Page:A Treatise concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed.djvu/362

 Clamour of the Senses; Nature rebels against Principle, Vice gets the better of Virtue, and the wicked Appetite sinks all the Resolutions of Abstinence and Moderation.

what is all this Scandal heap'd up for? How mean, how sordid a Thing, if it be consider'd, abstracted from that specious Pretence? And what is the Difference betwixt this and Whoring, if there was not this Refuge of a scandalous Marriage? Would such Men scruple quenching the Flame a more irregular Way? How long would Virtue restrain them, if Modesty and Decency will not? How long will they be afraid of Crime, that are not afraid

Scandal?

Man, outrageous in his Appetite, must have a Relief, his sensual Part teazes and importunes him: How long would he hold out against it, if there was not this Relief under the Colour of Law? As if the Letter of the Law would defend him, where the Essence, the intent and meaning of the Law is against him.

I can never hope for such a Man, that he would restrain himself for fear of the Sin, who will not for fear of the Scandal, especially where the Scandal brings Crime along with it too: 'Tis a Crime upon himself; 'tis a Sin against himself, against his Fame, and against his Family and Posterity; it lays an indelible Blot upon them, and he Brands himself with such a Mark of Infamy, that not only his Children after him shall bear a Share of, but such as his Children themselves shall reproach him with in their Turn, and when 'twill be too late for him to Blush, if it should not be too late for him to Repent of it.