N01720:71
A glorious espousal. A brief essay, to illustrate and prosecute the marriage, wherein our…
A glorious espousal. A brief essay, to illustrate and prosecute the marriage, wherein our great Saviour offers to espouse unto himself the children of men. And thereupon to recommend from that grand pattern a good carriage in the married life among them. : An essay proper and useful in the hands of those who travel on the noble design of espousing the souls of men unto their Saviour. But more particularly and seasonably to be presented, where a marriage is upon a celebration.
Boston: printed by S. Kneeland for B. Gray, 1719
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.
The Principal Direction for a Good Carriage in the Married State is that; Eph. V. 24, 25. As the Church is subject unto CHRIST, so let Wives be unto their own Husbands, in every Thing. Husbands, Love your Wives even as CHRIST also has loved the Church. I do not stay upon the Observation, That the Duty of the Wife is here, as elsewhere prescribed before that of the Husband; Because there may be more of Difficulty in Her Duty than in His; And, Because His cheerful doing of His Duty, will very much depend upon Her doing of Hers. But this I observe; The most Comprehensive prescription that can be given, for the Duties of the Married State, is in this One Word; Conform to what passes between the Blessed JESUS, & His Espoused People. Of Enoch we read, He walked with GOD, and he begat Sons and Daughters. The Married, who continually Think, What passes between my SAVIOUR, and the Church, which having Loved as His own He Loves unto the End?—These Walk with GOD in their Marriage, and through their Pilgrimage. Here, Here is an ⟨p. 43⟩admirable sense of Marrying in the Lord; Even to Marry with an Eye unto what passes between the LORD, & His Beloved; and Regulate the whole Conduct of the Married Life, with an Imitation of it. And where is the Wit, that can soar high enough, Ad Enarrandam Faelicitatem hujus Matrimonii; to tell, what an Happy Pair it is that is United in such a Marriage!
The Principal Direction for a Good Carriage in the Married State is that; Eph. V. 24, 25. As the Church is subject unto CHRIST, so let Wives be unto their own Husbands, in every Thing. Husbands, Love your Wives even as CHRIST also has loved the Church. I do not stay upon the Observation, That the Duty of the Wife is here, as elsewhere prescribed before that of the Husband; Because there may be more of Difficulty in Her Duty than in His; And, Because His cheerful doing of His Duty, will very much depend upon Her doing of Hers. But this I observe; The most Comprehensive prescription that can be given, for the Duties of the Married State, is in this One Word; Conform to what passes between the Blessed JESUS, & His Espoused People. Of Enoch we read, He walked with GOD, and he begat Sons and Daughters. The Married, who continually Think, What passes between my SAVIOUR, and the Church, which having Loved as His own He Loves unto the End?—These Walk with GOD in their Marriage, and thro their Pilgrimage. Here, Here is an