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adapted to the Argument which it is brought to confirm, (viz.) that to love one Person, be it Man or Woman, and then marry another, is neither honest to the Person quitted, or to the Person married, but especially not to the last, and more especially not honest to the Person herself or himself; in a word, it is not an honest Marriage; for the engaged Affection is a just Impediment, and ought to have been declared and discovered at the Book, upon the Declaration appointed to be made by the Minister, as above, or before they came so far.
As for the Success of such Marriages, the Blessing attending them, and what Happiness is to be expected from them, it seems to be laid open in Part, in the little History just recited; but 'tis really visible to common Experience in almost every Age and Place in the World, I mean our English World.
What Delight, what Complaisance can there be in that Matrimony, where the Heart did not go with the Hand? where the Marriage may be said to be made from the Teeth outward, and no more? where the Love is fixed in one Place, and the Bed made in another? What is this but a fraudulent Contract, a Protestation, with a design to deceive, which, by the Way, is the very Essence of a Lye, and one of the worst Kind too?
What Complaisance or Pleasure in their Enjoyments of any kind, between the unhappy Couple, and how can it be called a fair Marriage? Two swear to love, and at the same time both know they neither do or can; that they neither desire it or intend it, and they come to the Book, two Carcasses without Souls, without assent or consent, but in meer subjection toCircumi-
