Selected quad for the lemma: life_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A27966
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The Bachelor's directory being a treatise of the excellence of marriage, of its necessity, and the means to live happy in it : together with an apology for the women against the calumnies of the men.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing B261; ESTC R40746
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88,169
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301
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such infinite care has been taken to cause an exact observation of Marriage Is it a wonder that in the Republick of Lycurgus the haters of it should be excluded from publick sports Spectacles and entertainments Can one be surprised that in the Common-wealth of Plato Batchelors of 35 years were accounted infamous In a word it is miraculous that in all times and even amongst the barbarous Nations a particular deference has been payed to married men and that Marriage has been much more esteemed than Celibacy It is Sir the foundation of the world and the inexhaustable source of Families 'T is that which gives Citizens to Cities Inhabitants to Provinces and Subjects to Kingdoms 'T is that which affords Kings to People and People to Kings 'T is that which furnishâ— the Country with Labourers the Tribunals with Judges the Churches with Preachers and the Armies with Souldiers 'T is that which has producâ—â— Heroes on Earth and Gods in Heaven Poets have married Gods as well as Men. Saturne had his Cebelâ— and Jupiter his Juno both which have been Mothers of several of those false Divinities which Pagan antiquity formerly adored In a word 't is Marriage that gives life to Arts and Sciences That keeps up Traffick That maintains Societies and to which 〈◊〉 owing the greatest part of those wholâ— some Laws and prudent Disciplineâ— without which the world would bâ— but a Cavern of Thieves Can it bâ— too much esteemed after this And needs there any more to prove thaâ— nothing is better or more excellent if you except a real continence Yes Sir there is required more for one may make appear that it such in a manner yet more convincingly You will be satisfied of iâ— if you consider it with me First as the bond of the most perfect most sweet and most wholsome of all humane conjunctions And Secondly as the exercise of the most lawful most agreeable and most absolute authority of the world Nothing unquestionably is more perfect than this union in respect to its subject to its end and to its manner Marriage unites Man and Woman that is to say what there is of most excellent and most perfect in the corporeal nature what resembles in it self all the Beautys of this great Universe what alone is of more value than all the other Creatures together In sine what by the understanding and reason with which it is endowed to the exclusion of all other Creatures has merited the glorious name of the Image of God What do you imagine to be the first part of this subject It is a Celestial Soul It is an immortal Spirit an angelical and immaterial Substance It is a being that partakes in some sort of that of God himself Seneca goes yet further When he considers its excellency he will have it to be God himself who that as I may say is come to lodge within our bodies Quid aliudvoces animam nisi Sen. Ep. 32. Deum in humano corpore hospitem 'T is that makes St. Austin say That after God nothing is better than the Soul Anima post Deum nihil melius As to the Body which is the other part that Marriage unites in the Man and woman we may affirm that as miserable as it is in relation to its substance and to the various accidents to which it is subject it is notwithstanding the most perfect and most excellent work of Nature in respect of its composition which as the Psalmist so ellegantly asserts is all embroadery of its aim which is to serve as an organ to the Soul and to be as it were its Ornament Corpus est vestimentum animae says St. Chrysoslom The Body is the Garment of the Soul and in a word of its use which is to be imployed in the most noble most necessary and most important actions of life Behold then the first perfection of Maraiage viz. That it unites Bodies and Souls that it joynes together the two finest Creatures in the World That it is a composition that is most rare and precious in the essence of things This kind of Union is seen no where else nor in any other subject The Conjunction of the Stars is a Union purely corporeal the Copulation of Beasts is a Union purely carnal Fornication is a Union of Body without Soul And Friendship as strong as it may be betwixt two friends is notwithstanding but a Union of Souls without Body There is nothing but Marriage that truly unites Bodies and Souls togather Its second perfection consists in its end which according to nature is to multiply men according to grace is to encrease the number of the Elect and according to Nature and Grace to retain the Sexes in the bounds of Wisdom Modesty and Honesty in removing the disorders of debauchery What can be more worthy of God and Man than this End I say in the last place that the manner of this Union likewise makes up one of its beauties Marriage doth not only joyn the Bodies it also unites the Souls 'T is much I confess but there is still something incomparably greater It not only unites Bodies and Souls but O surprising wonder of two Bodies and two Souls it makes one and the same Person Man and Wife says Jesus Christ are no more two but one flesh Aristotle affirms of a real friendship that it is a soul which inhabits in two Bodies But the union of Marriage is still much more intimate They are no more two Bodies but one single Body no more two Souls but one single Soul They are no longer two Bodies tyed to one Soul No longer two Souls confounded in one Body 'T is a something I know not what which is not absolutely one or t'other but is more than both and cannot be expressed Possibly the Comick Poet thought of nothing less than to represent to us the wonder of this Union when he made the diverting peice of his Amphytrion It is notwithstanding what he doth after the most natural way imaginable in the Scene of the two Sosias He makes them to be of so perfect a resemblance that they look upon one another as one and the same person They are not at all distinguishable They are two in number yet but one in action and movement They always speak by I and not by We. They do not say thou art there and I am here but I am there I am here Plautus expresses it in his Language with an emphasis we cannot render in ours What you would persuade me no body ever heard says Amphytrion to Sosia that one man should be at the same time in two different places Nemo unquam homo antehac Vidit Plnut Amphyt Act 2. Sc. 1. nec potest sieritempore uno Homo idem duobus locis ut simul sit By what inconceiveable art could it be that thou wast at the same moment here and in the House Quo id maliâ—m pacto potest Fieri nunc uti tu hic sis Domi id dici volo
