sickness and health, riches and poverty, good report and evil report, "to love and

to cherish," to protect and support, to counsel and advise, each other, till death shall dissolve the sacred union; and ought, therefore, like the primitive christians, to have "all things common;" their possessions and interests, their views and objects, every plan of action, and every thought of the heart, that can affect the mutual welfare or peace of the united pair.

Nor let us forget, in enumerating the weighty duties of married life, reciprocal kindness of heart, gentleness of manners, and sweetness of temper.

Both parties, it is true, are under an equal obligation to maintain a conduct "void of offence" towards each other; and by mutual accommodation and forbearance, to render their union a state of harmony, and their home the residence of peace. From the very nature of things, however, it seems to be more necessary to press the observance of these duties on the husband than on the wife, because in most instances they are neglected by the former rather than the latter.

But surely nothing can be more disgraceful or unmanly, as well as unchristian like, than harsh or morose, unkind or cruel,

behaviour to the wife of the bosom. Women are weak, defenceless, and dependent. To treat them, therefore, with gentleness and tenderness is but a natural generosity. When woman enters into the married state, she makes great sacrifices; she surrenders her will to the direction of another; she submits her inclinations to the control of her husband; and engages in a life of solicitude, anxiety, and care. Common gratitude, therefore, seems to demand that the return made to her by the partner of her fortunes for what she relinquishes, and what she undertakes, should be uniform affection and uninterrupted kindness; a constant course of mild and forbearing treatment; solace under her pains; assistance amid her perplexities; and that encouragement and approbation of her domestic toils, as will charm away their irksomeness, and render her duty her delight.

The christian law, which is ever in unison with every generous and benevolent feeling of our nature, echoes the language of gratitude and natural affection in this respect; and gives such repeated and particular injunctions against all severity and sourness of behaviour towards "the weaker "vessel," as cannot be mistaken but by wilful blindness, nor disregarded without

incurring the displeasure of Him who ordained the marriage state. "Husbands, "love your wives, and be not bitter against "them." "So ought men to love their "wives, even as their own bodies.

He

"that loveth his wife loveth himself; for "no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but "nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the "Lord the church." "Husbands, love "your wives, even as Christ also loved the "church, and gave himself for it." "Let every one of you in particular so love his "wife even as himself."

It may be observed, finally, in speaking of married life, that there is another duty of considerable moment, which, in most instances, arises out of this connection, a duty whose conscientious performance is equally incumbent on the husband and the wife, I mean the proper "nurture and "admonition" of the offspring with which it may please God to bless them.

When we consider the effects of early education on the character of the rational being which is the object of it, the importance of ingrafting into the mind of a child. religious, moral, and honourable principles, will be strikingly apparent. "Train up a "child in the way he should go, and when "he is old he will not depart from it," is

the maxim of one who had thought, and seen, much of human nature; and the experience of ages confirms the truth of Solomon's celebrated proverb. But the influence of early education is not confined to time; it stretches into eternity; and from the turn which it gives to the character here, we may reasonably conclude what the allotment of the soul will be hereafter.

What an awful consideration is this to those who stand in the relation of parents! and how powerfully does it press upon them the obligation of "giving all diligence" to instil into the young and ductile minds of their children holy and virtuous principles; to make known to them "the "truth" as early as they are capable of apprehending it; and to pre-occupy their hearts with the love of God and his law, ere the world shall endeavour to bewitch them with an exclusive affection for "things "below."

It is a familiar truth, that few of us are deficient in affording to our children that kind and degree of education which will qualify them for all the purposes of the world; which will enable them to pursue its business with success, grapple with its difficulties, and acquire its emoluments and honours; nor do we hesitate to expend

large and unreasonable sums in ornamental qualifications, in order to render them graceful, accomplished, and attractive, and fit to mingle in the circles of elegance and fashion; but it is much to be feared, that if the system of infantine education in private households were to be examined with a critic's eye, we should find far inferior attention paid, and much less pains taken, to mould the character of the child to the duties of a religious, moral, accountable, and immortal being, than are devoted to qualify the youth of both sexes for prosperous, admired, or glittering members of society.

Disastrous and fatal, however, is such a mistake in early nurture; and great must be the guilt, in the sight of God, of those parents, who, with their eyes open, allow themselves to fall into it. They are the worst foes of their own offspring, both in time and in eternity. They are withholding from them the key of that knowledge, compared with which all other "wisdom" is but "foolishness, "—the knowledge which "maketh wise unto salvation." They are withholding from them the joys, the comforts, and the consolations of religion; and turning them upon a seductive and vicious world, without any proper principle of