“ Now this curious Observation upon the efficacy of Custom being introduc’d in a Paragraph treating of Modesty and Chastity, I appeal to all Persons of any sense or discernment, whether it does not imply, that all Modesty and Virtue is establish’d only by Custom, and whether it does not entirely destroy the notion of an innate Principle. ”

“ We cannot doubt, but that we are all strictly engag’d to cleanse our selves from Filthiness, both of Flesh and Spirit, and to perfect Holiness. And what a monstrous Incongruity must it be, for such to indulge themselves in any carnal and sensual Immoralities, in direct opposition to the Vow, so solemnly made against them! ”

“ I shall begin with the instruments of Generation in Men. All the parts of Generation merit the Title of noble Parts, as well as the Brain and the Heart; and some Authors give them the preference before the other Parts of the Body, upon this consideration, that they preserve the Species, and the others only keep up the Individuum. ”

“ He mentions the Advice of Boccalini, given as an Antidote against Whoredom, viz. that Persons that way inclin’d should carry about with them, a well drawn Picture, of the most perfect and faultless Beauty that ever appear’d in Flesh and Blood, pencil’d over again with rotten Teeth, blear Eyes, and Noseless; and that whenever Desires of the Flesh stir, they would take a sober View of it, and seriously consider what they are about to do, and the Consequences, which no doubt would damp their Inclinations. ”

“ But this is esteem’d by other Persons a groundless fancy; for the Structure of a Woman’s Testicle is more admirable than that of a Man, which shews that the Seed separated by it, is of considerable use: And several Children have their Mothers Features and Humour, which demonstrates that the Father, to whom they oftentimes bear no resemblance, does not furnish all himself.
Those Persons who pretend that the Woman’s Seed contains the first, and the true Model of the Fœtus, compare the Female Testicles to a bunch of Grapes, or a Bee-hive ”

“ And again some young Men of vicious Inclinations, have either naturally, or for want of a liberal Education been shame-fac’d to excess; they have not dar’d to look upon a Woman, and their Bashfulness has secur’d them from every act of Impurity but this. From all which it is evident that the secrecy of this Sin, has betray’d many into it, whom hardly any thing else would have tempted. ”

“ For in the Infancy of Children, before the force of Education can possibly take place, or sense prevail, as a Guide to their Actions, we frequently find an abounding Modesty in the Female, and a large share of Boldness in the Male, produc’d from the same Loins, and this I have observ’d is generally the Case, which can proceed from nothing but Nature. ”

“ Seed is a very sweet Liquor when ’tis in a regular State, but when ’tis long under confinement, it turns perfectly sower, and causes very pernicious effects in both Male and Female. Men are harsher in their Tempers, and frequently attack’d with Vapours to a degree; and Women are thrown into a deplorable Condition, which will find no absolute Cure, till the stagnating Seed is evacuated by Marriage: The Seed mixing with the Blood breaks its Texture and changes its Consistence ”

“ The thoughts of Death, which puts an end to all our Enjoyments here, must necessarily abate the allurements of sensual Pleasures. The thoughts of our Resurrection will force us to have a regard to Purity: And the thoughts of our Saviour’s Sufferings, are a powerful Motive, not to seek our own ease, and the satisfaction of our Senses in this World.
One of the chief means of defence against Temptations to Impurity, is a distrust of our selves. ”

“ The Person wholly void of Honesty, will commit Thefts and Robberies upon the Persons of others to enrich himself; and the lustful Person will satisfy his Brutal inclinations by Friction, or other abominable Enjoyments, for want of ability, to purchase more acceptable Crimes: And as the want of Circumstances is many times a cause of Self-pollution, 34so the Person in possession of a large Fortune, is frequently guilty of the Sin of Whoredom, accompanied with more dreadful Consequences, and Nature only, under the severest Discipline, must in all Cases regulate the lustful Appetite. ”

“ The Sin of Self-Pollution, the means to avoid it, and to attain Chastity. The Learned Ostervald treating of the several Species of Uncleanness, says it is easy to discern ‘that impure Actions are forbidden for two Reasons. First, because they are likely means of carrying Men to the grosser Crime: People don’t ordinarily arrive at the height of Wickedness all at once, but by certain Steps and Degrees. ”

“ In a word, all she look’d upon were her own; the Old Man opposing this Romance; says the Young Gentleman, he must be either Blind or Barbarous that’s proof against the Charms of so divine a Beauty; nor would any but a Sot let slip the blessed opportunity, of so fair an Encounter; that he that has her, has all that’s lovely or desirable in Nature: What lightning does she carry in her Eyes! ”

“ The infinite number of fine Vessels are pleasing in Representation, as well as otherways Ravishing, and the Nerves and Arteries are equally beautiful, as they are transporting. The great and exquisite sense of the Parts of Generation, give an Enjoyment transcending all others; and the Wisdom of our Creator, for the support of the World, cannot be too sufficiently admir’d, in that Man is propagated by an excess of Pleasure. ”

“ Pollution by the hand of a Woman, is always attended with more fatal consequences to the Man than any other; the impure Thoughts 35are more strongly impress’d by the presence of the Female, than its possible in her absence, and the imaginations so heighten’d by her Touch, as to commit the greater violence on Nature. By this, the parts are more considerably strain’d, and their natural Strength and Vigour abated. ”

“ Curiosity is frequently a cause of the wanderings of the Mind and Heart; and a desire of satisfying it, proceeding from a secret Passion, being a great occasion of Pollution, this also is to be guarded against: And lastly, when Persons are under any manner of Temptations, the instant they are sensible of impure Thoughts in the Soul, they should be strenuously resisted. The first reception of impure Thoughts into the Soul, shews them to be pleasing to it ”

