Portland gazette and Maine advertiser. (Portland, Me.) 1805-1818, 1807-10-26
piSfe:,aneous Selections.
THE LAY PREACHER.
g THO arc better Tim OWE"

| seven hundred wives and three hundred
! concubines were better than cue. Whe-
| Their the women of Jerusalem were
composed Of more manageable materi-
ais than modern females | am at loss !;
for Josephus, whose works | have
turned over, to gain information on
this knotty point, says nothing of the
matter. However, | am inclined TO
| think Solomon made his domestic ar
engagements after he "planted vine
yards " Had he chosen graver mo-
ment, he would not have told the most
confidential of his eunuchs, that seven
| hundred exp nsivs wives, and three
hundred capriCious concu5ines, were
better than one. Why the revenues
| Of gold-paved Jerusalem, or the bagn-
los Of its suburbs, could not have fur
nished robes for the married danes,
nor rakes for the free Sage men like
Solomon, are generally moderate in
their arithmetic of pleasures but this
was too bold sum in multiplication e.
yen for polygamist TO work.
In all probability, Solomon, though
the oriental writer's expatiate upon his
resources, found his stock too scanty
for the many and great clsims which
the daughters sf Jerusalem" must
/ have made. For late in life, when : the
pitcher was broken" and the silver
! cord Of love loosed." and " his desires
iailed," we find him gragely compos-
ing a sentcntious proverb, in praise Of
/ sociabllity, and reducing a thousand
companions TO one. His reasons, too,
are not drawn as they would have been,
when he framed his seraglio, from pas
sion and pleasure, but from utility !;
fer he supports his opinion by arguing,
IN the context, that two are better
thdn one !" because in difficulty, in bat
tie, they mutually assist or bedded in
Q frosty night, they keep each other
warm.
Although, in remarking upon Solo
mons voluptuousness, I have been re-
moved from my natural gravity, as a
| preacher, yet let not the wanton reader
, constT0c NY sermon as a satire upon
the sage Prince. After animadverting
upon the excess OF his practice, it is my
inttnlion to echo the beneyoience and
utility OF his social principle,
Two are better than one" Doctor
Franklin thought so, when he recon-
mended early marriages. AS | am Of
singular confluence myself | know
nothing Of the matter; bat ST. Paul, an
apostle Of experience, tells bachelor and
virgin christians, that il is better to
marry than to burn. If they feel this
heat, therefore, let them quench it in le-
gal couples, and choose for the wedding
ring poesy, two are better than one"
My physician declares, that in these de-
generate days, when illicit love is com :
mon, early marriage is favourable to
health the philosophers affirm that It
Is 70 n>orals.---The preacher, there
fore, concludes that "two are better
than one" applied 10 matrimony, is
precept productive Of happiness and
that young man, who will reject all
the concubines, and six hundred and
ninety nine Of TIE wives, which Sol
ONION thought necessary, may be pro-
nounced wiser, as it respects women
than that prince.
In the dark ages, as they WIRE Just
ly styled, devotional men used to think
that 81. Pete, the porter Of Heavens
wicket, would not open II to but one at
a time-Accordingly, monks and Her
mits would wander in deserts, or re-
side 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 vile in
tcrpr-tation and if they had meditateG
their Bibles well, they would have dis
covered that the founder of their reli-
glon was never SO happy as when
" much people" surrounded him
and the apostles chose compan-
ions in their travels ! the one sat So
cially at wedding supper, and the 9th
ers resorted to the temple, the town
hall, and the market place.
grieve to see melancholy man,
moping in the chimney corner, refusing
to " eat bread !" and when the cup goes
round, unwilling to pledge bumper.
Trust ME, thou son Of spleen, happi-
nessis doubled bT participation. Arise.
therefore, aad b even as the publican ;;
nt. snciui ia. n1nrru /. o. - lie door nl