Employing the robust nature of the same verse Gouge reminds couples of the delight
within marriage, “[a]s the man must be satisfied at all times in his wife, and even
ravisht with her love; so must the woman be satisfied at all times in her husband, and
even ravisht with his love.”^97 Later he again returns to this same verse and instructs
husbands to let their affection delight completely in their wives. He then amplifies
the power of this lovemaking and reminds his readers that the hart and roe buck “are
most enamored of their mate and even mad againe in their heat and desire after
them.”^98 He continues, “[a]n husbands affection to his wife cannot be too great, if it
be kept within the bonds of honesty, sobriety and comelinesse.”^99 Richard Baxter
counsels couples to “[k]eep up your conjugal love in a constant heat and vigour.”^100
Gouge also employs Genesis 26:8 articulating that God does not expect husbands and
wives to be like the Stoics without affection, rather husbands should delight in their
wives. Additionally he instructs couples to “[r]ead the Song of Songs, and in it you
shall observe such affection manifested by Christ to his Spouse.... A good patterne
and precident for Husbands.”^101 While it is difficult to know the actual marital
practices of the Puritans, one brief glimpse is available in the study of three
seventeenth-century Puritan couples. What surfaces, surely as no surprise, is that no
two marriages or relationships are identical.^102
(^97) Gouge, Domesticall Duties (^) , 219. (^)
(^98) Gouge, Domesticall Duties, 365. Previously Cleaver counsels couples to take
mutual delight in each other since Prv 5:18delight unto her husband and so in like manner, shee ought to tak-19 asserts, “so the wife should bee a e delight in him.”
Godly Forme of Household Government 99 , 176.
Gouge, Domesticall Duties, 366, cf. 365 Gouge also declares as long as the
husband’s desire does “exceed not the bonds of Christian modesty and decency, are
very fit, and pertinent to the purp 100 ose.”
101 Baxter, Christian Directory, 522.^
102 Gouge, Domesticall Duties, 366.^
Wallington, and Lucy and John Hutchinson. Stevie Davies, Stevie Davies examines the lives of Ralph and Jane Josselin, Nehemiah and Grace Unbridled Spirits.