And, in a word, as there is no content in the
embraces of a harlot, so there is no greater joy in the reciprocal
affection and endearing embraces of a loving, obedient, and chaste wife.
Nor is that the principal end for which matrimony was ordained, but that
the man might follow the law of his creation by increasing his kind and
replenishing the earth; for this was the injunction laid upon him in
Paradise, before his fall. To conclude, a virtuous wife is a crown and
ornament to her husband, and her price is above all rubies: but the
ways of a harlot are deceitful.
* * * * *
CHAPTER VII
_Of Errors in Marriages; Why they are, and the Injuries caused by
them._
By errors in marriage, I mean the unfitness of the persons marrying to
enter into this state, and that both with respect to age and the
constitution of their bodies; and, therefore, those who design to enter
into that condition ought to observe their ability and not run
themselves into inconveniences; for those that marry too young may be
said to marry unseasonably, not considering their inability, nor
examining the forces of nature; for some, before they are ripe for the
consummation of so weighty a matter, who either rashly, of their own
accord, or by the instigation of procurers or marriage-brokers, or else
forced thereto by their parents who covet a large dower take upon them
this yoke to their prejudice; by which some, before the expiration of a
year, have been so enfeebled, that all their vital moisture has been
exhausted; which had not been restored again without great trouble and
the use of medicines.
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