Wedding-ring, fit for the finger

by William Secker

A
Wedding-Ring, fit for the Finger;
OR, THE
Salve of Divinity on the Sore of Humanity.
Laid open in a
SERMON,
Preached at
A Wedding in St. Edmond's, London.

---

By Mr. WILLIAM SECKER,

Late Preacher of the Gospel.

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Genesis ii. 18.
And the Lord God said, It is not good that the
Man should be alone; I will make an help
meet for him.

 

PAISLEY:
Printed by J. Neilson.
1811.

A
WEDDING-RING, FIT FOR THE FINGER.

genesis ii. 18.

And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make an help meet for him.

HUMAN misery is to divine mercy, as a black soil to a sparkling diamond, or a sable cloud to the sun-beams, Psalm viii. 4. Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him?

Man is, in his creation, angelical; in his corruption, diabolical; in his renovation, theological: In his translation, majestical.

There were four silver channels in which the chrystal streams of God's affection ran to man in his creation.

1. In his preparatìon. 2. In his assimilation. 3. In his coronation. 4. In his association.

1. In his preparation. Other creatures received the character of their beings by a simple fiat; but there was a consultation at his forming; not for the difficulty, but for the dignity, of the work. The painter is more studious about that which he means to make his master-piece. The four elements were taken out of their elements, to make up the perfection of man's complexion: The fire was purified, the air was clarified, the water was purged, the earth was refined. When man was moulded, heaven and earth were married: A body from the one was espoused to a soul from the other.

2. In his assimilation. Other creatures were made like themselves, but man was made like God, as the wax hath the impression of the seal upon it. It is admirable to behold so fair a picture on such coarse canvas, and so bright a character on so brown paper.

3. In his coronation. He that made man and all the rest, made him over all the rest; Quintidam Dominum posuit Deus in tantum domnum: He was a little lord of a great lordship: This king was crowned in his cradle.

4. In his association. Society is the solace of humanity; the world would be a desart without a consort.

Most of men's parts are made in pairs; now she that was double in his perfection, must not be single in his condition: And the Lord said, &c.

These words are like the iron-gate, that opened to Peter of its own accord; dividing themselves into three parts.

1. An introduction, And the Lord God said.—2. An assertion, It is not good that man should be alone.—3. A determination, I will make an help meet for him.

In the first, there is a majesty proposed.—In the second, there is a malady presented.—In the third, there is a remedy provided.

Once more, let me put these grapes into the press.

1. The sovereignness of the expression: And the Lord God said. 2. The solitariness of the condition, it is not good. 3. The suitableness of the provision, I will make, &c.

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 divinity. Of these in their order.—And first of the first.

1st, The sovereignness of the expression; And the Lord God said, Luke i. 70. As he spake by the mouth of his prophets.—In other scriptures, he used their mouths; but in this he makes use of his own! They were the organs, and He the breath; they the early streams, and He the Fountain. How He spoke, it is hard to be spoken, whether eternally, internally, or externally, Quomodo non est, quod quæeremus sed potius quid dixerit intelligamos; we are not to enquire into the manner of speaking, but to the matter that is spoken; which leads me, like a directing star, from the 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 you have two things,

1. The subject—2. The predicate. The subject, Man alone; The predicate, It is not good, &c.

1. The subject.—Man alone; take this in two branches. 1. 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 his board, yet he had not enough for his bed; though he had many creatures to serve him, yet he wanted a creature to solace him; when he was compounded in creation, he must be compleated by conjunction; when he had no sin to hurt him, then he must have a wife to help him. It is not good that man should be alone.

Secondly, As it is lengthened to all men, and so it is taken universally, Heb. viii. 4. Marriage is honourable unto all. It is not only warrantable, but honourable. The whole Trinity have 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.

2. The Son; marriage is a crystal glass, wherein Christ and the saints do see each other's faces.

3 The Holy Ghost; by his overshadowing of the blessed Virgin.—Well might the world, when it saw her pregnancy, suspect her virginity; but her matrimonial 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.

