£48 
Hugh Fders* last Legacy fo his Daughter, [Oct. 1, 
upon therm bv eteri'.itv. To the only 
wise God I commend yo‘n, dear child. 
15, There are two.very great turns in 
man's life.: tim one a lawful calimg, the 
othe." is marriage: and miscarriages in 
citiier are almost irrecoverable. For the 
former, 1 mast say the lesse, because of 
your sex, though your oresent condition 
may lead you to the service of others: 
anri then know, fdelity and diligence 
are your duties; your time and parts will 
then be anoirhers, not your own : eye* 
service 'will not be acceptable to God or 
man,’ much lesse comfortable to your 
self. Many have written upon this sub¬ 
ject, as Dr. GougCf and others. 
For marriage, though your present 
estate (according to the world) renders 
you many w-ayes hopsless: yet your 
times are in God's hands, and daily ex- 
perience (with my own) wil let you know, 
tliat as it is the joyning together of one 
man and one woman lawfully, in an in- 
dissolvable bond, either for an help, pro¬ 
creation of children (which were before 
the fall) or a remedy against sin since 
that: so it bath many concernments in 
it, where goodness and suitableness are 
the primary ingredients: and, as the 
husbands duty is love, teaching, pro¬ 
viding. honoring, <5c. so the wife’s must 
be sutjection, suitable to that love in ail 
the pans of it; and these duties need 
mutual siipports, and this conjugateness 
(like a yoke) must still be lin’d with 
inm-e love to make the draught easie. 
Against this love, the devil and temp¬ 
tations will be striving. People so en¬ 
gaged, need a standard, (even the word) 
to be set up, to guide all by: they need 
to observe each other's spirits: they 
need to pray out, not quarrel out their 
first brablings. They need at first to 
dwel much in their own duties, before 
they step into each others; when re¬ 
pentance comes too late, the best is to 
be made of the present condition. Head 
Pro, 31. Oh the bitterness of unequal 
nuitehe."! Oh their mine and misery! 
I ever left you free, and do ; only marry 
in and for the Lord; the sensual part of 
that condition, can never answer the in¬ 
cumbrances may attend it. Let Clirist 
be your Husband, and be will provide 
you one to his own liking; do nothing 
iieitin witiiout prayer, scripture, and 
counsel. The Lord love vou, my dear 
child. 
16. For the world (I mean the people 
in it) and that part of it, the Lord hath 
set you iu; I have very much to say, bc- 
«<tuse tny days in it are not a few (a^ we 
account.) Believe our Saviour and the 
word {John 16, last) and you will find, 
that in the world you shall have tribu¬ 
lation ; and your pa-^age out of it must 
be through many tributalio?is, and per¬ 
secutions to >, ij you will live godly. The 
ccorid loves her own : you must look upon 
it as your enemy, and use it so; take 
what you may lawfully from it, and em¬ 
brace not this present norld, it will kiss 
you and kill you ; like a sea of glass, it 
soon cracks, though it glister;, and when 
you have iron shoos that tread upon it, 
bow soon may you drop in? The world 
will give you no more credit then you 
have of the .world to maintain it, and 
therefore whilst you are in the world, 
though you may know many, yet be ac¬ 
quainted with few, and even trust none. 
Many dying men speak much about 
the vanity of the w’orkl: but truly, as I 
would not die in a pet, so I would not 
quarrel with, or leave the world, because 
I could be no greater in it, but because 
I could not do nor be better in it, and 
that God is pleas’d I should leave it for 
a better: 1 wialt I had never been vain 
in vain world, but I appeal to, and 
plead with, Christ for my peace. So use 
the zcorld, as if you used it not: for the 
world hath a principle of decay in all th.e 
glory of it; dote not on it, my poor 
child. ’ 
17. And whilst I am in the world, and 
advising about it, there is a great rarity 
in the world, .if you could reach it, and 
that is a friend : which is a commodity 
so very scarce, that it will be your wis¬ 
dom so to look upon a friend tbis day, as 
likely to be an enemy to-merrow. How 
many sad experiences can I witness 
to of tins kind, yea, in these times and 
changes? Fair dove-coats have most 
pigeons? Lost estates know no friends : 
Job and all the saints complain, Duvjd 
sadly, daul had none to stand by him; 
you see most men now are either upon 
their own securitie or preferments; one 
cries, My friend betrayed me: another. 
My friend failed tne: and some cry, All 
fesk is false; and much I could say, but 
that other causes are to be artemled 
above instrumental. Tiiey say, Two may 
keep counsel if one be aicay. So hard it 
is to get a friend; and if you have many, 
you have hardly any. The friend I com¬ 
mend, is a soul-li-iend, which you will 
never find among children, fools or pro- 
phane. An experienced Christian friend 
1 intend, who must have three qualifi¬ 
cations; he or she must have the art and 
skill of a friend, few know it; must have 
4 ths 
