which hee will not doe with the like but with a caste of his office cutting large thonges of other mâ—ns leather The reason why the Maiestrate must take no rewardes is because rewards blind the eyes and peruert the iudgement it keepes him from seeing the right of the other side and makes him see that side where the bribe is to glister like the gold put a staffe in the water and it will seeme crooked not that it is crooked but we cannot see it right for the water so looke on a cause t 〈…〉 owe bribes and that which is â—ght will seeme crooked If therefore we loue to be kept in vpright iudgement and sight let vs abhor gifts we mislike theÌ„ that put out our bodily eyes though it be with a siluer Bodkin how much more those that put out the eyes of our minde The Philiâ—ines thought they could put Sampson to no greater shame then to put out his eyes so it is a great shame to a Maiestrate to bee blinded with bribes for then all men may see his partiality therefore though men thinke they are honoured of them that giue them bribes yet they are dishonoured and though they thinke they will see right and doe iustice notwithstanding but thereby they are blinded and corrupted a bribe will drawe his iudgement and affection like an Adamant stone It is with the Maiestrate and a bribe as it is with the fishe and the bayte if the fish take the baite she is taken of the baite so if the Maiestrate take a bribe he is taken of the bribe as rewardes doe blinde the Maiestrate so it peruerts him It peruertes his iudgement of the man that sends him guifts it makes him thinke the man is louing and kinde to him when it is not the loue of the Maiestrate but the loue of himselfe that mooues him also it peruerts his iudgement of the matter for hee will thinke of all circumstances and straine and drawe them to the vttermost for that part and lend a deafe eare to the other side at least a slender regarde Some Officers looke not to God but to Mammon not how they may giue euery man his owne but how they may make other mens their owne not how they may dispatch causes rightly and commodiously for the people but how they may eyther release or linger causes for their owne commoditie but it is said Thou shalt take us rewardes and the Maiestrate should say to him that offers him a bribe what wouldest thou put out my eyes I suspect your cause is naught because you would colour it with corruption I will looke so much the more narrowly into it because you seeke thus to daube it We are highly to thanke God that this precept is religiously regarded of our Lorde chiefe Iustice and Lorde chiefe Baron and I hope of many other superiour Maiestrates I would it were aswell of inferiour officers I once heard a Maiestrate saye to one that offered him certaine Capons to stand his friend Why saith hee doe yee bring â—ee these filthie things I will none of them the creatures were good but hee called them so in respect of the filthie working effect and ende of them If all Maiestrates did beare such a minde and would giue like answere to such persons they should preuent sinne and shame to themselues and danger to other and further iustice to the glory of God That which is iust and right shalt thou doe Whatsoeuer is iust and right that is within the compasse of thine office thou shalt doe and not bee drawne from it by respect of bribes or persons God will haue Maiestrates precise in Iustice and to goe as it were by a thred therefore it is said in another place They should not 〈…〉 ne to the right hand nor to the left That thou mayest liue This is a promise â—ade to good Maiestrates that execute iustice right as Salomon saith It shall establish the throne of the Prince whereby wee may see how iustice doth please God and not onely because it is a dutie that he commandes but because it is a meanes to keepe a number in their duties Contrarywise heere is included a secret threatning that if Maiestrates doe not execute iustice But wrest the law and peruert iudgement eyther by respect of persons or bribes they shall dye and not onely because they doe neglect this dutie but because a great number of sinnes will growe thorow impietie If Iudges that bee Gods debuties will not doe iustice then the Iudge of all must doe it himselfe both vpon the Iudges themselues and vpon the people therefore it is said thou shalt cut of a wicked person from the earth and so take euil from Israel both the euill that else he will do and the euill that the people shall suffer from the hand of God for bearing with such things when Eli would not punish his sonnes how did God punish not onelye him and his house but the whole people When Saule would not punish Agag and the witch how did God punish him so if Maiestrates loue their owne peace and the peace of the people let them execute iustice if they doe not God will and when we see fayling this way on earth let vs appeale to heauen ¶ A Iewell for Gentlewomen 1. PETER 3. 