads. 4. A help to his prosperity, by her faithful prcst: vation, being not a wanderer abroad, but a works at home. One of the ancients speaks excellent!;; She must not be a field-wife, like Dinah ; nor street wife, like Thamar ; nor a window-wife, lii Jezabel. Phildeas, when he drew a woman, paint! Her under a snail-shell ; that she might imitai that little creature, that goes no further than it ca carry its house upon its head. How many womc are there, that are not labouring bees, but id drones ; that take up a room in the hive, but brin no honey to it ; that are moths to their husbani estates, spending when they should be sparing As the man's part is, to provide industriously, s the woman's is, to preserve discreetly ; the out must not bo carelessly wanting, the other must not be causelessly wanting ; the man must be seeking with diligence, the woman must be saving witi prudence. The cock and hen both scrape togetkei in the dust-heap, to pick up something for till little chickens. To wind up this on a short bottom 1. If the woman be a help to the man, then lei not the man cast dirt on the woman, Secundus being asked his opinion of a woman, said, Viri naufragium, domus tempestas, quiets 15 imjiedimenlum, &c. But surely lie was a monster and not a man ; fitter for a tomb to bury him, than a womb to bear him. Some have styled them to be like clouds in the sky ; like motes in the sun | like snuffs in the candle ; like weeds in the garden. But it is not good to play the butcher With that naked sex, that hath no arms^ but for embraces. A preacher should not be silent for those who are silent from preaching : because they are the weaker vessels, shall they be broken all to pieces ? Thou that sayest women are evil, it may be thy expression flows from thy experience ; but I shall never take that mariner for my pilot, that hath no better knowledge than the splitting of his own ship. Wilt thou condemn the frame of all, for the fault of one ? As if it were true logic, be- cause some are evil therefore none are good. lie hath ill eyes that disdains all objects. To blast thy helper is to blame thy Maker. In a word, we took our rise from their bowels, and may take our rest in their bosoms. 2. Is the woman to Ve a help to the man ? Then let the man be a help to the woman. What makes some debtors to be such ill pay-masters, but because they look at what is owing to them, but not at what is owing by them. If thou wouldst have thy wife's reverence, let her have thy respect. To force a tear from this relation, is that which neither benefits the husband's authority to en- join, nor the wife's duty to perform. A wife must not be sharply driven, but sweetly drawn. Com- passion may bend her, but compulsion will break her. Husband and wife should act towards each other with consent, not by constraint. There are four things wherein the- husband is a meet-help to tho wife. 16 1. J ii his protection of her from injuries. It is well observed by one, that the rib of which woman wag made, was taken from under his arm : As the use of the arm is to keep off blows from the body, so the office of the husband is to ward off blow* from the wife. The wife is the husband's treasury and the husband the wife's armoury. In darkness lie should be her sun, for direction ; in danger lie should be her shield for piotection. 2. In his providing for her necessities. The husband must communicate maintenance to the wife, as the head conveys influence to the members ; thou must not be a drone, and she a drudge. A man in a married estate, is like a chamberlain in an inn, there is knocking for him in every room. Many persons in that condition, waste that estate in luxury, which should supply their wife's necessity ; They have neither the faith of a Christian, nor the love of a husband ! It is a sad spectacle to see a virgin sold with her own money unto slavery, when services are better than marriages ; the one re- ceives wages, whilst the other buy their fetters. 3. In his covering of hev infirmities. Who would trample upon a jewel, because it is fallen in the dirt, or throw away a heap of wheat for a little chaff, or despise a golden wedge, because it retains some dross ? These roses have some prickles. Now husbands should spread a mantle of charity over their wives* infirmities. They be ill birds that defile their own nests. It is a great deal better vou should fast than feast yourselves upon their failings. Some husbands are never well longer than they are holding their fingers in their wife's sores. Such are like crows, that fasten only upon carrion. Do not put out the candle because of the snuff. Husbands and wives should provoke one- 17 another to love ; and they should love one- another notwithstanding of provocation. Take heed of poisoning those springs from whence the streams of your pleasure flow. 4. By his delighting in her society : a wife takes sanctuary not only in her husband's house, but in his heart. The tree of love should grow up in the family, as the tree of life grew up in the garden of Eden. They that choose their love, should love their choice. They that marry where they affect not, will affect where they marry not. Two joined together without love, are but tied together to make ono another miserable. And so I pass to the last stage of the text, A help-meet. 