Hierome notably Licèt sparso crine scissis vestibus vbera quibus te nutrier at mâ—ter oftendat licèt in limâ—ne pater iaceat per calcatum perge patreÌ„ siccis oculis ad vexillum crucis euola The most eminent paternes of obedience to father and mother are the Rechabits Isaac Christ Venerabatur matrem cuius ipse erat pater colebat nutritium quem nutriuerat Reuerence Bearing them respect in words and outward behauiour though they be neuer so meane and wee neuer so mightie Prouerbs 23. 22. Honour thy father that begat thee and thy mother that bare thee As if hee should say Be dutifull vnto thy parents not because they be rich and in great place but because they be thy parents how base soeuer they bee Matris angustam domum Iudicas cuius tibi non fuit venter angustus parentes non amare impietas est non agnoscere insania est Examples of this vertue recorded in holy Scriptures are Ioseph and Salomon and in our English Chronicles Sir Thomas More who being Lord Chancellor of England vsually did aske his father blessing in Westminster Hall publikely the which custome of our nation is good and godly Maintenance If the parent be blind the child must be his eye if lame the child must be his foote if in any want the staffe of his decaied age So Christ tooke care for his mother at his death for it is great reason that children hauing receiued life of their father and mother should procure to preserue vnto them the same life Nature doth reade this lesson Valerius Maximus hath a memorable historie of a young woman who gaue sucke to her mother in prison and so kept her aliue who otherwise was adiudged to be famished A pious office so well accepted of the Iudge that he did both pardon the mother and prefer the daughter Aristophanes affirmes also that the young Stroke doth feed the old There is a dutie required of the parent toward the child as well as of the child toward the parent yet the law speaketh expresly to the one and not to the other That the father being in order of nature in wisdome superior might suspect his duty to be written in himselfe father and mother are nominapietatis officiorum vocabula naturae vincula The dutie then of superiours is infolded in the word father a Minister is a father a Master a father a Magistrate a father teaching them to be so well affected to their inferiors as parents are to their children Againe the loue of parents towards their children is so naturall and ordinary that there is lesse need to put parents in mind of their dutie But contrariwise children are not vsually so dutifull to their parents as the Schoole speakes Amor descendit non ascendit benefactor plus dâ—ligit quam beneficiâ—tus and therefore it was necessary to admonish them of their loue neither is God content with a bare precept but hath adioined a promise That thy daies may bee long for there is no reason hee should inioy long life who dishonoureth those of whom hee receiued life but if God shorten the daies of dutifull children and in stead of long life giue them euerlasting life hee doth not breake but keepe his promise for hee doth promise long life not absolutely but so farre forth as it is a blessing that it may be well with thee and that thou maiest liue long on earth Ephes. 6. 3. The 6. Commandement THe negatiue part forbiddeth all euill and that is committed against our neighbour three waies In Thought Word Deed. But because bad deeds are worse then bad words and bad words worse then bad thoughts it pleased the God of order first to forbid bad deeds Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit adulterie Thou shalt not steale Then bad words Thou shalt not beare false witnesse Last of all bad thoughts Thou shalt not couet thy neighbors house c. All our bad deeds against our neighbors concerne his Life Thou shalt not kill Honour Thou shalt not commit adultery Goods Thou shalt not steale Thou shalt not kill To wit a man for to kill other liuing things is not forbidden and the reason is plaine because they were created for man and so man is master of their life But one man was not created for another man but for God and therefore not man but only God is master of our life for a magistrate doth not put malefactors to death as master of their life but as a minister of God and so by consequence not murther but an act of iustice Such as strike with the sword shall perish with the sword that is such as take the sword vpon their owne authoritie Dominus iusserat vt ferrum discipuli ferrent non vt ferirent But if God put a sword into their hand then they may then they must strike In a word killing is vniust when either it is done without authoritie or by publike authoritie vpon priuate grudge non amore iâ—stitiae sed libidine vindictae Concerning inward rancour and outward disdaine in deed word or gesture see the Gospell Dom. 6. post Trin. The 7. Commandement IN this Commandement are forbidden all vnchast lusts aswell burning within as breaking forth Into Allurements Ribald talke Ephes. 4. 29. Wanton lookes Gen. 6. 2. 39. 7. Lasciuious attire Esay 3. 16. Acts of vncleannesse Acts of vncleannesse vnnaturall as Committing filthinesse with A man of the same sex Rom. 1. 27. Abeast Leu. 18. 23. A Diuell as witches doe by their owne confession Naturall Adulterie when both or one of the parties are married Deut. 22. 22. Fornication between single persons as Deflouring of virgins Deut. 22. 28. Hunting of common whores 1. Cor. 10. 8. Incest with such as be within the degrees of consanguinitie or affinitie prohibited in law Leuit. 18. 6. Sinne in this kind is more dangerous then in another because a man can hardly repent heartily for it The murtherer and swearer and theese become many times exceeding sorrowfull after the fact but the wanton as Hierome notes euen in the middest of his repentance sinneth afresh the very conceit of his old pleasure doth occasion a new fault so that when his deuotion ends he presently begins to repent that he did repent Example hereof Augustine who being in the heat of his youth as himselfe writes of himselfe begged of God earnestly the gift of continencie but saith he to tell the truth I was afraid lest hee should heare me too soone Malebam enim explers concupiscentiam quà m extinguâ— See the Gospell Dom. 15. post Trin. The 8. Commandement THis ouerthroweth Anabaptisticall and Platonicall communitie for if all things ought to be common and nothing proper in possession how can one man steale from another All lawes of giuing buying selling leaseing letting lending are vaine si teneant omnes omnia
