“The Puritans recovered the biblical teaching that the marriage bed was to be honored and not just tolerated. They gave themselves to the married state with a strong commitment, and one of their great contributions to our culture was the establishment of the view that romantic and erotic devotion was sustainable within the covenant of marriage. In discussion this, C.S. Lewis once commented that the exaltation of virginity was a Roman Catholic trait, and ‘that of marriage, a Protestant trait’ . . . The Puritans taught that sexual love within marriage was not only lawful, it was supposed to be exuberant and passionate” (Beyond Stateliest Marble, pp. 46-47).

(Source: Doug Wilson)