will they endanger or lessen the comforts hoped for in that state. But when I insist, that persons enslaved to the unhappy dispositions mentioned, and governed by them as the distinguishing properties of their minds, ought not to marry, I by no means intend to exclude even them absolutely from that state. It is to be hoped, that the door which shuts out their faults, may lie open afterward to their persons. As none but a good man or woman, can possibly be a good husband or wife; and as none but the good can be happy, whether married or single, whether here or hereafter; it must be surely the purpose of every thinking believer to correct in himself all such highly criminal dispositions, as lay an everlasting and insurmountable bar (till they are removed) against the smallest rational hope of happiness in either world. He, who being subject, in so high a degree, to properties of so very bad a nature, will not repent and amend, I still insist, can never enter into the paradise of marriage with a good wife here, nor into the heaven of an alliance with Christ hereafter. God never created a help-meet for such a man as this. He therefore does but deceive himself, and in this case most fatally, who thinks of deceiving another, and hopes that his ill qualities will fall heavy only on the person he espouses. They will fall with double weight on him, and worry his conscience, as well as his peace. That man is a fool who expects more satisfaction, or less vexation, in a married state, than he is prepared to give. All uneasiness, as well as pleasures are here reciprocal. If the married pair have but one happiness, they have likewise but one misery. Good offices in this state are authorized to propagate their species; and ill ones take a licence to be at least as fruitful in their kind.

Whosoever hath looked carefully into himself, and finds no impediment to wedlock there, may now turn his inquiry outward in order to find a help-meet for one so principled or disposed, as he is, or takes himself to be. As the impediments of body and mind, on which I have sufficiently dwelt, render the person subject to them equally unfit to choose, or be chosen; and as therefore no prudent person, conscious of them in himself, would ever marry; so neither ought he, if he could avoid it, who hath no such bars, wed with another that hath. But the question is, how he shall know this. If

it is no easy matter thoroughly to examine and find out one's self, it must be still more difficult to penetrate into the dispositions, the culpable dispositions more especially, of others who naturally abhor all prying into their faults, who in order to match well, as it is called, use all imaginable arts to keep their failings out of sight; and as many more, to parade off every natural and acquired advantage, and to make a shew, without seeming to intend it, not only of spotless goodness, but of excellencies sufficient to render invisible the blackest spots, if they had them.

Though this now is folly, folly indeed of the grossest kind, yet certainly it requires no small degree of wisdom to detect it, and to keep clear of its snare, which is but the more apt to catch, for offering the catcher as a bait. It were better therefore, that before any steps are taken towards a match, the parties should be competently acquainted with each other on a footing of indifferency, wherein masks and disguises are less apt to be used. However, when an opportu nity of previous knowledge cannot be had, qualities so extremely bad as to forbid the banns, are generally too headstrong to be totally concealed, even after overtures are actually made. They will be apt to peep out a little; and that together with the industry and constraint applied to keep them in, which cannot be so easily hid from a discerning eye, may give a sufficient alarm. If the bait only is seen, it may succeed; but, as the wise man says, 'in vain is the net' itself spread in the sight of any bird.'

But in the name of common sense, why nets or artifices of any kind in a case like this? In a married state the ill qualities of one party will equally ruin the peace of both, and the grievous disappointment that must follow on an unavoidable discovery, will still farther inflame the cause of discontent. Marriage is but a shorter hell, if it does not unite the husband and wife into one; now it is impossible to pass any impositions on either, without passing them all on that one; and therefore they can carry with them no wiser sort of cunning, than that of the devil, all whose schemes, howsoever destructive to the unhappy souls he deludes, are sure to leave the contriver in the hottest place of punishment at last.

For this reason it is, that were I to advise, two persons who

mean to go together, should, instead of concealing, actually discover, yes, actually discover, to each other all their faults and infirmities, whether of mind or body, in the full aggravation of every real circumstance. This is the honest way of dealing, and may prevent a too late repentance, in case they should not find themselves made for each other, But if they marry after all, no room will be left for disappointments or reproaches, for upbraidings or charges of imposi tion on either side, they having by this wise and ingenuous step, taken each other for neither better nor worse than they really are. This sort of conduct may have another very good effect. A couple, thus joined, not being able on the utmost trials afterward to discover a single fault, of which they were not mutually apprized beforehand, will not be by any means so apt to suspect each other of greater faults than they are justly chargeable with, as those who marry in the dark.

