Page:A Treatise concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed.djvu/104

 Error both ways, of which Reason as well as Duty and Affection, are to be the Directors and Guides: It is, no doubt, a Duty on both Sides to yield, to please, and oblige one another, where no just Objections are to be made; and those Husbands or Wives who decline one another criminally, ought to consider the matrimonial Vow and Duty in all its Particulars; but especially upon the ill Consequences which such a Coldness may produce; which, though not justifiable at all in the Person that may so fly out, yet 'tis what we ought to avoid, as we are not to lead one another into Temptations; and this is one of the Things which, as I said, those Courts of particular Justice take cognisance of among the Turks, But of this more at large in its Order. I am now chiefly talking of the Extreams of the first kind, and of an unrestrained Brutality.

I bury all the hateful Particulars which these Reproofs are pointed at, in the respect I preserve for decency of Expression; and conclude with saying, that those Branches of conjugal Disorder are the scandal of the Marriage Bed; every Christian, as well as every prudent and wise Man, will be ashamed, to think he should want a hint to restrain himself. As to the brutal World; Men and Women who give a loose to their Desires, of whatever kind, and hate all Mortifications; who despise Restraint and Rules; that scorn to think they want Advice, and are above Reproof; I have one Hint more for such, and that is this, let them go on and act with a full Gust; let them strain Nature to the utmost; and let them see whether if the Laws of or Man do not restrain them or punish them, Nature her self will not complain, openly