Page:Wedding-ring, fit for the finger, or, The salve of divinity on the sore of humanity (2).pdf/22

 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 gentle-woman that is heir of 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 a ſubject to your dominion. Take heed of yoking yourſelves with untamed heifers.

2 Chuſe ſuch a one as will 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. 20. "They that marry, shall have trouble in the flesh." Flesh and trouble are married together, whether we marry or no; now a bitter cup is too much to be drunk by one mouth. A heavy burden is eaſily carried by aſſiſtance 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 toaſt on the ſea. Sympathy in ſuffering, 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.

2. To thoſe women who have huſbands, how to uſe them. In two things.