PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.

THE general favor with which "A Voice to Youth," by the author of this work, was received, and the earnest and repeated solicitations of its admirers, encouraged the idea of inducing him to prepare a book for the benefit of those occupying the important station of married life. His feelings of delicacy in undertaking the task were only overcome by the assurances of the want of such a book, and the desire of rendering more prosperous the declining years of an aged father and mother, by devoting to their benefit the avails of his labor.

Were we about to commence a journey through, to us, an unknown region, our first object would be to take with us such a directory, if it could be obtained, as would faithfully point out the dangers to be avoided, and the sources of pleasure to be found on the road. Why then is it not equally for the interest of those who are just commencing their career in the marriage relation-or who, having commenced and found their dreams of uninterrupted felicity unrealized-to profit by the counsels of one who, by experience and observation, has been enabled to lay down such rules as, if followed, cannot but render the relation a source of much greater enjoyment than thousands, by pursuing a different course, have found it to be?

A beautifully engraved marriage certificate will soon be ready to add as a frontispiece to a few elegantly bound copies intended as "bridal gifts;" and what more appropriate gift could be presented by a fond parent or friend on such an occasion ?

As everything of a sectarian character has been carefully avoided, it is hoped that, by being more generally read, it will accomplish a greater amount of good than it would otherwise be able to do.

INTRODUCTION

"Oh happy they! the happiest of their kind!
Whom gentler stars unite; and in one fate,
Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend."

MARRIAGE is a divine institution-a connexion pointed out by nature, and sanctioned by Heaven. It was the first tie that ever united human beings together. When the man had been created from the dust of the earth, "the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh : she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh."* The sanc

Genesis ii. 21-24

tion of the Old Testament to the matrimonial tie, is renewed and enforced in the New. That the Saviour looked upon marriage as an institution designed and appropriated by Heaven, is evident from his reply to a question by the Pharisees, respecting divorcement-" Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning, made them male and female ?" And after repeating the above quotation from Genesis, he adds"What, therefore, God hath joined together, let no man put asunder."* The plain inference from this language is, that matrimony is a union instituted, consummated, and sealed by the Supreme Being; and hence its duties and obligations are of most sacred and binding character, and cannot be violated with impunity.

The words recorded by Moses respecting the union of Adam and Eve, evidently contain a general command to mankind, to imitate the example of their original parents, in forming the intimate relationship of husband and wife." Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh." Human nature, and indeed all animated nature, is so constituted that every living creature desires to mingle and associate with others of its own species, and from this association a great amount of mutual enjoyment is derived. In mankind this deep-seated principle is exhibited in the strong attachments which exist between husbands *Matthew xix. 4-6.

and wives, parents and offspring, brothers and sisters, and relatives and friends in general. Now the Scriptural admonition directs that, when children grow up to maturity of body--when the ties which bound them to home, and to the control of parents, are, to some extent, dissolved-when the affections which formerly concentrated in the circle under the paternal roof, go out in search of additional objects of attraction—then should they select one from among the multitude around them, who shall become their companion for life. And upon that one, they are required to centre the pure and rich treasures of the heart-with that one must they be willing to journey upon the highway of life, and share its joy and sorrow, its prosperity and adversity-that they may thus fulfil the designs of nature, and reap all the advantages and enjoyments of mutual love, mutual sympathy, and mutual assistance. The experience of the world proves the necessity and utility of this union.

In conformity to the example of the common parents of our race, marriage, either in one form or another, has been observed in all ages, throughout every nation and tribe on the earth.

That marriage possesses many advantages over a state of celibacy, is a position so evident, it would nardly seem possible that it can be seriously disputed. True it is, that happiness under any circumstances, depends much upon the condition of the mind and the affections; but these and all other things being equal, as matrimony is the mos