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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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mot slanderers , sober , faithful in all things . " 1 "Tim . iii . 11 . A minister ' s wife ouglit , therefore ^ to study her husbands reputation , and give weight to his instructions , by her own discreet and prudent conduct . In the management of her
family , aware that she has taken upon herself the task of making a limited income support a respectable appearance , she will study the arts of frugal but decent housekeeping : and will be particularly careful that no needless expenses be incurred on her own account .
But this is , comparatively , a trifling object , though by no means to be overlooked . The main object of the Christian teacher will naturally be , to have his family set an example ' of attention to religious duties , and of
general decorum and propriety of conduct : he will particularly look to his wife for ready and active co-operation in these important particulars . He will be greatly disappointed if she throw any obstacles in the wav , if she
do not rather cordially join with , and even encourage him , in the establishment and maintenance of family prayer ' , he will rejoice if she appear disposed to qualify herself for the
future education of her own young family ( if it should please God to entrust her with such a charge ) , by previous reading * by personal observation and inquiry , and by an active attention , in the meantime , to the
religious and other instruction of the lower classes of the congregation , either in charity or Sunday schools or otherwise ; and if she set , In these respects , a good example to the young women in geueral of her acquaintance . What better preparation can she make for a successful discharge of duty in the education of her own children ;
who , in the natural course of things , fall to be almost exclusively the objects of their mother ' s attention during that most important period of their lives , when those impressions are to be made which are most likely to be
lasting , and even to give the prevailing direction to the whole of their future lives ! For this you are indeed better prepared than most young women , by the care and attention you have shewn to the management of the Sunday schools at ; and by tliQ alacrity with which , even to your
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marriage day , you have submitted to be taught , as well as to exert yourself to teach . In both these respects you will , 1 am sure , continue to set a good example , as far as your situation affords you opportunity , will willingly place yourself on the bench of instruction , under either your husband or Mr . j or will lend your
assistance to establish order in any school which may at present subsist , or hereafter be established . But while you are thus actively religious yourself , and engaged in promoting it among others , you will not forget that you are to help , encourage and support
your husband , by cultivating a prevailing cheerfulness , both of the countenance and heart . In the ordinary course of his multiplied employments , he will often return from the school , the study , or from visits abroad , fatigued and exhausted ; let him find
his home made comfortable by pleasant looks and cheerful conversation , or by a readiness to join in his plans of relaxation by such reading as you can be both interested in . I hope he will not often , but I cannot flatter him he will not sometimes meet with
disappointments , from want of success in his public or private schemes , from the misbehaviour of his friends , either in a general , moral respect , or to himself in particular . In such cases you must be his refuge , his comfort and counsellor . In no such cases will you ever aggravate , but soften and
conciliate as much as possible . In particular you will study to allay any little resentments he may feel upon such occasions . This caution may , perhaps , be particularly necessary in the case of two ministers , for each of whom there will , of course , be partialities , according to the particular tastes and intimacies of individuals .
Your husband is in this respect particularly happy in a colleague who , I trust , will always find himself equally happy iu him ; indeed , I persuade myself that there will never be any jealousies or heart-burnings , in consequence of preferences which are inevitable , and in themselves perfectly innocent , either between them or
among the members of the congregation . But if any thing of this kind should occur , let it be your business never to hear any officious reports that may be suggested to you by well
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5 £$ Letter to a Dissenting Minister ' s Wife .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1817, page 598, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2469/page/26/
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