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theſe four things: 1 To his ſociety 2. To his ſociety. 3. To his progeny. 4. To his proſperity. To his piety by the ferventneſs of her excitation. To his ſociety, by the fragrantneſs of her converſation. To his progeny, by the fruitfulneſs of her education. To his proſperity, by her faithful preſervation.
1. To his piety by the ferventneſs of her excitation, 1 Pet. ii. 7. Huſband and wife ſhould be as the two milch-kine, which were coupled together to carry the ark of God; or, as the two cherubims, that looked one upon another, and both upon the mercy-ſeat; or as the two trbles of ſtone, on each of which were engraven the laws of God. In ſome families married perſons are like Jeremiah's two baſkets of figs, the one very good, the other very evil; or like fire and water, whilſt the one is flaming in devotion, the other is freezing in corruption.
There is a two-fold hindrance of holineſs: 1. On the right ſide. 2. On the left.
On the right ſide when the wife would run in God's way, the huſband will not let her go. When the fore-horſe in a team will not draw, he hinders all the reſt; when the general of an army forbids a march all the ſoldiers ſtand ſtill. Sometimes on the left: How did Solomon's idolatrous wives draw away his heart from heaven? A ſining wife was Satan's firſt ladder, by which he ſcaled the wall of Paradiſe, and took away the fort-royal of Adam's heart from him. Thus ſhe, that ſhould have been the help of his fleſh, was the hurt of his faith; his nature's under-proper, became his grace's underminer, and ſhe that
ſhould
