A12367:13
A preparative to marriage The sum whereof was spoken at a contract, and enlarged…A preparatiue to mariage The summe whereof was spoken at a contract, and inlarged…
A preparative to marriage The sum whereof was spoken at a contract, and enlarged after. Whereunto is annexed a treatise of the Lords Supper, and another of usury. By Henry Smith.A preparatiue to mariage The summe whereof was spoken at a contract, and inlarged after. Whereunto is annexed a treatise of the Lords Supper, and another of vsurie. By Henrie Smith.
London: printed by Thomas Orwin for Thomas Man, 1591
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
A Preparative to Marriage.
A Preparatiue to Marriage.
You are come hither to be contracted in the Lord, that is, of two to be made one: for as GOD hath knit the bones and sinews together for the strengthening of the body, so he hath knit man and woman together for the strengthening of this life, because two are stronger than one: and 1therefore when GOD made the Woman for Man, he said, I will make him a help: showing that man 2is stronger by his Wife. Every Marriage before it be knit should be contracted, as it is showed in Exo. 22. 16. and Deut. 22. 28. which 3stay between the Contract & the ⟨p. 2⟩Marriage, was the time of longing for their affections to settle in, because the deferring of that which we love doth kindle the desire, which if it came easily and speedily to us, would make us set less by it. Therefore we read how Joseph and Mary were contracted 4before they were married. In the *Contract Christ was conceived, and in the Marriage Christ was borne, that he might honour both estates, Virginity with his Conception, and Marriage with his Birth. You are contracted but to be married, therefore I pass from Contracts to speak of Marriage,