3. Whose apparelling let it not be outwarde as with broydered hayre and golde put about or in putting on of apparell 4. But let the hid man of the heart be vncorrupt with a meeke and quiet spirit which is before God a thing much set by 5. For euen after this manner in time past did the holy women which trusted in God tire themselues and were subiect to their husbands THe Apostle Peter in this Epistle after hee hath taught the generall duties of Christians that are to bee performed to God and to all men hee hath proceeded to the perticular duties belonging to some of inferiours to superiours and because the King is both the highest superior and to be honored of all he hath begunne with him in the former Chapter and hath proceeded from the publike gouernours of the Common-wealth to the priuate gouernours of families and taught the duties of seruants to their maisters And because God will haue order in euery societie euen in the least societie aswell as in the greatest in the beginning of this Chapter hee teaches wiues to bee subiect to their husbands for although a wife in other places of Scripture be called her husbands companion Mal. 2. and yoake-fellow because of the neere coniunction and affection that is betweene them and because in some things especially in the marriage bed they bee equall yet the husband is appointed of God to be her head and superiour therfore shee is commanded to bee subiect to Gen. 3. him in her desire and in her behauior both in words and in deeds for since our first parents 1. Pet. 3. 5 did exalt themselues and would bee like God all their posteritie haue
1. he Wee saw his glorye And also in his notable and deuine miracles turning water into wine feeding manye thousandes with a few loaues and fishes causing the rough sea and windes to bee still making warlike souldiers to fall backewarde and euen the diuells to giue place at his commandement therefore when it is said here he was iustified in the spirit the meaning is he was apparantly shewed knowne and acknowledged to be God in the flesh Seene of Angels He was not onely iustyfied and acknowledged to be the sonne of God in the flesh by men but also by Angels who were acquainted with it and witnesses of it they brought tydings of his birth to the shepheardes they brought Luk. 1. tydings of his resurrection to the women Luk. 24. they were behoulders of his ascention with the Apostles and they did not onely Acts. 1. see him but adore and worship him and Heb. 1. not onelye the good Angels but the euill Angels did acknowledge him this Mar. 3. is a great misterye that dooth appeare wonderfull to all creatures both good and bad that a babe lying in a manger and a man hanging vppon the crosse should be the sonne of God and Sauiour of the world Preached to the Gentiles This is a further amplifying of this mistery for Christ did not take flesh to the end to be hid and vnvnknowne especially after he had performed the worke of redemptiō for although he bad his disciples to shew his transfiguration Mat. 17. to no man till he was risen againe from the dead yet after that he would haue both it and all other partes of religion published to all men when the woman powred a boxe of ointment on his head he said wheresoeuer this Gospell should be preached that which shee had done should be spoken of for a memoriall of her thereby shewing that the Gospel should be preached thorow the world and if that little that shee did before his death should bee published and praised how much more his death it selfe This mistery of religion was hid 4000. yeares or thereaboutes from the Gentiles a long time it was contained in one familie and in one kingdome in which respect the Apostle calles the calling of the Gentiles to the knowledge of Christ by the Gospell a mistery hid from the ages Ephe. 3. past but when the fulnesse of time was come then God sent his sonne in the flesh a light to be reuealed to the Gentiles Luk. 2. as Simeon speaketh according to that which was promised to Abraham in thy seede shall all the nations in the earth be blessed therefore our Sauiour Christ commaunded his disciples to goe to all nations and preach the things he had commaunded Mar. 28. for which purpose hee gaue them extraordinary guifts and among the rest the guifte of speaking with dyuers Acts. 2. tongues according to that which Paule saith he ascended vp on high and led captiuity captiue and gaue guiftes to men and appointed some to bee Apostles c. 