Too many that have not worth enough to preserve their virginity, have yet will enough to cover their unchastity: Turning the medicine of frailty into the mantle of filthiness. Certainly she is mad that cuts off her leg to get her a crutch, or that 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 to forbear marriage, which is not only lawful, but also honourable;—to forbid which, is damnably sinful, and only taught by the influence of devils.

One of the Popes of Rome sprinkles this unholy and impure drop upon it, Carnes pollutionem & immunditum.

It is strange that should be a pollution, which was instituted before corruption; or that impurity, which was ordained in the state of innocency; or that they should make that to be a sin, which they make to be a sacrament; strange stupidity! But a bastard may be laid at the door of chastity, and a leaden crown set upon a golden head.

Bellarmine, (that mighty Atlas of the papal power) blows his stinking breath upon it: Better were it for a priest to defile himself with many harlots, than to be married to one wife— These children of the purple whore prefer monasteries before marriages, a concubine before a companion.—They use too many women for their lusts, to chuse any for their love—Their tables are so largely spread, that they cannot feed upon one dish.

As for their exalting of a virgin state, it is like him that commended fasting when he had filled his belly.

Who knows not that virginity is a pearl of a sparkling lustre? But cannot the one be set up, without the other be thrown down? Will no oblation pacify the former, but the demolishing of the latter? Tho' we find many enemies to the choice of marriage, yet it is rare to find any enemies to the use of marriage. They would pick the lock that want the key, and pluck the fruit that do not plant the tree.

The Hebrews have a saying that, He is not a man that hath not a wife. Though they climb too high a bough, yet it is to be feared that such flesh is full of imperfection that is not tending to propagation: Though man alone may be good, yet, It is not good that man should be alone: which leads me from the subject to the predicate, It is not good, &c.

Non bonum, is not in this place as Malum, but bonum est honestum, utile jocundum.

Now it is not good that man should be in a single condition upon a threefold consideration

1. In respect of sin, which would not else be prevented. Marriage is like water to quench the sparks of lust's fire, 1 Cor. vii. 2. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every one have his own wife, &c. Man needed no such physic when he was in perfect health. Temptations may break nature's best fence, and lay its paradise waste; but a single life is a prison of unruly desires, which is daily attempted to be broken open.

Some, indeed, force themselves to a single life, merely to avoid the charges of a marriage-state; they had rather fry in the grease of their own sensuality, than extinguish those flames with an allowed remedy: It is better to marry than to burn; to be lawfully coupled, than to be lustfully scorched. It is best feeding these flames with ordinate fuel.

2. It is not good in respect of mankind which then would not be propagated.—The Roman historian relating the ravishing of the Sabine women, excused it thus: Res erit univætatis populous virorum: Without them mankind would fall from the earth and perish.—Marriage turns mutability into the image of eternity: It springs up new buds when the old are withered: It is a greater honour for a man to be the father of one son, than to be the master of many servants. Without a wife, children cannot be had lawfully; without a good wife, children cannot be had comfortably.—Man and woman as the stock and the scion, being grafted in marriage, as trees, bearing fruit to the world.

Augustine says, this pair is primum par et fundamentum omnium, &c.—They are the first link of human society, to which all the rest are joined. Mankind had long ago decayed, and been like a taper fallen into the socket, if those breaches which are made by mortality, were not repaired by matrimony.

3. It is not good, in regard of the church, which would then have been extirpated. Where there is no generation, there can be no regeneration. Nature makes us creatures, before grace makes us Christians.

If the loins of men had been less fruitful, the death of Christ would have been less successful.

It was a witty question that one put to him that said, "Marriage fills the earth, but virginity fills the heavens:" How can the heavens be full, if the earth be empty?

Had Adam lived in innocency without matrimony, there would have been no servants of God in the church militant, nor no saints with God in the church triumphant. But I will not sink this vessel by the over-burden of it, nor press this truth to death, by laying too great a load upon its shoulders.

