A12367:58
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.
To show the love which should be between man and wife, Marriage is called Coniugium, which signifieth a knitting or joining together: showing, that unless there be a joining of harts, and knitting of affections together, it is not Marriage indeed, but in show & name, and they shall dwell in a house like two poisons in a stomach, & one shall ever be sick of the other.
To shew the loue which should bee betweene man and wife, Marriage is called Coniugium, which signifieth a knitting or ioining together: shewing, that vnlesse there be a ioyning of harts, and knitting of affectiōs together, it is not Mariage indeed, but in shew & name, and they shall dwell in a house like two poysons in a stomack, & one shall euer be sicke of the other.
Therefore, first that they may love, and keep love one with another, it is necessary that they both love God, and as their love increaseth toward him, so it shall increase each to other. But the man must take heed that his love toward his Wife, be not greater than his love toward God, as Adams and Samsons were, for all 1unlawful love will turn to hatred, as the love of Amnon did toward ⟨p. 57⟩Tamar, and because Christ 2hath forbidden it, therefore he will cross it. This made Uriah so fearful, least the pleasure of his wife should draw his heart from God, that he would not go to his own house, so long as he had cause to mourn & pray, although he had a wife which feared God, like himself: and that you may see, it is no cheap dalliance for the husband to make the wife, or the wife to make the husband less zealous than they were. In Deut. 13. the wife which did draw her husband from God, is condemned to dye: Therefore good wives, when their husbands purpose any good, should encourage them like Jacobs wives, which