A Thought upon Marriage 1. I AM not now about to speak to men of the world, or to them that have only the form of religion; but to you who have experienced, if you do not now, the "faith which worketh by love:" And, in speaking to you, I do not peremptorily assert anything. I barely propose a thought that rises in my mind, and beg you to consider it. 2. You have some thoughts of altering your condition; and we know, "marriage is honourable in all men." But is your eye single herein? This is worthy your most serious consideration. Retire a little into yourself, and ask your own heart : "What is it moves me to think of this?" 3. I will tell you how it was with me: Though I do not know I was ever low-spirited, (my spirits being always the same, whether in sickness or in health,) yet I was often uneasy. Even in vigorous health, in plenty, and in the midst of my friends, I wanted something; I was not satisfied. I looked about for happiness, but could not find it. Then I thought, "O, if I had but such a person with me, I should surely be happy." I mused with myself, "How lovely is her look How agreeably she talks !" I thought of Sappho's words: "Bless'd as the immortal gods is he, The youth that fondly sits by thee; And hears and sees thee all the while Softly speak and sweetly smile." "Surely, this is the very thing I want; and could I attain it, I should then no more be solitary ! For, Thou from all shades the darkness wouldst exclude, And from a desert banish solitude : Therefore, with her I can be happy; without her I never can." 4. Perhaps your case is something like mine. Let me then ask you a few questions. Were you ever convinced of sin? of your lost, undone state? Did you feel the wrath of God abiding on you? If so, what did you then want to make you happy? "To know, my God is reconciled." You had your wish. You were enabled to say boldly, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." And were not you then happy? "Indeed I was." In what?

"Indeed I was." In what? In the knowledge and love of God. 5. And if you have now the same knowledge and love of God, does it not answer the same end? Will not the same cause still produce the same effect? If, therefore, you are not happy now, is it not because you have not that intercourse with God which you then had? And are you seeking to supply the want of that intercourse by the enjoyment of a creature? You imagine that near connexion with a woman will make amends for distance from God! Have you so learned Christ? Has your expe rience taught you no better than this? 6. You were happy once; you knew you were; happy in God, without being beholden to any creature. You did not need Love's all-sufficient sea to raise With drops of creature-happiness. And is it wise to seek it now anywhere else than where you found it before? You have not the same excuse with those who never were happy in God. And how little is the seeking it in any creature better than idolatry ! Is it not, in effect, loving the creature more than the Creator? Does it not imply that you are "a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God?" 7. O return to Him that made you happy before, and He will make you happy again. Repeat your prayer, "Keep me dead to all below; Only Christ resolved to know : Firm, and disengaged, and free; Seeking all my bliss in thee!" Seek, accept of nothing in the room of, God. Let all the springs of your happiness be in him. "Seek first," just as you did before, "the kingdom of God and his righteousness;" the knowledge and love of God; "fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ;" "and all other things shall be added unto you;" particularly joy in the Holy Ghost. Again, Know God, and teach thy soul to know The joys that from religion flow : Then every grace shall be thy guest, And peace be there to crown the rest. L1s BURN, June 11, 1785.