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am upon here; the difference of Tempers is yet a thousand times worse, for this makes a continued Breach in everything they do or say, ruins the whole Family-Peace, destroys the Comfort of Life, expels Religion and every good thing; for, as the Scripture says, where there is Strife and Contention, there is every evil Work.
'Tis the horror of Matrimony when two contrary Tempers come together, when Fire and Tinder meet, they certainly blaze together; when the Spark and the Gunpowder touch, the whole House is blown up; 'tis great pity to see in some Families a patient Wife and a furious Husband, or a patient sober Husband, and a termagant fiery Scold; because there is the utmost Oppression on one side, and the utmost Rage and Violence on the other.
But to have two Devils together in one House, what can be expected but Ruin and Confusion to the whole Family? and at last either separation or destruction.
It is meerly for want of a suitability of Temper, that the Peace of so many Families is loft and destroyed, and Matrimony abused, and that so many, once happy People, are made miserable. But I shall say more of this still.
Matrimony is a state of Union, 'tis the nearest union that the Sexes can be placed in. This Union is appointed in order to the mutual felicity of the Parties; 'tis then a state that both Parties should be particularly careful of, and of their Conduct in, that they may make it answer the End for which it was so appointed, namely to preserve, and indeed to procure, the mutual Happiness to the Parties, and make that Union effectual.