There is one knot which I must untie before I make a further progress, 1 Cor. vii. 1. It is good for a man not to touch a woman.—Do all the scriptures proceed out of the same 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 scriptures? Either Moses mistakes GOD, or Paul mistakes Moses about the point of marriage—To which I shall give a double answer.

1. There is a public and private good. In respect of one man, it may be good not to touch a woman; but in respect of all, so It is not good that man should be alone.

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 world, but sin was the stamp that made it. They that seek nothing but weal in its commission, will find nothing but woe in the conclusion. Which leads me from the solitariness of the condition, Man alone, to the suitableness of the provision, I will make an help meet for him. In which you have two parts:

1. The agent: I will make. 2. The object: A help.

1. The agent, I will make We cannot build a house without tools; but the Trinity is at liberty; Die verbum tantum. To God's omniscience there is nothing invisible; to God's omnipotence there is nothing impossible. We work by hands without; but He works without hands. He that made man meet for help, makes a meet help for him.

Marriages are consented above, but consummated below, Prov. xviii. 22. Tho' man wants supply, yet man cannot supply his wants, Jam. i. 17. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, &c. A wife, though she be not a perfect gift, yet she is a good gift. These beams are darted from the Sun of righteousness.

Hast thou a soft heart? It is of God's breaking: hast thou a sweet wife? she is of God's making.

Let me draw up this expression with a double application.

1. When thou layest out for such a good on earth, look up to the God of heaven; let him make thy choice for thee who makes his choice of thee. Look above you, before you look about you; nothing rakes up the happiness of a married condition, like the holiness of a mortified disposition. Account not those the most worthy that are the most wealthy. Art thou matched to the Lord; match in the Lord, How happy are such marriages, where Christ is at the wedding! Let none but those who have found favour in God's eyes, find favour in yours

2. Give God the tribute of your gratulation for your good companions. Take heed of paying your rent to a wrong landlord: When you taste of the stream, reflect upon the spring that feeds it. Now thou hast four eyes for thy speculation, four hands for thy operation, four feet for thy ambulation, and four shoulders for thy sustentation. What the sin against the Holy Ghost is in point of Divinity, that is unthankfulness in point of morality; an offence unpardonable. Pity it is but the moon should be ever in an eclipse, that will not acknowledge her beams to be 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 content 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 woman's command. Those shoulders aspire too high, that content not themselves with a room below their head. It is between a man and his wile in the house, as it is between the sun and the moon in the heavens, when the greater light goes down, the lesser gets up: when the one ends in setting, the other begins in shining. The wife may be a sovereign in her husband's absence, but she must be subject in her husband's presence. As Pharaoh said to Joseph, so should the husband say to his wife, Gen. xli. 40. Thou shalt be over my house, and, according to thy word, shall all my people be ruled, only in the throne will be greater than thou. The body of that household can never make any good motion, whose bones are out of place. 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 the faithfulness of her preservation.

1. To his Piety, by the ferventness of her excitation, 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 was engraven the laws of God. In some families married persons are like Jeremiah's two baskets 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 corruption. There is a two-fold hindrance of holiness: 1st, On the right side. 2dly, On the left. On the right side, when the wife should 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 walls of paradise, 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-propper, 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 to the oak, which draws away his sap from him.

2. A help to his Society, by the fragrantness of her conversation.

Man is an affectionate creature: Now the woman's behaviour should be such towards the man as to require his affection, by increasing his delectation. That the new-born love may not be blasted as soon as it is blossomed; that it may not be ruined before it be rooted. А spouse should carry herself so to her husband, as not to disturb his love by her contention, nor to destroy his love by her alienation. Husband and wife should be 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 may make but one current? It is an unpleasing spectacle to view any contention in this conjunction.