〈◊〉 4. Now as they were commaunded and inabled to preach to the Gentiles so they did as we may see throughout the booke of the Actes of the Apostles they preached first Acts. 13 indeed to the Iews but when they refused they turned to the Gentiles although they suffered reproofe and persecution for the same at the hands of the Iewes because the Iewes misliked the calling of the Gentiles some of them of ignorance thinking the promises belonged onely to them and not to the Gentiles except such as should enter into the Church by the auncient dore of circumcision and some of them of duty thinking their dignity of being the only people of God would fall if the Gentiles should be taken in which is set forth in the example of the elder brother who enuied Luk. 15. the entertainemen of the prodigall sonne Now this mistery of calling of the Gentiles is so much the more misticall because the Iewes who were the natural Oliue-tree were broken and the Gentiles who were of the wilde Oliue-tree were grafted in this is a great mistery that the Gentiles that were poore beggers which lay by the hedges Mat. 22. and high wayes as it is set foorth in the parable should bee called to the marriage of the Kinges sonne that no Gentiles that were strangers and forreners as the Apostle speakes to the Ephesians should be Citizens with the saints and of the houshold of God and as the Apostles did preach to the Gentiles so the summe of their Preaching and Sermons was this mistery of religion that God was manifested in the flesh as we may see in the Actes where Acts. 4. they teach that there is no name vnder heauen whereby we may be saued but the name of Iesus Beleeued on in the world Hauing sayde Christ God and man was preached to the Gentiles now he saith He was beleeued on the world Whereby we see that preaching goeth before faith as Paul saith How shall they beleeue except they heare and Rom. 10. how shall they heare without a Preacher and Peter saith God chose him that the Gentiles Acts. 15. should heare the Gospell and beleeue the preaching of the lawe though it hath an excellent vse to be a Schoolemaister to Gal. 3. leade vs to Christ and to prepare vs for Christ as it did those to whom Iohn Baptist preached the doctrine of repentance Luk. 3. yet it cannot worke faith in men that is the office of the Gospell which setteth foorth Christ Iesus and this misterie of our redemption that he hath wrought in the flesh as we haue heard before therefore is the Gospell called the word of faith which the Gentiles did heare and beleeue for although all that doe heare doe not beleeue yet none can beleeue but those that heare therefore it is said It pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to saue those that 1. Co◠1. beleeue Whereupon I inferre this briefe exhortation as a Parentheses that those who would be religious should not thinke reading either by others or by themselues sufficient but that therewithall they do ioyne ordinary hearing the worde preached which is the iust liuely effectuall meanes that God hath ordained for the beginning Gal. 3. and increasing of this grace of faith and all other gifts of sanctification For Christ beeing preached to the Gentiles he was not preached in vayne but as the Apostle saith he was beleeued on in the world not of all the world for the Apostle 2. Thes 3 saith all men haue not faith but in Acts. 13. the world that is as Luke saith in the Acts As many as were ordained to eternall life beleeued and therefore is true faith which doeth apprehend Christ called the faith of Gods elect which is according to Godlinesse Titus 1. This is not the least part of this great mistery that Christ is beleeued on in the world some maruell that
had pride in them to exalte themselues one aboue another therefore as the Apostle hath tied all people to bee subiect to their Princes and Maiestrates and all seruants to be subiect to their maisters so he tyeth all wiues to be subiect to their husbands for although some women in respect of her birth may bee superiour to her husband yet in respect of her mariage she is inferiour to him And though the Scripture in other places shewes diuers other reasons to perswade 1. Cor. 11 women vnto subiection namelie that the woman was made of the man and for him yet in this place the Apostle contents himselfe with this one reason taken from the end of their subiection that their husbands and others who were yet Infidels might bee wonne to the loue and better liking of religion and the word whereby they might bee trulye wonne to God when they should see by dayly experience what power and vertue religion had wrought in their Christian wiues that by nature is not found in other women for as the bad conuersation of professors is an offence and stumbling block to Turkes and Papists so the good conuersation of Christians is a meanes to drawe them neerer religion that are without and perticulerly to drawe an vnbeleeuing husband as Paul saith to the Corinthians What knowest â— Cor. 7. thou whether thou shalt win thy husband for as she must seeke to winne her husband by words so also by works for if she shall perswade him to heare to read to pray c. which be good wordes and in the meane time be froward snappish disobedient and shew foorth euill workes what force haue her speeches to drawe her husband to religion which he shall see to haue wrought no more vertue in her selfe therefore although it seemed to them that were Christian wiues and seruants an vnworthy thing