MARRIAGE DVTIES BRIEFELY COVCHED TOGITHER OVT OF COLOSSIANS 3.18 19. BY THOMAS GATAKER Bachelar of Diuinitie and Pastor of Rotherhith LONDON Printed by WILLIAM IONES for WILLIAM BLADEN and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Bible in Pauls Church-yard 1620. TO THE HOPEFVLL YOVNG COVPLE THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL Mr. ROBERT COOKE Esquire and the vertuous Gentlewoman Mistres DOROTHIE COOKE his wife many comfortable daies in Gods â—eaâ—e and â—auour to their mutuall and eternall good RIght louely and beloued in Christ giue me leaue to include you both in one Dedication whome heartie loue and affection hath conioyned togither and whome Gods â—â—ne ordinance hath made one At the time of 〈◊〉 â—â—lâ—mne knitting of you togither there was 〈◊〉 important considerations a dutie 〈…〉 absolutely necessarie yet at such times not vnseasonable To supply that defect I make bold now to present you with some passages of such a subiect as it is like had then beene handled if opportunitie had serued They are raw notes of a Sermon long since made on the like occasion Which finding by mee and willing to imbrace any opportunitie of expressing my loue there in any degree where I iustly owe so great a measure I suddainly reuised and prepared them for the presâ—e And albeit in the reuising of them I obserued some defects and could well haue beene content to haue taken further time and paines for the better polishing and the more orderly digesting of them as also for the speciall applying of them to your selues to whome now they are addressed yet I supposed it would bee much more conuenient and behoouefull without further delay while the occasion is yet fresh to present you with them as they are that they might salute a New-married Couple at the entring in of the New-yeere An exact treatise or large discourse of Marriage Duties though the Title be such I hope they will not expect that shall vnderstand that they haue here but the Substance of one Sermon deliuered when it was within the compasse of little more then an houre and vpon the recollecting of my Meditations afterward at the request of some not much enlarged And though I doubt not but you may meete with many profitable Treatises of the like Argument yet I was desirous you should haue somewhat thereof from my selfe The truth of God I wot well is the same and deserueth all due regard by whomsoeuer it is deliuered But yet there is some efficacie added to it when it is brought vs by those whome we specially affect and of whome we are perswaded that they doe likewise in speciall manner affect vs. Of this mutuall affection betweene you both and my selfe as there is in diuers respects very great and iust ground so I hope there is no doubt at all made on either side of it The assurance whereof if it may helpe to supply some defects that may be found in this vntimely birth some good fruite I hope by the reading of it may redound to you both Much I heartily desire may daily both by this and by all other good meanes to all your friends ioy your owne mutuall comfort here and your eternall happinesse hereafter With which vnfained desire I end for the present and rest Your poore kinsman and heartie well-wisher THO. GATAKER MARRIAGE DVTIES Coloss. 3.18 19. Wiues submit your selues vnto your Husbands as it is câ—mely in the Lord. Husbands loue your Wiues and bee not bitter to them WIthout Faith saith the Apostle Paul it is impossible to please God And Faith saith the Apostle Iames Is but dead without workes There bee two things therefore necessarily required of euery Christian true Faith and good Life A man cannot liue but by a liuely Faith and Faith is not liuely without hoâ—y Life The Apostle therefore accordingly spendeth this as he doth other of his Epistles partly in deliuering the grounds and doctrine of Faith and partly in directing the faithfull for the manner of their Life Now because euery man ordinarily hath two seuerall Callings a Generall and a Speciall the Generall calling of a Christian and some Speciall calling in that particular estate that God hath assigned each one vnto the Apostle giueth Rules here as else-where for our behauiour in either some generally concerning all men generally as they are Christians in the former part of this Chapiter some speciall concerning seuerall persons in their seuerall estates as they are inferiours or superiours tyed by naturall or ciuill bands either to other in the words of my text and so forward And in this part the Apostle deliuereth the Duties 1. Of Husband and Wife 2. Of Parents and Children 3. Of Masters and Seruants The Duties of Husband and Wife are in the words of my Text. the Wiues dutie in the former verse the Husbands in the latter In handling whereof we will obserue first the Order then the Matter For the Order the Apostle is here as euer vsually exact Before he began first with Faith and