He reperience are congenial with his own. members that it is said, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance: and the object of his choice being in other respects conformable to his wishes, he sees it his duty and thinks it a privilege to marry her. All these individuals aim, or ought to aim, at promoting their own happiness; and in order to this, each has recourse to means that are thought suitable for the purpose. But does the motive by which they are actuated alter the nature of the institution itself? Surely not: nor can I believe that any person who has deliberately thought on the subject will assert it.

If promiscuous marriages with unbelievers had been allowed by the Head of the christian church, the apostle needed not have taken so much pains to persuade the Corinthian querists still to cohabit with their unbelieving partners; because this might have been done in a more summary manner, by informing them, That marriage was a civil appointment of God; that religion was entirely out of the question; that

if they were but married, it was of no importance when, or to whom; and that, as to the case of the widow, he had, for the same reason, no restrictions to impose. This answer would at once have quieted their minds, and have remained on record as a standard by which to decide similar inquiries in every period of the christian church.

But all the objections to which I advert, place the apostle as a logician, not to say as a divine, in the most inconsistent light imaginable. The new converts were, on account of their faith and steady attachment to Christ, persecuted from city to city. Of many it might be truly said, as the apostle did concerning himself and his brethren, That they had no certain dwelling place and for this very reason he dissuades them for the moment, or, as he expresses it, Because of the present distress, from marrying even with believers themselves: while at the same time he was saying, on the principle of the objections, or must have said, had the question been asked, It is neither inconsistent with your christian profession, nor with the will of

Christ, to marry those very enemies who now thirst for your blood, but from whose malice it is nevertheless at all times your happiness to escape! He that can believe such contradiction, let him believe it-yet this is a consequence fairly drawn from the objections which I have endeavoured to invalidate.

I have briefly mentioned, Melissa, all, or at least the most weighty objections brought against the Law of marriage, as it respects the real christian; and she that is suitably impressed with her daily obligations to divine goodness, will neither want persuasion nor argument to regard

it.

I am, &c.

LETTER II.

• Congenial passions souls together bind,
And every calling mingles with its kind;
Soldier unites with soldier, swain with swain,
The mariner with him that roves the main.'

N the preceding letter, Melissa, I have stated

IN

the divine law graciously given to regulate the christian church respecting marriage. The injunction you see is explicit: subjection is therefore an indispensable duty, and should be considered as a privilege eminently valuable.

But supposing the believer in Jesus had no rule in this case by which to regulate his conduct, one might reasonably conclude that a regard to his own happiness would prompt him to solicit the hand of her who, all things considered, is most likely to promote it. But is it probable, is it possible, that felicity can be se

cured by a connexion with one whose views of herself, of the world, and of God, are so different from those which experience has made to him both useful and familiar? It may be said, in reference to those that think so, as was said on another occasion; The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. They act more in character: their principles and their practice are consistent. For among these, few, if any instances, are seen of strong attachment to christians eminent for spirituality of heart and of conduct: and perhaps an individual cannot be found, who would not at once see the incongruity, and be even shocked at the bare proposal of marriage with a disciple of Mahomet, or a votary of Diana. But the believer in JESUS, who deliberately gives her hand to a merely nominal christian, is less cautious; because she must know that the object of her choice, however different and splendid his profession, is nevertheless as great a stranger to the life of grace and true godliness, as the deluded follower of that arch impostor, or the idolatrous worshipper of the Ephesian divinity!