A supplement to The Morning-exercise at Cripple-Gate, or, Several more cases of conscience practically…

5. The husbands Love is showed to his wife, in Giving her a good Example; namely of Piety, Gravity, Charity, Wisdom, and Goodness, which will be the most constant and effectual Lecture that he can read unto her. The^(b) Philosopher could say, That a well-bred wife, as soon as she is married, accounts the way and course of her husband as a Law prescribed to her by God himself. The good or evil Example of a Magistrate, Minister, or Husband, hath a more real, though insensible, influence upon the actions of their inferiors, than all their^(c) Laws and Precepts. And as for the Husband, he is called the guide of her youth, Prov. 2.17. If he be holy, quiet, and industrious; she cannot for shame, be wicked, froward, and idle. His discourses will direct hers; his prayers will teach her to pray; his justice, temperance and charity will be a law, a rule, a motive to make her just, and sober, and charitable. If he be an Atheist, an Epicure, a Pharisee, it undoes her. He is to go before her; and usually she follows him either to Hell or Heaven.

5. The husbands Love is shewed to his wife, in Giving her a good Example; namely of Piety, Gravity, Charity, Wisdom, and Goodness, which will be the most constant and effectual Lecture that he can read unto her. The^(b) Philosopher could say, That a well-bred wife, as soon as she is married, accounts the way and course of her husband as a Law prescribed to her by God himself. The good or evil Example of a Magistrate, Minister, or Husband, hath a more real, though insensible, influence upon the actions of their inferiors, than all their^(c) Laws and Precepts. And as for the Husband, he is called the guide of her youth, Prov. 2.17. If he be holy, quiet, and industrious; she cannot for shame, be wicked, froward, and idle. His discourses will direct hers; his prayers will teach her to pray; his justice, temperance and charity will be a law, a rule, a motive to make her just, and sober, and charitable. If he be an Atheist, an Epicure, a Pharisee, it undoes her. He is to go before her; and usually she follows him either to Hell or Heaven.