Friendship is the nearest union which distinct souls are capable of; (and is as rare to be found in sincerity, as it is excellent in its qualities) though next to the glorifying our Creator, man seems to be made for nothing more. For when God had at first created him, it is not fit, said He, that man should be alone, and then He gave him Eve to be a meet help. What can that imply but that God gave her for a Friend, as well as for a wife? A wife and a Friend, but not a slave; for we find her not in the beginning made subject to Adam, but always of equal dignity and honour with him. Until by her over great credulity, sinning herself, and then seducing her husband, she lost her share in that rule, which before they had in common, and as a just reward of her transgression had both her desires and person subjected to him. A curse, which she not only procured to herself, but entailed upon all her female posterity, except a small number who by Friendships interposition have restored the marriage bond to its first institution.

Now Friendship, which is so excellent in its nature, cannot be without order, and must be governed by laws proper to itself. For […] Friendship without a right rule soon degenerates into vice and becomes most destructive to the good of mankind, which it was designed chiefly to sustain. For if instead of religion and morality, sense shall there command, and if in place of reason, the passions shall direct, and solely bear sway, it is no longer Friendship, but a confederacy in evil doing. And though the name may still remain, yet its operations shall instead of yielding the wholesome fruits of peace, bring forth nothing but mischief and confusion.