then came to Life because Faith is the Roote and good Life the Fruit and without the Roote there can be no Fruit in regâ—rd whereof it is well said that The whole life of the Faithlesse is nothing but sinne and there can nothing be good without the chiefe good For it is no lesse true of speciall Faith which is spoken by the Apostle of the generall Faith that whatsoeuer is not of Faith is sinne He began first with rules of Life generall and then came to Rules speciall because howsoeuer the Heathen man thought that A man might be a good Man and yet not a good citizen or he might be a good Magistrate or a good Master and yet not a good Man yet indeed a man can not be a good Husband or Parent or Master vnlesse he first be a good Christian at least not so good as to reape comfort or benefit thereby himselfe or to performe offices to others in that manner as he ought Here likewise he beginneth first with the duties of married persons and of them first with the wiues First at the duties of married persons of man and wife the Apostle beginneth here as else-where and so proceedeth to the duties of Children and Parents in the second place and of Seruants and Masters in the third place First because this societie it is the first that euer was in the world and therefore as it was the first in nature so it is the first here in order the Apostle beginneth first with that which in course of nature is first Secondly because this is the fountaine from whence the rest flow and the streames can not flow pure and cleare vnlesse the fountaine be first clensed and kept cleane The Apostle therefore wisely beginneth at the Head-spring that a good course being setled in this principall societie it may be
to bee condemned the practise of such wiues as are gadders abroad least acquainted with or delighting in ought at their owne home rather in that regard the daughters of Dinah then Sarah whom we know what befell vpon her wandring abroad And surely as the Apostle ioyneth chastitie and home keeping together as the one a meanes of preseruing the other so the wise man maketh such gadding abroad a note of a light and a lewd houswise Or such as though they keepe within yet sit idle at home must haue their gossips come and sit with them to tell tales and newes that they may not be idle without company little weighing with themselues that time the meane while runneth on and worke about the house goeth but vntowardly forward while there is none to ouersee or looke after it As also the practise of such as are wasters spenders and spoilers of their husbands wealth and of that they bring in that therein indeed like the Torteis carrie their whole house on their backe which though they feele not the weight of yet maketh the husbands backe ake yea and cracke too breaketh the backe of their estate as in that sexe commonly there is no ho when a wastfull humour is once in so farre are they from helping to further or aduance their estate Such should remember the saying of Salomon that as the wise woman helpeth to build vp the house so shee is a foole that thus pulleth the house downe with her owne hands Secondly the wife is to be an assistant and a yoke fellow to her husband as in his trauels and labours so in troubles and crosses if any befall 〈◊〉 as no mans life lightly is free from them No larke without an heâ—le nor course of life without some crosse or other and that two waies By bearing part with him And by being a comfort vnto him First by bearing part with him For whereas married persons are subiect to many more crosses and casualties then those that leade a single life in regard their charge is the greater howsoeuer the women themselues are not exposed to so many personall encumbrances as men because their life is more priuate Yet as the Apostle saith of the faithfull ChristiaÌ„s that they were fellow-partners with him in his afflictions so ought the wife to bee with the husband in those afflictions that befall him And surely if all Christians in generall much more married folkes in speciall ought to beare either others burdens If all Christians must haue a fellow-feeling of one anothers suffrings because they are all members of one bodie much more man and wife that are both but one flesh Contrary whereunto is the practise of those wiues that leaue and forsake their husbands when they are fallen into troubles are like swallowes and other sommer-birds content to reape and enioy with them the pleasant fruits of prosperitie but vnwilling to beare and endure with them the bitter brunt and blasts of aduersitie care not nor regard what their husbands do or what becomes of them what hardnesse they endure what miserie they abide so long as by helpe of friends or other prouisions they are able themselues to shift for themselues Very vnnaturall are they that haue no fellow-feeling of what their owne flesh suffereth vnlike our Sauiour Christ who retaineth