A Treatise Concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed

SHEWING

I. THE NATURE OF MATRIMONY, ITS SACRED ORIGINAL, AND THE TRUE MEANING OF ITS INSTITUTION
II. THE GROSS ABUSE OF MATRIMONIAL CHASTITY, FROM THE WRONG NOTIONS WHICH HAVE POSSESSED THE WORLD, DEGENERATING EVEN TO WHOREDOM
III. THE DIABOLICAL PRACTICE OF ATTEMPTING TO PREVENT CHILD-BEARING BY PHYSICAL PREPARATIONS
IV. THE FATAL CONSEQUENCES OF CLANDESTINE OR FORCED MARRIAGES, THRO’ THE PERSUASION, INTEREST, OR INFLUENCE OF PARENTS AND RELATIONS, TO WED THE PERSON THEY HAVE NO LOVE FOR, BUT OFTENTIMES AN AVERSION TO
V. OF UNEQUAL MATCHES, AS TO THE DISPROPORTION OF AGE; AND HOW SUCH, MANY WAYS, OCCASION A MATRIMONIAL WHOREDOM
VI. HOW MARRIED PERSONS MAY BE GUILTY OF CONJUGAL LEWDNESS, AND THAT A MAN MAY, IN EFFECT, MAKE A WHORE OF HIS OWN WIFE

ALSO, MANY OTHER PARTICULARS OF FAMILY CONCERN
LOOSE THOUGHTS, AT FIRST, LIKE SUBTERRANEAN FIRES,
BURN INWARD, SMOTHERING, WITH UNCHASTE DESIRES;
BUT GETTING VENT, TO RAGE AND FURY TURN,
BURST IN VOLCANOES, AND LIKE ÆTNA BURN;
THE HEAT INCREASES AS THE FLAMES ASPIRE,
AND TURNS THE SOLID HILLS TO LIQUID FIRE
SO, SENSUAL FLAMES, WHEN RAGING IN THE SOUL,
FIRST VITIATE ALL THE PARTS, THEN FIRE THE WHOLE;
BURN UP THE BRIGHT, THE BEAUTEOUS, THE SUBLIME,
AND TURN OUR LAWFUL PLEASURES INTO CRIME