“ But the most common and rational Opinion is, that of the Fœtus being form’d by the mixing of the two Seeds in the Womb; that Man and Woman are equally perfect; and that both of them being furnish’d with Testicles, which make a secretion of Seed, both of them must supply; and a Woman cannot be got with Child, unless she and the Man ejaculate their Seed at the same time. ”

“ Other Causes of Self-pollution, I take it may be justly attributed to the very great hazards Young Gentlemen are constantly expos’d to with Women of the Town (not that I allow any unlawful desires) for tho’ the Crime of Self-pollution be in its nature heinous, and the Consequences are to be fear’d by all considerate Persons, yet the Sin doth not in any respect seem so dreadful to vigorous Youth, as that of Whoredom, and the Calamities attending, are generally more remote in prospect. ”

“ Instinct in all Animals directs the way of acting, that is most convenient for propagating their Species: And a Man, though brought up in never so great Ignorance, at his Age of Maturity naturally enclines to it, and needs no other Guide but the dictates of 81Nature to find out the center of Enjoyment.
But if Nature had not planted in the Genitals a sense of extraordinary pleasure in the amorous Engagement, Man would seldom give himself the trouble of Copulation: The cause of this pleasure some impute to the mixing of Spirits with the Seed, which give a pleasing tickling ”

“ An Erection being effected, and the Yard lodg’d in the Neck of the Womb; the Seed taking leave of the seminal Vesicles, passes through the Ejaculatory Vessels, and enters the Urethra; from whence ’tis squirted out with a Jirk, by vertue of the Convulsions that then seize the Yard: And as Ejaculation the last point of the 88Man’s Action, is the critical moment of pleasure, so ’tis the principal aim, he has in View, and all the Circumstances that usher it in, have an eye upon that Instant: The sanguine Person is the most amorous, and produces the greatest quantity of laudable Seed. ”

“ An eagerness of Temper, and fullness of Heat, with an ill Habit too long indulg’d, will render Persons so prone to anger, that they must be very diligent and watchful, and always upon their guard, or they will not be able to avoid it; but it will very ill become these to offer this for their excuse; for by this means, there is no Person but would be able to vindicate himself: So in a temporal Sense, were Criminals allow’d to plead a strong inclination and proneness of Nature, to the committing of Crimes, there would be no such thing as Justice or Government in the World. ”

“ The Womb has Nerves, Arteries, and Veins, dispers’d. The Nerves give it a sense of Pleasure and Pain, and a sympathy with all parts of the Body: The Arteries and Veins are call’d the Spermatick and Hypogastrick, and consist of an infinite number of Branches springing from all parts of the Womb, exporting the Blood to the 74Trunk of the Vena Cava: The Womb is sprinkled on all sides with Blood imported by the Arteries. These Arteries not only furnish the Womb with a proper Nourishment, but also pour in Blood upon the Placenta, in order to be sent through the Navel String to the Fœtus. ”

“ And to this I may add other pernicious Consequences proceeding from this Crime, as an irrecoverable Impotency, which renders a Man inanimate, intoxicates his reason, and debases Nature, so as to occasion the Diabetis and other fatal lingering Diseases; for the aliment of the Blood is so far vitiated and impair’d by a frequent repetition of this Sin, that it is wholly unable to perform its office of Circulation with any regularity. ”

“ Agreeable to this in some measure, is the modern Custom amongst Persons of distinction in their amorous Intrigues; who after they are actually ingag’d in the pleasures of Venus, by a sudden ereption of the Privities, separate from the Female the instant they feel the Titillation in the extreme Parts, and before the Emissio Seminis; to prevent the effects of a teeming Womb, which would not only occasion a considerable expence, but expose the Female, and very much impair the Beauty of her Form. ”

“ This naturally leads me to the various ways of Self-pollution in wanton Females, which are so intolerable, that Modesty forbids a particular Description. I shall only mention, that a Lascivious Woman, by the use of a pleasurable Toy, and an injection of Milk, or other Moisture, may possibly continue Self-pollution for a longer space than copulation with a Man, no Spirits being drain’d or Strength exhausted by the means herein applied; and ’tis reported that some lewd Females will commence this vile practice, before their Privities are fledg’d with Maturity. ”

“ In time of Erection, it will draw down the Yard a considerable way, the easier to enter in Copulation: ’Tis tied under the Nut, with a fine Ligament call’d the Bridle, which must be cut when it is to short, and draws the orifice of the Nut downwards, by reason it hinders the Ejaculation of the Seed in a straight Line. The Prepuce enlarges the pleasure in Copulation, especially of the Women. ”

“ When a Bastard Infant is found Dead, and the Mother, lately deliver’d without Witness, is not able to prove either 8that she had made Provision for it, or during her pregnancy imparted the secret to another, besides the Father, our English Law, without any other Evidence, presumes the Woman to have murder’d the Child. From whence it is evident the Legislators must have suppos’d that some Women may have cruelty enough to commit the most unnatural Murder of all, and at the same time want Courage to bear shame. ”

“ This distrust proceeds from an Opinion and Sense of our own Weakness, and thereby a fear of being surpriz’d and ensnar’d by Temptations; distrust will produce Vigilance, which is a second means of defence against impure Thoughts. Persons ought to be very exact and scrupulous, as to every thing that leads to Impurity, 50and not to take too great liberty under any vain pretences. Mortification and Exercise are very good guards against Pollution; Idleness makes People wanton and vicious, and High-feeding very much heightens unlawful Desires. ”

“ It was impossible for an Author of any Spirit, after a particular description of the unnatural use of iithe Parts, that he could finish his Labours without thoroughly examining their admiral Structure: They being no less curious than delightful to a Youthful Swain, that’s fir’d with Imagination. ”