The fading of the flesh and flourishing of faith, or, One cast for eternity…

First, Art thou heartily willing to take Jesus Christ for thy Saviour and Sovereign? Canst thou love him with the hottest superlative love as thy Husband? (Its one thing to love a man as a Friend, and another thing to love him as thy Husband) canst thou give him the keys of thy heart, and keep thy affections as a fountain, sealed up from others, and opened only for him, and in subordination to him? Wilt thou honour him with the highest honour as thy Lord; submitting to his spirit as thy guide, and to his laws as thy rule? Is thy soul so ravished with the beauty of his person, the excellency of his promises, and the equity of his precepts, that thou darest promise through his strength to be a loving, faithful and obedient wife? Have the hot beams of that love which have been darted forth from this Sun of Righteousness (as the rays of the Sun united in a glass) turned thee into a flame, that thy heart is now ascending and mounting to Heaven, where thy Beloved is, and thou canst no more live without him, then thy body without thy soul? Art thou willing to be sanctified by his spirit, that thou mightest be prepared for his bosom and embraces, and to be saved alone by his merits, as the only procuring cause of all thy hopes and happiness? Wilt thou take him for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, with his cup of affliction, as well as his cup of consolation; with his shameful ⟨p. 79⟩Cross, as well as his glorious Crown; choosing rather to suffer with him, then to reign without him; to dye for him, then to live from him? Such as marry thou knowest must expect trouble in the flesh. Christianity (like the Wind Caecias) doth ever draw clouds and afflictions after it, but thy future glory and pleasure will abundantly recompense, thee for thy present pain and ignominy.

First, Art thou heartily willing to take Jesus Christ for thy Saviour and Soveraign? Canst thou love him with the hottest superlative love as thy Husband? (Its one thing to love a man as a Friend, and another thing to love him as thy Husband) canst thou give him the keys of thy heart, and keep thy affections as a fountain, sealed up from others, and opened onely for him, and in subordination to him? Wilt thou honour him with the highest honour as thy Lord; submitting to his spirit as thy guide, and to his laws as thy rule? Is thy soul so ravished with the beauty of his person, the excellency of his promises, and the equity of his precepts, that thou darest promise through his strength to be a loving, faithful and obedient wife? Have the hot beams of that love which have been darted forth from this Sun of Righteousness (as the rays of the Sun united in a glass) turned thee into a flame, that thy heart is now ascending and mounting to Heaven, where thy Beloved is, and thou canst no more live without him, then thy body without thy soul? Art thou willing to be sanctified by his spirit, that thou mightest be prepared for his bosome and embraces, and to be saved alone by his merits, as the onely procuring cause of all thy hopes and happiness? Wilt thou take him for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, with his cup of affliction, as well as his cup of consolation; with his shameful