of their ftay is their duty, there is more reafon to hope it will not betray them to ill; for temptations are moft apt to affault ftraglers, those that put themselves out of their proper road. And truely I fee not who can more properly be faid to be fo, than those Women whofe means of fubfiftence lies in the Country, and yet will spend it no where but at London: which feems to carry fomething of oppofition to God's Providence, who furely never caus'd their Lot to fall, as the Pfalmift fpeaks, in a fair ground, in goodly heritages, Pfal. 16. with an intent they fhould never inhabit them. The twelve tribes of Ifrael had their peculiar portions in Canaan affign'd them by lot, Fof. 14. 2. and every one acquiefc'd in his part, dwelt in his own Inheritance. Had they been impatient of living any where but in the Metropolis, had they all crouded to Jerufalem, all the reft of the Land would have been as defolate before the Captivity as it was after, none would have been left but fuch as Nabuzaradan permitted to stay, Fer. 52.16. fome of the poor to dress the vines, and to till the ground. And truly, the fame is like to be the fate of this Nation, if this humour go's on as it has begun; which may in time prove as mischievous to the publick, as it daily is to private Families.

20. BUT befides this, 'tis yet farther to be confider'd, that where God gives an Eftate,

he

he, as fupreme Landlord, affixes fomething of duty, lays a kind of rent charge upon it, expects it should maintain both Hofpitality and Charity; and fure both these are fitteft to be done upon the place whence the ability of them rifes. All publick Taxes ufe to be levy'd where the Eftate lyes: and I know not why these which are God's Affeffments upon it, fhould not be paid there too. When a Gentleman's Land becomes profitable unto him by the sweat and labour of his poor Neighbours and Tenants, 'twill be a kind of mugling the ox, 1 Cor. 9. 9. if they never tafte of the fruit of their pains, if they fhall never have the refrefhments of a good Meal, or an Alms; which they are not very like to meet with, if all the profits be fent up to maintain an Equipage, and keep up a Parade in Town. But alas! tis often not only the annual profits that go that way, not only the Crop, but the Soil too: thofe Luxuries ufually prey upon the vitals, eat out the very heart of an Eftate, and many have tay'd in the Town, 'till they have nothing left in the Country to retire to.

21. Now where this proceeds from the Wife, what account can fhe give to her Huf band, whofe Eafinefs and Indulgence (for that must be fuppos'd in the cafe) fhe has fo abus'd; as alfo to her Pofterity and Family, who for her Pride must be brought low, reduc'd to a condition beneath her Quality, becaufe

་

because she affected to live above it? But she will yet worse answer it to her felf, on whom fhe has brought not only the inconvenience but the guilt. 'Tis fure a lofty mind will feel fmart enough of a fall; a diminution, much more an indigence will be fufficiently grievous to a vain and lavish humour; yet here it will farther have an additional fting from the Confcience, that fhe ows it only to her own Pride and Folly, a moft embittering confideration, and fuch as advances the affliction beyond that of a more innocent poverty; as much as the pain of an envenom'd Arrow exceeds that of another.

22. BUT the faddeft reckoning of all is that which she is to make to God, who has declar'd he hates Robbery, tho' for a Burnt-offering to himself. How will he then deteft this Robbery, this impoverishing of the Hufband, when 'tis only to make an oblation to Vanity and Excefs? It fhould therefore be the care of all Wives to keep themselves from a guilt for which God and Man, yea and themfelves alfo fhall equally accufe them, and to keep their expences within fuch limits, that as Bees fuck, but do not violate or deface the flowers, fo they as joint proprietaries with the Husbands, may enjoy, but not devour and deftroy his fortune.

23. I have now run through the duties to be perform'd unto the Husbands, wherein I have

not

not us'd the Exactness of a Cafuift, in curioufly anatomizing every part, and fhewing all the moft minute particulars reducible to each head. I have only drawn out the greater lines, and infifted on those wherein Wives are moft frequently deficient. I fhall only add this caution, that whatever is duty to the Husband, is equally fo, be he good or ill. The Apoftle commands Subjection and Fidelity even to an heathen Husband, 1 Pet. 3. 12. and 'tis not now their defect either in Piety or Morality, that can absolve the Wife. For, befides the inconvenience of making her duty precarious, and lyable to be fubftracted upon every pretence of demerit, fhe has by folemn contract renounc'd that liberty, and in their Marriagevow taken him for better for worfe; and it is too late after vows to make enquiry, Prov. 20. 25. to feek to break loofe from the bond of her Soul; and how uneafy foever the perverseness of the Husband may render it, he cannot thereby make it lefs, but more rewardable by God. For what the Apostle fpeaks in the cafe of Servants, is no lefs applyable to this, 1 Pet. 2. 19. for this is thankworthy, if for confcience towards God ye endure grief, fuffering wrongfully. What-ever duty is perform'd to Man with afpect on God, he owns it as to himself; fo that how unworthy foever the Husband may be, the Wife cannot mif-place her obfervance, whilft fhe finally ter

minates

minates it on that infinite goodness and Majefty, to whom no Love or Obedience can be enough.

24. FROM this relation of a Wife, there ordinarily fprings another, that of a Mother; to which there belongs a diftinct duty, which may be branch'd into many feverals: but I fhall at prefent only reduce them to two heads, Love and Care. A Mother is a title of fo much tenderness, that we find it borrow'd by our common dialect to express the most exuberant kindnefs; nay, even in Sacred Style it has the fame use, and is often fet as the highest example our weakness can comprehend of the Divine Compaffions. So that Nature feems fufficiently to have fecur'd the Love of Mothers to their Children, without the aid of any pofitive Law. Yet we find this (as other inftincts of Nature) is fometimes violated, and oftener perverted and apply'd to miftaken purposes: the firft is by a defect of love; the other, by an imprudent excefs of it: the defect do's, I prefume, more rarely occur than the other; yet it doth fometimes happen, and that either from a morofe fowernefs of humour, or elfe from too vehement an intention on fomething else.

25. SOME Women have fuch a ruggedness of nature, that they can love nothing. The ugly Paffions of Anger and Envy have, like Pharaoh's lean kine, eat up the more amiCc

able