'A help,' there is her fallness ; i A meet-help/ there is her fitness. The angels were too much above him ; the inferior creatures too much below him ; he could not step up to the former, nor could he stoop down to the latter ; the one was out of his reach, the other was out of his race ; but the woman is a parallel line drawn equal with him. Meet she must be in three things. 1. In the harmony of her disposition. Husband and wife should be like the image in a looking* glass, that answers in all properties to the face that stands before it ; or like an echo, that returneth the voice it rcceiveth. Many marriages are like putting new wine into old bottles. An old man is not a meet-help for a young woman : He that sets a grey head upon green shoulders, hath one foot in the grave and another in the cradle : Yet, how many times do you see the spring of youth wedded ftp the winter of old age I — A young man is not a meet-help for an old woman ; raw ftesli is but an ill plaister for rotten bones. Ho that in his non-age marries another in her dotage, his lust hath one wife 18 in possession, but his lovo another in reversion, 2. In heraldry of her condition. Some of our European nations aro so strict in their junctions, that it is against their laws for the commonality to couple with the gentry. It was well said by one, " If the wife be too much above her husband, she cither ruins him by her vast expenses, or reviles him with her base reproaches ; if she be too much below her husband, either her former condition makes her too srenerous, or her present mutation makes her too imperious;'— Marriages are styled matches, yet amongst those many that are married, how few are there that are matched ! Husbands and wives are like locks and keys, that rather break than open, except the wards be answerable. 3. In the holiness of her religion. If adultery may seperate a marriage contracted, idolatry may hinder a marriage not perfected. Cattle of divers kinds were not to ingender. 2 Cor. vi. 14. Be not unequally voiced, &c. It is dangerous taking her for a wife," who will not take God for a husband. It is not meet that one flesh should be of two spirits. Is there never a tree thou likest in the garden but that which bears forbidden fruit ? There are but two channels in which the remaining streams shall run : 1. To those men that want wives, how to choose them. 2. To those women who have husbands, how to use them. Marriage is the tying of such a knot, that nothing but deatli can unloose. Common reason suggests so much, that we should bo long a-domg that which can but once be done. Where one design hath been graveled in the sands of de- lay, thousands have been split on the rock of precipitance. Rash adventures yield gam. Oppor- ' tunities are not like tides, that when one is past, 19 another returns ; but yet take heed of flying ■ Jpithout jour wings ; you may breed such agues in jour bones, that may shake you to your graves. 1. Let mo preserve you from a bad choice. 2. Trcsent you with a good one. To preserve you from a bad choice, take that in three things : L Choose not for beauty. 2. Choose not for dowry. 3. Choose not for dignity. He that loves to beauty, buys a picture ; he that loves for dowry, makes a purchase ; he that leaps for dignity, matches with a multitude at once. The first of these is too blind to be directed ; the second too base to bo accepted ; the third too bold to be respected. 1. Choose not by your eyes. 2. Choose not by your hands. 3. Choose not by your ears. 1. Choose not by your eyes, looking at the beauty of the person. Not but th is is lovely in a woman ; but that this is not all for which a woman should be beloved. He that had the choice of many faces stamps this character upon them, all, favour is deceitful and beauty is vain. The sun is more bright in a clear sky, than when the horizon is clouded ; but if a woman's flesh hath more of beauty than her spirit hath of Christianity, it is like poison in sweet-meats, most dangerous : " The sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair," Gen. vi. 2. One would havo thought «nat they should rather havo looked for gr^ce in ihe heart, than for beauty in the face : take care of running at the fairest signs ; the swan hath black flesh under her white feathers. 2. Choose not by your hands, for the bounty of the portion. When Cato's daughter was asked why she did not marry ? she thus replied, she could not find the man that loved her person above her portion. Men lovo curious pictures, but they 20 would hare them set in golden frames. Some are «o degenerate as to think any good enough, who have but goods enough. Take heed, for sometimes the bag and baggage go together. The person should be a figure, and the portion a cypher, whicli added to her, advances the sum, but alone signifies nothing When Themistocles was to marry his daughter, two suitors courted her together, the one rich and a fool, the other wise but poor ; and being asked which of the two he had rather his daughter should have? ho answered Mallem virum fat vecuni : « 1 had rather she should have a man without money, than money without a man. 2. Choose not by your ears, for the dignity of her parentage. A good old stock may nourish a fruitless branch. There are many children who are not the blessings, but the blemishes of their; parents ; they are nobly descended, but ignobly minded : Such was Aurelius Antonious, of whom it was said, that he injured his country of nothing, but being the father of such a child. There art many low in their descents, that arc high in their deserts ; such as the cobler's son, who became s famous captain ; when a great person upbraided the meanness of his original, " My nobility, said he, began with me, but thy nobility ends with thee.