do? And must the most detestable Things go on in practice, because we dare not go on to cry them down? God forbid we should by Silence seem to approve that Wickedness, while that Silence is occasioned only because the Wickedness is too gross to be reproved.
Sure our Language is not so barren of Words as that we cannot find out proper Expressions to reprehend an impudent Generation, without Breach of Decency in the Diction; or that immodest Actions may not be modestly exposed.
If corrupt Imaginations will rise up, and Men will please themselves with the Difficulty I am put to for Words; if they will turn my most reserved Terms into lewd and vitious Ideas, and debauch their Thoughts while I expose their Debaucheries, let them go on their own Way; let them think as wickedly as they please, they shall owe it to themselves, not to me; both the Fire and the Tinder are all their own. Here shall be no Materials to work upon, no Combustibles to kindle, but what they bring with them.
But the Work must be done in spite of the Difficulty. Shall they watch for a slip of my Pen, and take Advantage, if possible, from any misplaced Word, to reprove me of Indecency in the necessary Work of reproving their shameless Immodesty? Must I be ashamed to expose the Crime which they are not ashamed to be guilty of, and blush to mention the Things they boast of Doing? The Truth is, I know not why I should not freely name the Men, who in the open Coffee-houses, and in their common wicked Discourses, publickly brag of the most immodest and shameless Be-