3. To his Progeny, by the fruitfulness of her education; that so her children in the flesh may be God's children in the spirit. 1 Sam. i. 11. Hannah she vows, if the Lord will give her a son, to devote him so his service. A spouse should be more careful of her children's breeding, that she should be fearful of her children's bearing. Take heed lest these flowers grow in the devil's garden. Though you bring them out of corruption; yet do not bring them up to damnation. 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; O lift up your prayers to make them good; that before you die from them, you may see Christ live in them. Whilst these twigs are green and tender, they should be bowed towards God. Children and servants are in a family, as passengers are in a boat; husband and wife, they are as a pair of oars, to row them to their desired haven. Let these small pieces of timber be hewed and squared for the celestial building. By putting a sceptre of grace into their hands, you will set a crown of glory upon their heads.

4. A help to his prosperity, by her faithful preservation, being not a wanderer abroad, but a worker at home. One of the ancients speaks excellently; She must not be a field-wife, like Diana; nor a street-wife, like Tamar; nor a window-wife, like Jezebel.

Phildeas, when he drew a woman, painted her sitting under a snail-shell, that she might imitate that little creature, that goes no further than it can carry its house upon its head.

How many women are there, that are not labouring bees, but idle drones; that take up a room in the hive, but bring no honey to it; that are moths to their husband's estates; spending when they should be sparing! As the man's part is to provide industriously, so the woman's is to preserve discreetly; the one must not be carelessly wanting, the other must not be carelessly wasting; the man must be seeking with diligence; the woman must be saving with prudence. The cock and hen both scrape together in the dust-heap, to pick up something for the little chickens, To wind up this on a short botton.

1. If the woman be a help to the man, then let not the man cast dirt upon the woman.

Secundus being asked his opinion of a woman, said, Virinau fragium, domus tempestus quietis impedimentum, &c. But surely he 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.

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 silenced 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, because some are evil, therefore none are good. He 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 be a help to the man? Then let the man be a help to the woman. What makes these debtors to be such ill paymasters, but because they look at what is owing to them, but not to what is owing by them. If thou wouldest 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 enjoin, nor the wife's duty to perform. A wife must not be sharply driven, but sweetly drawn. Compassion 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 the wife.

1. In his protection of her from injuries. It is well observed by one, that the rib of which woman was made, was taken from under a man's 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 blows from the wife. The wife is the husband's treasury, and the husband should be the wife's armoury. In darkness he should be her sun for direction; in danger he should be her shield for protection.

2. In his providing for her necessaries. The husband must communicate maintenance to the wife, as the head conveys influence to the members; he 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 this condition, waste that estate in luxury, which should supply their wives' 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 into slavery, when services are better than marriages; the one receives wages, while the other buys their fetters.

3. In his covering of her 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 are ill birds that defile their own nests. It is a great deal better you 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. If the gold be good allow it grains. Husbands and wives should provoke one 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 flows.

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. They that chuse their love, should love their choice. They that marry, where they effect not, will effect where they marry not. Two joined together without love, are but tied together to make one another miserable. And so I pass to the last stage of the text, A help meet.

A help; there is her fulness; A meet help: there is her fitness.

The angels were too much above him; the creatures were too much below him: he could not step up to the former, nor could be 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 receiveth. 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 to the winter of old age? A young man is not an help meet for an old woman; raw flesh is but an ill platter for rotten bones. He that in his nonage marries a woman in her dotage, his lust hath one wife in possession, but his love another in reversion.

2. In the heraldry of her condition. Some of our European nations are so strict in their junctions, that it is against their laws for the commonalty to couple with the gentry

It was well said by one, If the wife be too much above her husband, she either ruins him by her vast expences, or reviles him with her base reproaches: If she be too much below her husband, either her former condition makes her too generous; or her present mutation makes her too imperious.

Marriages are styled matches; yet amongst these 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 their religion. If adultery may separate a marriage contracted, idolatry may hinder a marriage not perfected. —Cattle of divers kinds were not to engender.

—2 Cor vi. 14. Be not uniquely yoked, &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 chuse them 2. To those women who have husband, how to use them.