still compassion though free from personall passion and though freed now from feeling hath still yet a fellow-feeling of those euils that befall his here Yea worse then many heathen women that haue shewed worthy precedents on this part and in this kinde and shall therefore rise in iudgement at the last day against all such Christian women as be faultie this way The like is to be said of the practise of such as are a meanes themselues to bring their husbands into decay and distresse and so procure trouble to them by their inordinate courses and excessiue expences whereby they cast them behind hand and that to their vtter ouerthrow and vndoing oft times and so in stead of helping to beare his burden with him are a meanes to bring such a burden vpon him as neither of them both is well able to beare Secondly by being a cheerer and a comforter a meanes of comfort and cheerefulnesse to him as Iacobs children were to Iacob and so Rebekkah to Isaak And surely if it be the dutie of children to comfort their parents in their heauinesse much more the wiues to comfort her husband in like cases If a wise childe is a ioy to his father much more will a good and a wise wife striue to be so to her husband to be to him as Dauids harpe was to Saul as a physitian to tend him in his sicknes as a a musitian to cheere him vp in his heauinesse But what a wretched and lamentabâ—e case is it then when shee that should be a comfort prooueth a discomfort that her husband may say of her as Iob of his friends A miserable comforter art thou indeede As in Eue that shee that was giuen to be an helper to good should prooue a tempter to euill so here when shee that should bee the ioy and the delight of a mans eyes prooueth a corrasiue to his heart and corruption in his bones And surely as there is no estate more comfortable where things are wisely ordred according to Gods will and word so none more discomfortable where things are crossely and crookedâ—y carried Inward euils are most grieuous in regard whereof one of the ancients compareth not amisse an euill and a guilty conscience to an vnto ward yoke fellow For that is common to either then which what can bee more grieâ—ous that that prooueth with a man the greatest crosse that should be a comfort to him against other crosses Such women forget or at least are farre from that which Salomon saith of a good wife Shee will doe her husband good and not euill all the daies of her life that which euery good woman vndoubtedly will endeauour her selfe vnto Hitherto we haue spoken of the Maine dutie on the wiues part namely Submission or Subiection togither with the particulars or at least the prâ—ncipall of those that thence issue We come now to the manner of the performance of all the former and that is saith our Apostle In the Lord a phrase vsed by the Apostle in the like case else-where and it may be taken two waies as a note of Direction or as a note of Limitation 1. As a note of direction prescribing the ground and manner of this submission that it bee done in obedience of God and the commandement of God in conscience of the order and ordinance of God 2. As a note of limitation describing the bounds and limits of this submission assistance reuerence and obedience that it extend not it selfe to anything against the will and word of
the better kept and continued in others that issue and flow from it And this point thus obserued may first serue to shew what is one maine cause of much neglect of dutie in many families in children towards parents in seruants toward Master and Mistres because the gouernours are not carefull of mutuall duties betwixt themselues of concord and agreement the one with the other of loue and fidelitie the one to the other of respectfull and regardfull carriage the one towards the other And so neglect of dutie and difference betweene them is a meanes to breed a contempt of one or both in those that should be guided by them making seruants and children to take occasion of libertie and faile in their duty to them as they faile in dutie either to other Yea it is a iust iudgement oft with God to punish the one by the other as rebellion against the Creator by rebellion in the creature so neglect in rulers of duties enioynâ—d them of God by neglect of dutie toward them in those that should be ruled by them Secondly it may admonish married folke that are heads of houses if they desire to haue things go wel ' in the family that they haue a speciall care of those duties that God hath enioyned them in regard either of other That will be a meanes to make duties passe more orderly both from them to others and from others to them as the contrarie prooueth ordinarily a great hindrance to either For as in a clocke or a watch if the spring be faultie the wheeles can not goe or if they mooue not either other the hammer can not strike so here where dutie faileth betweene man and wâ—fe it causeth