Page:A Treatise concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed.djvu/97

 it, where both the Man and Wife are fully examined, and Judgment given as the Circumstances require. I am assured also, that Judgment is given in those Cases, not in a ludicrous manner with game and sport, and a Court, or rather Croud, standing round, to laugh and make a jest either of one Side or other; but with a solemn Gravity, suitable at least to the Dignity of the Judge who passes the Sentence, and to the Reverence which both Sides pay to the Laws themselves.

is the Method wholly Turkish, and to be objected against as a Piece of Mahometan Original; but 'tis founded upon the antient usage of all the Eastern Countries, in whose Customs it is to be found, though with some Variation, even as far back as the Phencian and Carthaginian Empires, and as the Egyptian and Persian Government and Monarchies. Hence the Phrase made use of in the Scripture by the Apostle Paul, called Due Benevolence, on one hand is commanded; while on the other hand Chambering and Wantonness, which is suppos'd to relate to the pretended lawful Intimacies between a Man and his Wife are forbidden.

may be expected I should explain my self upon those Scripture Expressions, and there is sufficient room for it, and that with decency too; but I resolve not to come to the brink of the Offence, nor shall the Reader be able to say, I go all the length I might go.

Scripture Expressions are expounded by the Reverend and Learned Annotators, and to them I refer; and as to the Courts of Justice under the Grand Seignior, deciding such Cases as these, where Complaints are made by either Sex, I could give large Accounts of them, but