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And whence proceeds all this, and ten thousand times more than Heart can conceive, or Pen set down, but from the want of a sincere rivetted Affection between them before Matrimony? The Man that marries without it must be a Knave; the Woman that marries without it must be a Fool; and let me not give hard Words neither, without a sufficient Authority for it; but I'll make it out immediately.
I say, that Man must be a Knave: No honest Man will promise and engage, nay, swear to do a Thing, which he is fully resolved not to do; or which he is not sure he is able to perform, and does not sincerely intend to perform.
In the Terms of the Marriage Vow, the Minister asks the Man these concise Questions:
Wilt thou have this Woman to be thy wedded Wife? He answers, I Will.
Wilt thou love her? I Will.
Wilt thou live with her? I Will.
The Interrogation Wilt thou, is understood as such as if the Minister repeated it every time; and though, he answers with but one I Will, 'tis, as effectually understood to mean a particular Answer to every Interrogation, as if it was repeated to them all, and the meaning is the same; the Man can by no means come off of it; no, nor the Woman either, for her Engagement is equally firm and binding.
This I Will is not only a Promise obligatory, a solemn Engagement and Vow, but 'tis done under the Sanction of Religion, and of an Ordinance of God; it is a sacred Oath, 'tis what the Scripture calls the Oath of God, and the married Man may justly say, the Oath of Godis