a neglect of all other good duties in the family that dependeth vpon them yea of dutie oft euen to God himselfe in them And therefore married persons if they desire to haue duties performed to them by others they must first performe what is fit and conuenient either to other remembring that the due performance of mutuall duties to either shall both make them fitter for the performance of good offices to others and others readier in performance of theirs vnto them Now in the next place as the Apostle beginneth with Married persons Man and wise so of the twaine here he placeth the wiues dutie in the first place A course constantly obserued both by Peter and Paul as here lo else-where that they begin first with the wiues dutie and so passe on to the husbands and that for two causes First to shew the inferioritie of the wife in regard of the husband for we may obserue that the Apostle beginneth euer with the dutie of the inferiour first the childrens then the Parents first the Seruants then the Masters and so first the wiues then the Husbands the womans first then the Mans. Secondly to shew where dutie is to begin on the wiues part it is to begin at the inferiour and so to ascend to the superiour For Loue goeth downeward dutie commeth vpward It beginneth with the inferiour and so goeth vp to the superiour The wiues dutie is as the base or ground that the husband dutie is built vpon It is that that must draw dutie and respect from the husband Likewise saith the Apostle Peter Let the men liue with their wiues c. Hauing spoken of the wiues behauiour toward her husband before Not that it is lawfull for the superiour to omit his dutie if the inferiour be slacke or faultie in the performance of hers but to shew in course of nature whither should begin to shew dutie And this first serueth to admonish the wife to be forward in performance of such good duties as God requireth on her part and not to straine courtesie and stand vpon tearmes as to say Let him doe what he should doe and then I will doe what is befitting me Wouldest thou haue him to doe that that is his dutie there is no way more agreeable to the word and will of God more consonant to the course and order of nature more likely to prooue successefull and effectuall to that purpose and to haue a blessing of God goe with it then the carefull performance of thy dutie to him then which nothing is more forcible to draw dutie from him In a word the wiues maine dutie here is subiection the mans principally Loue and there is nothing more auaileable with a good nature to extract from it loue and all duties of loue then a willing subiection and yeelding issuing from loue in the partie to bee loued Againe this sheweth if any breach or occasion of offence shall arise betweene man and wife whither is to seeke to other Howsoeuer the husband in discretion being that he is or ought to be the wiser and the woman held to be the weaker as Abraham sought to Lot though beeing euery way the better yet the wife is in duty rather to seeke reconcilement as the Apostle implâ—eth when hee saith Let her be reconciled to her husband and as we see it held in all estates that the inferiour doth euer seeke and sue to the superiour and so to breake of first on her side that vacancie and intermission of duties that thereupon hath ensued And thus much for the Order we come now to the Matter Wherein concerning the wiues dutie first propounded obserue we two things the maine dutie and the manner of it The maine dutie on the wiues part is Submission or Subiection That the Apostâ—es of Christ both Paul and Peter exact euer on her part For the reason whereof in generall no other need be rendred then that which the Apostle Paul propoundeth in this place that it is a matter of Comelinesse and Decency God is the God as of order and peace so of Comelinesse and Decencie and therefore will haue All things done in decencie and in order but that the wife should submit and subiect her selfe to her husband it is a thing comely and the contrary vncomely Which point shall further the more plainely appeere if we shall consider that the Husband is the superiour and the wife the inferiour that the Husband is as the head the wife as the body or the rib For the first there can bee no ordinary entercourse and commerce or conuersing betweene person and person but there must be a precedencie on the one part and a yeelding of it on the other Now where they be equals there may be some question some difficultie whither shall haue the prioritie and they take it commonly as it falleth out or by turnes But where there is an apparent inequalitie there it is without question that the inferiour is to yeeld to the superiour Now here the Husband is the Superiour and the wife the Inferiour as the Apostle else-where prooueth both from the Creation and since the transgression From the Creation as appeareth by the Order Maner End of it By