There are, beside the more distinguished impediments, already insisted on, some others of a less interesting nature, and yet of too much consequence to be wholly passed over in silence, such as a great difference in fortune, family, education, temper, understanding, and the like. The habits and pursuits of mankind are carried so wide of one another by these, as to make it very difficult to unite under the influence of causes so apt to divide.

A great inequality of fortune before marriage is too often remembered by the more wealthy party after it; and if not as well remembered by the other, fails not to breed abundance of heart-burnings, perhaps upbraidings, to the great disquiet of both. Of the two, it is wiser and better to buy than to sell; but all markets of men and women are generally as unhappy in their consequences, as they are indecent and unworthy in their own nature.

Nor does a great diversity of family, though a matter purely notional, occasion a less diversity of mind. It is not easy to make one out of two, taken from the upper and lower ends of the world. The one knows as little how to soar, as the other to descend. Family makes almost as great a difference as species, and it is unnatural to couple creatures of different kinds.

Fortune and family produce a third difference, as custom hath ordered the matter, more considerable than either

in itself, a difference, I mean, of education, which, more than nature, determines the manners of mankind to courses often so directly opposite; and what it determines, so rivets by inveterate habits, that a compound of fire and water bursting forth in thunder, is not too strong a similitude for that marriage which joins the hand of one high-born, highbred, and richly endowed, to that of another, low-pitched in all these respects.

From nature, heightened frequently by fortune, family, and education, arises a fourth difference, that of temper, so very great, that even its goodness in two minds is not sufficient to prevent the ill effects of its diversity in kind. From a mixture of two very different wines, although both of the best sorts, a strong fermentation first, and then a jumble of no value, is to be expected. But if either, or both are bad in themselves, the compound is sure to be wretched.

A great disparity of understanding, as it is a hinderance to union, ought also to be a hinderance to marriage. In conversation, the more refined cannot relish the rude, nor the stupid comprehend the lively and acute. In conduct then can be no contribution of counsel. Contempt perpetually breeding disgust on one side; and envy, hatred on the other; the rational being and the mere animal can never grow into one.

Difference in point of religion, ought likewise to be considered as no trivial objection to a match: first, because as religion is the only spring of all the conjugal, as well as other virtues, no one should wed with another, who hath so little of it as to make the exchange of it a compliment to the greatest mortal on earth; and secondly, because when the attachment to different religions is too strong for such compliances, that attachment threatens the parties with discord and contention, as is usual, about the very principle of love and peace.

In choosing a partner for life, regard is not to be had only to the absence of bad or improper qualities, but also to the possession of such as are good and suitable. This hath been strongly supposed in all I have hitherto said. True piety is the parent of real merit, the best improver of every good natural disposition, and the only corrector of the bad.

Piety is the power of God in man, giving birth to virtue where nature had denied it, and growth wherever it is already found. This humbles, this sweetens, this tames the most wild and untoward dispositions; and therefore may serve for a summary recommendation of the person blest with it, as the fittest, or rather the only object of choice. All defects of fortune, and many of person, may be prudently dispensed with in one truly and highly religious.

As to person and countenance, it will be sufficient to observe, that neither ought to be disagreeable, because disrelish, though arising from a single feature, may spread an imaginary ugliness, not only over the rest of the body, but also over the most amiable qualities of the mind. However, good sense, good humour, and a fund of cheerfulness, are enough to give stature to the lowest person, and a degree of beauty to the homeliest face, if the beholder is not a fool, I mean, if he is not one of those who can see with nothing but their eyes.

Upon the merits of this important choice in reference to all the heads of advice here offered, it is the business of every prudent person, after consulting fully with himself, to ask the opinions of his wisest and most experienced friends, of his parents more especially, if they are still alive, and the rather, because, as a Christian, he cannot dispose of himself without their approbation. He is to give them a child, at the same time that he gives himself a wife; and should, with a tender, a dutiful, and a grateful heart, consult their comfort in the addition of so near a relation; as they, from the hour of his birth to this day, have ever anxiously consulted his, in every thing that concerned him. He should remember, that his parents are older, and in all probability much wiser, as to affairs of this nature, than him; and that God, the universal parent, is the watchful guardian of their rights.

And to that all-wise and infinitely gracious Father ought he to apply with an entire resignation, and with a heart full of devotion, for that only guidance which can never, like that of men, mislead him. Let him earnestly beseech God not to leave him to himself, or the arts of others; but to forward or frustrate his present intentions, as his unerring wisdom and never-failing goodness shall judge for