"No man can tell but he that loves his children, how many
delicious accents make a man's heart dance in the pretty
conversation of those dear pledges; their childishness, their
stammering, their little angers, their innocence, their
imperfections, their necessities, are so many little emanations of
joy and comfort to him that delights in their persons and society;
but he that loves not his wife and children, feeds a lioness at
home, and broods a nest of sorrows; and blessing itself cannot
make him happy; so that all the commandments of God enjoining a
man to 'love his wife' are nothing but so many necessities and
capacities of joy. 'She that is loved, is safe; and he that loves,
is joyful,' Love is a union of all things excellent; it contains
in it proportion and satisfaction, and rest and confidence."