6. Whether is it necessary or requisite there should be a 7. Whether there ought to be a prohibition and forbear- ance of marriages and marriage duties, for some times 8. Whether it be necessary, that marriages should be cele- 9. Whether there be any necessity or use of thrice pub- lishing the contract of marriage in the congregation, before the celebration of it; and whether it be fit, 10. Whether marriages, once made, may be annulled and utterly voided; and, in what cases this may be done. 491 Additionals to the Fourth Decade. Case 1. Whether a marriage, consummate betwixt the uncle 2. Whether it be lawful, for a man to marry his wife's 3. Whether an incestuous marriage, contracted in simpli- city of heart, betwixt two persons ignorant of such a defilement; and so far consummate, as that children An Advertisement to the Reader . VIII. THE HOLY ORDER: or, FRATERNITY OF THE MOURNERS IN SION. HUMBLY AND EARNESTLY TENDERED TO ALL GOD'S FAITHFUL ONES. 509 TION. I have perused this Treatise, entitled "The Remedy of Discontentment;" and, judging it to be very pious, profitable, and necessary for these Sad and Distracted Times, I License it to be printed and published; and should much commend it to the Christian Reader, if the very name of the Author were not in itself sufficient, without any further testimony. JOHN DOWNAME. ΤΟ THE CHRISTIAN READER, GRACE AND PEACE. What can be more seasonable, than, when all the world is sick of Discontentment, to give Counsels and Recipes of Contentation ? Perhaps the patient will think it a time ill chosen for physic, in the midst of a fit but, in this case, we must do as we may. I confess, I would rather have staid till the paroxysm were happily over; that so, the humours being somewhat settled, I might hope for the more kindly operation of this wholesome medicine. But, partly, my age and weakness, despairing to outlive the public distemper; and, partly, my judgment, crossing the vulgar opinion for the season of some kind of Recipes; have now put me upon this safe and useful prescription. God is my witness, that I wrote this in the depth of mine own afflictions; the particulars whereof, it were unseasonable to trouble the world withal : as one, that meant to make myself my own patient, by enjoining myself that course of remedies, that I prescribe to others; and as one, who, by the powerful working of God's Spirit within me, labour to find my heart framed to those holy dispositions, which I wish and recommend to every Christian soul. If there be no remedy, but the worst of outward troubles must afflict us ; it shall be happy yet, if we may find inward peace in our bosoms: which shall be, if we can reconcile ourselves to our offended God; and calm our spirits to a meek undergoing of those sufferings, which the Divine Providence hath thought fit to measure forth unto us. This is the main drift of this ensuing labour. Now the same God, who hath, in these blustering times, put into my heart these quiet thoughts of Holy Contentation, bless them in every hand, that shall receive them; and make them effectual to the good of every soul, that shall now and hereafter entertain them! that so their gracious proficiency may, in the day of the appearance of our Lord Jesus, add to the joy of my account; who am the unworthiest of the servants of God and his Church, J. N. [2.] Of Divine Providence over-ruling all Events. [3.] Of the Worse Condition of others. (1.) The Di versities of [4.] Of the Incon- (2.) Death it- 2. DISPOSITIONS. 3. RESOLUTIONS. HOW TO ABOUND. [5.] Of the Benefits ((a.)Expose to Envy. (b.) Macerate with [6.] Of how little will suffice Nature. [9.] Examples of Contentation, both with- [1.] Remedies against the Terrors of Death, [2.] Miseries and (1.) Humility. (2.) Self-Resignation. (3.) True Inward Riches. Death (a.) Necessity and Benefit of Death. (b.) Conscience of a well-led Life. (c.) Final Peace with God. (d.) Efficacy of Christ's applied. (e.) Comfortable Expectation of certain Resurrection and immediate Vision of God. (a.) Defilement of Sin Original. (b.) Proneness to Sin. (c.) Difficulty of doing well. (d.) Dulness of Understanding. (e.) Perpetual Conflicts. (f.) Solicitude of Cares. (g.) Multiplicity of Passions. (h.) Retardation of Glory. ((1.) That our Present Condition is best for us. (2.) To abate of our Desires. (3.) To digest smaller Inconveniences. (4.) To be Frequent and Fervent in Prayer. This Analysis is arranged somewhat differently from that printed in the former editions, to render it more conformable to the Treatise itself.-PRATT. |