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that they should look before they take this Leap in the Dark, that they should consider all the Circumstances that are before them, that they may have no Reason to repent when they shall be sure to have no Room for it.
Now, it is not the Matrimony, but the abuse of Matrimony, which is our present Subject, nor let the Ladies be offended, as if I was perswading Folks not to marry at all; it is not refusing Matrimony that I persuade to in order to prevent those Abuses, but a considering and weighing the Circumstances of Matrimony before it is consummated. I agree with the Maids Catechise, where the first Question is, What is the chief End of a Maid? and the Answer is, To be married. But I am Arguing to remove the Occasion of those Abuses which make the Matrimony ruinous, and a Disaster both to the Man and to the Maid.
This would secure the Affection of the Parties before they marry; they would be united before they were joined, they would be married even before they were wedded, the Love would be possess'd before the Persons, and they would have exchanged Hearts before they exchanged the Words of, I, N. take thee N; in short, Matrimony without Love is the Cart before the Horse, and Love without Matrimony is the Horse without any Cart at all.
Marrying is not such a frightful Thing that we should be terrified at the Thoughts of it, yet it is far from being such a trifling Thing either that we should run Headlong or Blindfold into it, without so much as looking before us. 'Twas a prudent Saying of a young Lady, who wanted neither Wit or Fortune to recommend her, that marrying on the Woman's Side