** Piety is a greater honour than parentage, She is the best gentlewoman that is heir of her own deserts, and not the degenerate offspring ol another's virtue. To present you with a good choice in three things. 1. Choose such a one as will be a subject io your dominion. Take heed of yoking yourselves with untamed heifers, 2. Choose such a one as may sympathize to tou in vour auction. Mrvrriage is just like a «i 21 voyage, he that enters into this si rip, must look to meet with storms and tempests, 1 Cor. vii. 20. They that marry shall have trouble in the jleslu Fieth and trouble awe married together, whether we marry or no ; now a bitter cup is too much to be drunk by one mouth. A heavy burthen is easily carried by assistance of other shoulders. Husband and wife should neither be proud flesh, nor dead flesh. You are fellow- members, therefore you should have a fellow-feeling. While one stands safe on the shore, pity should be shown to him that is toast on the sea. Sympathy in suffering is like a dry house in a wet dav. 3. Choose such a one as may be serviceable te vour salvation. A man mav think he hath a saint, when he hath a devil ; but take heed of a harlot, that is false to thy bed ; and of a hypocrite, that is false to thy God. 2. To those women who have husbands, how to use them. In two things. 1 . Carry yourselves towards them with obedience. Let their power command you, that their prai^- may commend you. Though you may have your husband's heart, vet vou should love his will Till the husband leaves commanding, the wife must never leave obeying. As his injunctions must be lawful, so her subjection must be loyal. 2. With faithfulness. In creation, God made not woman for many men, or many women for one man. Every wife should be to her husband as Eve was to Adam, a whole world of women ; and every husband should be to his wife as Adam was to Eve, a whole world of men. When a river is di- vided into many channels, the main current starves. To conclude, Good servants are a great blessing ; good children a greater blessing ; but a good wife 22 is tho greatest blessing : And sash a help lot him seek for her that wants one, let him sigh for her that hath lost one, let him tako pleasure in her that enioys one. . Where there is nothing hut a picture of virtue or a few shadowy qualities that may subsist without any real excellency, death will hide them for evei in the night of despair. The blackness of darkness will close upon the naked and wandering ghost ; whilst its loathsome remains are consigned to oblivion and putrefaction in the prison of the grave, with the prospect of a worse doom hereafter. But where there is a living image of true goodness begun in this state, death will deliver it with safety into the finishing hand of eternity, to be produced with every mark of honour in the open view ot heaven ; where its now mortal partner, _ rescued from the dishonours of the dust, and brightened into the graces of eternal youth, shall rejoin it m triumph, to suffer the pangs of separation no more Everlasting Jehovah ! what a crown of joy will it confer on the preacher in that day, if this little service shall be rewarded with the reflection of having contributed to the salvation or improve- ment of any of these young persons whom ho now addresses ! If ever thine ear was open to my cry hear me, 0 Lord ! hear me in their behalf. What cannot thy spirit perform, perform by the weakest hand i May that spirit seal them to the day ot redemption. At that glorious period, may I meet you all amongst the redeemed of the Lord, happy to see you shining with immortal splendour in the general assembly and church of the first born, transported to think that I shall live with you for ever, and joining in the gratulations of your fellow- angels arouud the throno of God, when He shall, 23 m the sight of all, clothe you with the garment of salvation, and cover you with the robe of righteous- ness, as a bridegroom is decked with ornaments, and as a bride is adorned with her Jewels. Amen LADY FRETFUL, A SKETCH FROM REAL LIFE. Ier general style of conversation runs on the ^conveniences to be expected from this or that ircumstance, and no one is so ingenious in ex- acting unsuspected evil from plans of the fairest romise. Is the weather fine, and a walk men- oned — It is hot — it is dusty — the wind is in the ast — there was rain in the morning — it will be irty — or it will rain before we reach home. Is le to go out in the carriage ; one road is too long ►r the horses — another is unpleasant — another asafe — and, in short, none are exactly right, et she goes on these proposed expeditions, 7 ter all possibility of pleasure has been reasoned id anticipated away. If she is going out to dinner, ie is sure the company will be unpleasant — the rvants will get drunk— she shall be robbed, or 'erturned in coming home. If she is to have a