Page:Wedding-ring, fit for the finger, or, The salve of divinity on the sore of humanity (4).pdf/17

 17 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 protecting of her from injuries. It is well observed by one, that the rib of which woman was made, was taken from un- der the 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 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 necssities. The husband most 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 this condition, waste that estate in luxury, which should supply their wife's necessity Nae amor viget mariti, nec files Christians; 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 with her own money unto slavery, when services are better than mar- riages; the one receives wages, whilst 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