to bee subiect to Infidels and Idolaters yet because religion doth not breake the bands of ciuil and lawfull societies and dutie as Popish religion dooth but confirme and strengthen them rather therefore as the Apostle hath willed Christian people and seruants before to be subiect to their Princes and superiours so hee willeth Christian wiues here to be subiect to their husbandes that yet were Infidels so farre as their more bounden dutye to God would suffer them wayting when by Gods grace and their good meanes their husbandes might become Christians And if wiues must bee subiect to their Infidell husbands how much more must wiues bee subiect to their Christian husbands although they haue faultes that yet are much more lesser and greatly inferiour to gentleisme therefore if this precept that wiues should bee subiect to their husbands who were so vnequally yoaked were of force then how much more is it of force now Whose apparrelling lâ—t it not be outwarde Verse 3. The Apostle hauing required a good conuersation generally he shewes them what this behauiour that he would haue them vse is in perticuler not costly and curious apparrell for that often time offends their husbandes thorow the chargeablenesse and attendance that belonges vnto it but hee woulde haue them moderate in their affections reuerend in their speeches and dutyfull in their actions and to mooue them hereunto he willes them to set before them the glasse and examples of holy women especially of Sara who in these vertues is a renouned patterne to all her daughters Not with broidred haire He beginnes to speake of their apparrell which shewes that we are by the fall of Adam become so ignorant that we knowe not how to apparrell our selues as we know not how to eate and drinke nor to doe any thing well but we must be enformed of the word of God therefore as the saying is Of euill manners spring good lawes so of the euill fashion of the people in their time the Apostles set downe good rules touching this point and although men are not exempted but also generally instructed touching apparrell yet women are often and perticulerly dealt withall about it as appeares in the Prophesie of Esay and other places because Esai 1. 3. 1. Tim. 2. that sexe is much giuen to costlinesse and curiositie this way as one saith Many things are inuented by women that neyther nature necessitie nor honesty doth require and if they were so adicted thervnto that they needed restraint then when the Church was in persecution what neede is there of this bridle nowe in the time of peace Some haue gathered from this place that golde and costlye apparell is not lawfull for Christians to weare but that cannot be the Apostles meaning for then hee should crosse other places of the Scripture and dissent from Paul who saith to the Corinthians All things are yours And to 1. Cor. 3. Titus That to the pure all things are pure Titus 1. 1. Tim. 4. and to Timothie That euery creature of God is good and nothing to bee refused so it bee receiued with thankesgiuing of those that beleeue and knowe the trueth We read of Ioseph of Hester of Mordecai and of Daniell that did weare goulde and costlye things and if they had beene euill things Joseph would haue refused them when Pharao offered them aswell as hee did his Mistresse when shee offered her selfe to him Mordecai would haue refused them when the King offred them aswell as he did to bowe to Haman Daniel would haue refused them aswell as hee did the Kings meate yea Sara her selfe whose example the Apostle propounds in this Chapter had and vsed costly apparell as we may see by the Braslets and Iewels that Abrahams seruant gaue to Rebecca when Gen. 24. he went to procure her to be Isackes wife Indeed by Adams fall we haue lost our interest in all the creatures the worst aswell as the best but by Christ we are againe restored to the best aswell as the worste as Paul saith to the Corinthians All things are yours Therefore Christians may as lawfullye weare fine Linnen that comes from Aegipt Veluet that comes from Naples and the goulde that comes from Indea as they may eate Sugar that comes from Barbary and drinke the Wine that comes from France for why hath God put vpon some of his creatures beauty but for vs to behold in some creatures sweetnesse but for vs to taste and in some pleasantnesse of voyce and sound but for vs to heare therefore we may haue the vse of them all so we glorifie the creator that made them the redeemer that restores them and the Holy-ghost who sanctifies them and doe rightly vse theÌ„ but yet the Scripture giues certaine rules and caueats for the vse of them and as of meate drinke and other creatures so of apparell both touching the matter and the forme or manner Costly apparell must not be worne of all because it agrees not with the calling of some nor with the abilitie of others therefore our sauiour Christ saith those that weare soft raiment are in Kings houses not that it may