wisdom to cultivate and cherish a decided preference for his society to that of any other person or company whatever. Perhaps you may now think that such a hint is altogether unnecessary; that it is absolutely impossible for you ever to become indifferent to his society, or ever willingly to relinquish it for any other attraction. May you ever find it so! But there is a possibility of your becoming too fond of general society, or too much wrapped up in intimate intercourse with some particular friend; either of which errors might inadvertently inflict pain on him whose feelings ought ever to be sacred to you, and, in his mind, cast a shade over the entireness and ardour of your attachment to him. It is not required that you should altogether alienate yourself from society, and confine yourself exclusively to a domestic tête-à-tête; or that you should look with shyness on the intimate friend of your youth, perhaps a sister, a schoolfellow, or a bridesmaid; no man of sense would wish to hold so exclusive an interest in his wife's regard. But it should ever be manifested, beyond the possibility of mistake, that your decided preference is for his society, whatever may come in competition with it; that, in company, you never forget that you are his wife; that you have no disposition to display, or to attract admiration, but that your attention and your affections still revert to him as the faithful needle to the pole; and that, though you still indulge the intimacy of long-cherished friendship, neither your colloquies nor your correspondence with your dearest relative or friend infringe on the time and attention you owe to your husband; still less that

the communication of your unreserved thoughts and feelings is with her rather than with him.

Can it be necessary to drop one word of caution against the extreme indiscretion and impropriety of carrying friendship for one of the opposite sex, even though he be a relative, to such a degree of intimacy as to awaken one anxious or mistrustful feeling in the mind of a husband? These platonic friendships, which some fifty or sixty years ago extensively prevailed, and were warmly defended, broke up the peace of many families, led many thoughtless women to vice and infamy, and probably cast a shade on the virtue of many more, who in reality were only inadvertent and indiscreet. Let the husband of your youth, my young friend, ever be to you "a covering of the eyes," Gen. xx. 16. Never let him have a moment's reason to suppose that your partiality for any friend, male or female, in the slightest degree interferes with the decided preference and undivided consecration of heart and duty which justly belong to him. Remember your marriage vow, which extends to thought, feeling, and appearance, as well as to actions; that, "forsaking all others, you will keep you to him only so long as ye both shall live;" and let "the heart of your husband safely trust in you," and repose on you with unwavering confidence and unmingled complacency.

The love of a wife for her husband is to be associated with reverence, submission, deference. That these are essential parts of her duty is most clearly and explicitly set forth in Scripture, as well as manifest in the constitution of nature and the principles of social order. It is useless to

dispute about the perfect equality of the sexes in point of mental capacities and endowments, or the superiority of one to the other. It is probable, that while each has peculiarities of its own, adapted to the peculiar sphere which each is destined to occupy, there is, in reality, no great disparity in the total amount conferred by the Creator on each. Precisely the same sum of money may be possessed by several individuals in a vast variety of metals and coins. One may hold his in a more bulky and ponderous form; another, in one that is more compact: one may have his property in a few valuable coins, a form most suitable for secure and secret deposit; another in a large number of inferior ones, as more convenient for present circulation. Perhaps there is somewhat of the same general equality, combined with specific difference, in the mental endowments of the sexes. Each is best fitted by Providence for the situation which he or she is destined to fill. It is passing strange, that ever a debate should have arisen as to the allotment of their respective spheres. And suppose it could be proved, that some women were endowed by nature with capacities for the bar, the senate, the cabinet, the field; and suppose that, by the common consent of mankind, they should be elevated to these spheres ; must they not abandon others at least as honourable, important, and appropriate? But, happily, this is a question which the women of England are not disposed to moot. They are, in general, satisfied with the more private sphere, of domestic and social influence and usefulness, assigned them by the disposals of Providence, and the arrange

ments of society; and never, never may they even entertain a wish to forsake their well-defined orbit, and emulate the erratic, short-lived, and useless brilliance of the dazzling meteor!

But there is another point, not so generally conceded by the class of females who readily admit that their province is at home. Even in the little domestic society, the supreme authority must be vested some where. Few women have avowedly contended that it should be lodged with them, and confer on them a supremacy over their husbands; but many have fancied, or acted as if they fancied, it a degradation to admit of its being lodged elsewhere. But these hesitations and questionings seem to be frivolous and vexatious, while on man devolves the burden of the most laborious offices in life; those which require the greatest exertions, the deepest reflection, and the most comprehensive judgment; and those, too, from which are to result the means of support and provision to the household. On these accounts, it seems an appointment both reasonable in its nature, and most conducive to the happiness of all concerned, that the husband should be the person to whom the superiority should be committed. But the point is not left among Christians to be decided by speculative arguments; the will of God is clearly revealed. "Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee," Gen. iii. 16, was the Divine intimation to Eve immediately after the fall; and lest it should be imagined that this was an especial infliction of the Divine displeasure on the original transgressor, or a part of that ceremonial burden from

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which Christ has redeemed his followers, it is most expressly corroborated by several injunctions in the New Testament: "Let the wife see that she reverence her husband. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." They (the women, the wives) are commanded to be "under obedience, as also saith the law," Eph. v. 33, 22-24; Col. iii. 18; 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35; 1 Tim. ii. 11-14; Tit. ii. 5; 1 Pet. iii. 1.

A Christian female can no longer stand in doubt as to the station assigned her by the appointment of God, or the nature of her duties in this respect to her husband. She may, however, wish for the counsel of some judicious and experienced Christian friend, to aid her in intelligently and faithfully fulfilling those duties. To afford her such aid the following quotation will be acceptable: it is taken from a work by the Rev. J. A. James, entitled "The Family Monitor; or, å Help to Domestic Happiness."

"Before I state the kind of subjection here commanded, it is necessary to state the nature of the authority to which it is to be yielded. Here I would observe, that with whatsoever kind and degree of authority the husband is invested over the wife, it is such as is in no way incompatible with, or trenches upon, the strongest and tenderest affection. And it is worthy of remark, that the apostle does not enjoin husbands to rule nor instruct them how, but merely to love; so that it