nly to be preferred to a connection with
a person who will diminish, instead of increasing, your happiness.
However, the remark of the apostle, "such shall have trouble in the
flesh," doubtless had reference chiefly to the peculiar troubles of the
times, when Christians were exposed to persecution, the loss of goods,
and even of life itself, for Christ's sake; the trials of which would
be much greater in married than in single life.

Having these two principles fixed in your mind, you will be prepared
calmly to consider what qualifications are requisite in a companion for
life. These I shall divide into two classes: 1. Those which are
_indispensable_. 2. Those which are _desirable_. Of the first class, I
see none which can be dispensed with, without so marring the character
of a man as to render him an unfit associate for an intelligent
Christian lady. But, although the latter are very important, yet,
without possessing all of them, a person may be an agreeable companion
and a man of real worth.

FIRST CLASS.

1. _The first requisite in a companion for life is piety._ I know not
how a Christian can form so intimate a connection as this with one who
is living in rebellion against God. You profess to love Jesus above
every other object; and to forsake all, that you may follow him. How,
then, could you unite your interest with one who continually rejects and
abuses the object of your soul's delight? Indeed, I am at a loss to
understand how a union can be formed between the carnal and the renewed
heart. They are in direct opposition to each other. The one overflows
with love to God; the other is at enmity against him. How, then, can
there be any congeniality of feeling? Can fire unite with water? A
desire to form such a union must be a dark mark against any one's
Christian character. The Scriptures are very clear and decided on this
point. The intermarrying of the righteous with the wicked was the
principal cause of the general corruption of the inhabitants of the old
world, which provoked God to destroy them with the flood. Abraham, the
father of the faithful, was careful that Isaac, the son of promise,
should not take a wife from among the heathen. The same precaution was
taken by Isaac and Rebecca, in relation to Jacob. The children of Israel
were also expressly forbidden to make marriages with the heathen, lest
they should be turned away from the Lord, to the worship of idols. And
we see a mournful example of the i