Portland Gazette, And Maine Advertiser

Miscellaneous Selections.

THE LAY PREACHER.

" Two are better than one."

THIS is Solomon's theory, and I like it; but his practice was rather too extensive; for in his luxurious palace seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines were better than one. Whether the women of Jerusalem were composed of more manageable materials than modern females I am at a loss; for Josephus, whose works I have turned over, to gain information on this knotty point, says nothing of the matter. However, I am inclined to think Solomon made his domestic arrangements after he " planted vineyards " Had he chosen a graver moment, he would not have told the most confidential of his eunuchs, that seven hundred expensive wives, and three hundred capricious concubines, were better than one. Why the revenues of gold-paved Jerusalem, or the bagnio of its suburbs, could not have furnished robes for the married dames, nor rakes for the free ! Sage men like Solomon, are generally moderate in their arithmetic of pleasures : but this was too bold a sum in multiplication even for a polygamist to work.

In all probability, Solomon, though the oriental writers expatiate upon his resources, found his stock too scanty for the many and great claims which " the daughters of Jerusalem" must have made. For late in life, when " the pitcher was broken," and " the silver cord of love loosed."and "his desires failed," we find him gravely composing a sententious proverb, in praise of sociability, and reducing a thousand companions to one. His reasons, too, are not drawn as they would have been, when he framed his seraglio, from passion and pleasure, but from utility; for he supports his opinion by arguing in the context, that " two are better than one ;" because in difficulty, in battle, they mutually assist ; or bedded in a frosty night, they keep each other warm.

Although, in remarking upon Solomon's voluptuousness, I have been removed from my natural gravity, as a preacher, yet let not the wanton reader construe my sermon as a satire upon the sage Prince. After animadverting upon the excess of his practice, it is my intention to echo the benevolence and utility of his social principle.

"Two are better than one."
Doctor Franklin thought so, when he recommended early marriages. As I am of singular continence myself I know nothing of the matter ; but St. Paul, an apostle of experience, tells bachelor and virgin christians, That it is better to marry than to burn. If they feel this heat, therefore, let them quench it in legal couples, and choose for the wedding ring poesy, " two are better than one."
My physician declares, that in these degenerate days, when illicit love is common, early marriage is favourable to health : the philosophers affirm that it is to morals.—The preacher, therefore, concludes that " two are better than one," applied to matrimony, is a precept productive of happiness; and that a young man, who will reject all the concubines, and six hundred and ninety nine of the wives, which Solomon thought necessary, may be pronounced wiser, as it respects women than that prince.

In the dark ages, as they were justly styled, devotional men used to think that St. Peter, the porter of Heaven's wicket, would not open it to but one at a time.-Accordingly, monks and Hermits would wander in deserts, or reside solitary in caves, and insist that an error had crept into the proverbs, and that Solomon certainly wrote " one is better than two." This was a vile interpretation : and if they had meditated their Bibles well, they would have discovered that the founder of their religion was never so happy as when "much people" surrounded him; and the apostles chose companions in their travels! the one sat sociably at a wedding supper, and the others resorted to the temple, the town-hall, and the market place.

I grieve to see a melancholy man, moping in the chimney corner, refusing to "eat bread;" and when the cup goes round, unwilling to pledge a bumper. Trust me, thou son of spleen, happiness is doubled by participation. Arise. therefore, and be even as the publican; be social, be merry ; go to the door of thy tent, and if thou seest a man of understanding pass by, entreat him, "turn in hither, I beseech thee."-So shall the evil spirit flee, as of yore, from the harp of the shepherd, and all the cares of thy heart be lulled by the pleasant communion of a friend.