1. To those men that want wives, how to chuse them. Marriage is the tying of such a knot, that nothing but death can unloose. Common reason suggests so much, that we should be long a doing that which can but once be done. Where one design bas been gravelled in the sands of delay, thousands have been split on the rock of precipitance. Rash adventures yield little gain. Opportunities are not like tides, that when one is past, another returns; but yet take heed of flying without your wings: you may breed such agues in your bones, that may shake you to your graves

1. Let me preserve you from a bad choice 2. Present you with a good one. To preserve you from a bad choice, take that in three things: 1. Chuse not for beauty. 2. Chuse not for dowry. 3. Chuse not for dignity. He that looks for 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 be accepted The third, too bold to be respected. 1. Chuse not by your eyes.—2. Chufe not by your hands.—2. Chuse not by your ears.

1. Chuse not by your eyes, looking at the beauty of the person. Not but this is lovely in a woman, but that this is not all for which a woman should be loved. 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, Gen. vi. 2. The sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair. One would have thought that they should rather have looked for grace in the heart, than for beauty in the face. Take care of inning at the fairest signs; the swan hath black flesh under white feathers.

2. Chuse not by your hands, for the bounty of the portion.

When Cato's daughter was asked, why did she not marry? She thus replied, "She could not find the man that loved her person above her portion." Men love curious pictures, but they would have them set in golden frames. Some are so 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, which 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 demanded which of the two he had rather his daughter should have? he answered, Mallen virum fine pecunia, &c. I had rather she should have a man without money, than money without a man.

3. Chuse 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 Antonius, of whom it was said, That he injured his country in nothing, but being the father of such a child. There are many low in their descents, that are high in their deserts. Such as the cobler's son, who grew to be a famous captain; when a great person upbraided the meanness of his original, My nobility, saith he, begins with me, but thy nobility ends with thee Piety is a greater honour than parentage. She is the best gentlewoman that is heir to her own deserts, and not the degenerate offspring of another's virtue. To present you with a good choice in three things:

1. Chuse such a one as will be subject to your dominion. Take heed of yoking yourselves with untamed heifers.

2. Chuse such a one as may sympathize with you in your affliction. Marriage is just like a sea-voyage; he that enters into this ship, must look to meet with storms and tempests, 1 Cor. vii. 26. They that marry shall have trouble in the flesh. Flesh and trouble are married together, whether we marry or not now a bitter cup is too much to be drunk by one mouth. A heavy burden is easily carried by the asistance of other shoulders. Husband and wife should neither be proud flesh, nor dead flesh. You are fellow-members, therefore, should have a fellow-feeling. While one stands safe on the shore, the other should pity him that is tost on the sea.—Sympathy in sufferings is like a dry house in a wet day.

3. Chuse such a one as may be serviceable to your salvation. A man may 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.

2dly, 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 praise may commend you. Though you may have your husbands' hearts, yet you must not have their heads; as you will his love, so you 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 one 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 divided into many channels, the main current starves.

To conclude, good servants are a great blessing; good children a greater blessing; but a good wife is the greatest blessing; and such a help, let him seek for her, that wants one; let him sigh for her, that hath lost one; let him take pleasure in her that enjoys one.

Where there is nothing but a picture of virtue, or a few shadowy qualities, that may subsist without any real excellency, death will hide them for ever in the night of despair. The blackness of darkness will close upon the naked and wandering ghost; while 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 of heaven; where its now mortal partner, rescued from the dishonours of the dust, and brightened into the graces of eternal youth, shall rejoin it in triumph to suffer the pangs of separation no more Everlasting Jehovah! what a crown of joy will it confer upon the preacher in that day, if this little service shall be rewarded with the reflection of having contributed to the salvation or improvement of any of these young persons whom he now addresses! If ever thine ear was open to my cry, hear me, O Lord! hear me in their behalf. What cannot thy Spirit perform! perform by the weakest hand? May that spirit "seal them unto the day of redemption!"—At that glorious period "may I meet you 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 join in the gratulations of your fellow-angels around the throne of God, when He shall, in the sight of all, "clothe you with the garment of salvation, and cover you with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom is decked with ornaments, and as a bride is adorned with her jewels." Amen. FINIS.

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J. Neilson, printer.

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