Man then is without dispute what there is most precious and recommendable in the world And yet it is the fruit of Marriage It is from thence it derives its Original What greater motive can one present him with in order to dispose him to it Every one naturally covets to signalize himself in the imployment he professeth and to perform those things which may procure him the commendation of Posterity T was this ambition that gave us the Speeches of a Demosthenes the Orations of a Cicero and so many other master-pieces of the mind which we read with so much pleasure What else has made immortal the Apelles the Michael-Angeli the Titians and all those other famous Artists of Antiquity whose works the curious still buy and value more than Gold And what if man is so much affected at the glory of making either a good book or an excellent Picture or a curious Statue is it possible that he should be insensible of the glory of composing Men that is to say other selves that is to say most lively Ideas of the Divinity such noble frames that all the Gold of the Indies can never purchase and are of more account than the world it self What can be more admirably noble than this ambition If man in particular is of so great price of what esteem should all in general be And if the desire of giving some individuals to Human-kind ought to dispose us for Marriage how much more the preservation of his whole body which absolutely depends thereon The single use of reason in Beasts if one may say they have reason is to secure their lives from dangers but its great use in men is to multiply theirs and to encrease their kinds Vniversis animalibus data est ratio brutis tantum ad vitam tuendam Homini autem ad propagandam says Actantius Those good Sparks of the Town who know so well the use of Women will not fail to say that one may without Marriage accomplish this end of Nature They not only say it but put it in practice Without going any further those Hospitals that have been so wisely set up at Paris to receive the fruits of their debauchery are too sencible testimonies of it to make the least doubt O God! how many Maidens ruined how many Famalies dishonoured by those lascivious Libertines what crimes what abominations what iniquities are committed in the world upon this subject Heu heu perpetuo debuit illa legi Ovid Tast l. 4. My reply to this false reasoning is this that one can never lawfully use Women out of Marriage under any pretence whatsoever I have sufficiently proved it in my second part Cicero says very well that man is the only creature that is brought forh with modesty and shame Hoc solum animal natum pudoris ac verecundiae particeps Cic. de finib But if we should believe those persons no animal would enjoy less In effect what is more impudent than all those Whoremongers of profession who avoid Marriage only to indulge themselves the more in this filthy pleasure there are no kind of infamies which they don't commit They make no conscience of any thing For says the Apostle It would be even indecent to say those things which are done by them in secret Eph. 5. Unhappy Sinners who oppose the most natural of their duties only to confirm themselves in the most criminal of habits whatsoever they may assert as the multiplication of Men is the undoubted end of Marriage it is certain that Marriage is the only means it has ordained and whereof it will make use to that end In its pure maxims all other ways of peopling the world are unlawful and prohibited 'T is what she has even imprinted in the hearts of all honest men Those States that acted only by their Principles and to whom the orders of God were unknown have not ceased to recommend Marriage as the most necessary of Societies and to forbid Incontinence as the shame of humanity I have already made it appear there needs no more upon this head But Sir if we would be intirely convinced that Forâ—ication Polygamy and Concubine-keeping are no lawful ways of multiplying men and that nothing more displeases Heaven consider the Countries where these kinds of Liberties are permitted Do you imagine that the Jews the Mahometans and the Pagans who live in all these disorders encrease their Species more than the Christians who abhor them It is certain that they are even less fertile Did you never make reflection upon the Sheep and the Wolves The first produce but once a year and only one Lamb at each time Notwithstanding altho' an infinite number of them is eaten every day the earth is covered with them The last on the other side generate many times a year and bring forth no less than six or seven little ones Besides being improper for the nourishment of men their number is not lessened for this use And yet we know that there are but few of them seen in comparison of Sheep Who makes a doubt that there is a particular Providence therein It is exactly the same with all those prohibited Unious whereof I have treated and with lawful Marriage Who would not say that Turkey Persia Japan and all those other Countrys where it is permitted to have several Wives and various Concubines must be infinitely populous and yet they are less numerous than Europe Altho' the Bed of Christians consists but of two persons it doth not cease to be much more fertile than that of all these Infidels as manifold as it is There is no appearance of reason in refering this to the single climate and particular constitution of Men. There is without dispute somewhat of mystery therein God and nature were pleased to let us know by the same that the union of one man with one single woman is the real method one must pursue for the propogation of mankind Do we not know likewise that almost all those Whores and debanch'd Women who are the scandal of their Sex are barren and that the greatest part of them need not make use of a thousand sorts of criminal ways to become so as they do every day It remains then to conclude that nothing but Marriage can really and lawfully accomplish this first end of Nature and therefore it is of indispensible obligation to Men. The quality of Citizens of the world and members of the State is a reason of no less force to dispose them to it Aristotle says that Man is an Animal naturally politick This is very true Scarce were Men upon the Earth but they thought how to erect themselves into a Body into a Common-wealth and into a Kingdom The most barbarous people have voluntarily submitted themselves either to a Monarchy or to an Aristocracy or else to a Democracy Monarchy without doubt is the best of the three because it comes nearest to the Divinity But they are all lawful and permitted of God add