magnifie the Lord. THis Hymne is nothing else but a grace for grace great thankes for great things receiued of the Lord. Wherein obserue the manner and matter of the Virgins exultation or a thanksgiuing in the two former verses and a reason in the rest For he hath regarded c. I purpose to â—ift euery word of the former part seuerally and because there is as Luther saith great Diuinitie in pronounes I will first examine the pronoune My my soule my spirit my Sauiour It is not enough y t other pray for vs except our selues praise God for our selues He that goeth to Church by an attorney shal go to heaueÌ„ also by a proxie There is an old Legend of a Merchant who neuer would go to Masse but euer when he heard the Saints bell he said to his wife Pray thou for thee and me Vpon a time hee dreamed that hee and his wife were dead and that they knocked at heauen gate for entrance S. Peter the porter for so goeth the tale suffered his wife to enter in but thrust him out saying Illa intrauit pro se te as thy wife went to Church for thee so likewise she must goe to heauen for thee The morall is good howsoeuer the storie be bad insinuating that euery one must haue both a personalitie of faith my Sauiour and a personalitie of deuotion my soule my spirit Officium is efficium it is not enough that the master enioyne his familie to pray or the father heare his child pray or the Teacher exhort his people to pray but as euery one hath tasted of Gods bountie so euery one must performe this dutie hauing oyle of his owne in his owne lampe saying and praying with the blessed Virgin My soule my spirit Soule As if she should thus speake Thy benefits O Lord are so good so great so manifest so manifold that I can not accord them with my tongue but only record them in my heart It is truly said he loues but little who tels how much he loues and so surely hee praiseth God but little who makes it a tongue-toile and a lip-labor only Mark 7. 6. This people honoureth me with their lips but their heart is farre from me God who gaue all will haue all and yet aboue all requireth the soule Sonne giue me thy heart for that alone commands all other members as the Centurion did his souldiers It saith to the foote goe and it goeth vnto the hand come and it commeth vnto the rest doe this and they doe it It doth bend the knees and ioyne the hands and lift vp the eye composeth the countenance disposeth of the whole man and therefore as that other Mary chose the better part so this Mary bestowed vpon God her best part her soule did magnifie her spirit reioyced Some Diuines expound these words ioyntly some seuerally The word spirit is vsed in the holie Scripture sometime for the whole soule 1. Cor. 7. 34. The woman vnmaried careth for the things of the Lord that she may be holy both in body and in spirit that is in soule So S. Augustine thinks that these two words here signifie the same because the latter phrase my spirit reioiceth in God my Sauiour is nothing else but an exegesis of the former my soule doth magnifie the Lord insinuating by this repetition my soule my spirit that her deuotion was not hypocriticall but cordiall and vnfained It is obserued in nature that the Fox doth nip the necke the Mastiue the throat the Ferret the liuer but God especially careth for the heart being as Ambrose speakes excellently Non corticis sed cordis deus And therefore Mary was not content to praise the Lord from the rine of her lips only but also from the roote of her heart So Dauid did pray Praise the Lord O my soule and all that is within mee praise his holy name So Paul would haue vs pray Sing to the Lord with a grace in your hearts And so the Church doth desire that the Priest who is the mouth of the people should pray The Lord be with you saith the Minister and the whole congregation answereth And with thy spirit Heereby signifying that this holy businesse ought to be performed with all attention and intention of spirit Diuines interpreting these two seuerally distinguish betweene soule and spirit and so doth the Scripture 1. Cor. 15. 45. The first man Adam was made a liuing soule the last Adam a quickening spirit Soule is that by which we liue naturally spirit is that by which we liue through grace supernaturally Or as other soule signifieth the will and spirit the vnderstanding as Heb. 4. 12. The word of God is liuely and mighty in operation and sharper then any two edged sword and entreth thorow euen vnto the diuiding asunder of the soule and spirit that is of the will and vnderstanding So that Mary saying here my soule and my spirit doth intimate that she did praise the Lord with attention in her vnderstanding and deuotion in her affection They praise God with halfe an heart who either hauing deuotion want vnderstanding or else indued with vnderstanding want deuotion and so while men pray with the soule without a spirit or with the spirit without a soule their heart is diuided as the Prophet Ose Diuisum est cor eorum and God hath but one part happily the least peece The line then to be drawne from this example is first that we pray with our heart secondly with our whole heart with all our soule with all our spirit Doth In the present For as a gift to man so glory to God is most acceptable when as it is seasonable not deferred but conferred in time Gratia quae tarda est ingrata est gratia Proprium est libenter facientis citò facere Magnifie The word signifieth highly to commend and extoll Magnum facere to make great Now God is optimus maximus already most great and therefore cannot be made more great in regard of himselfe but all our vilifying and magnifying the Lord is in respect of others onely When wee blasheme the most holy name of God as much as in vs lieth we lessâ—n his greatnes when we blesse his name so much as in vs is we magnifie his glory making that which is great in it selfe to be reputed great of other As one fitly Magnificare nihil aliud est nisi magnum significare This magnifying consists in our conuersation especially Noli saith Augustine gloriari quia lingua benediâ—is si vita maledicis Haue your conuersation honest among the Gentiles that they which speake euill of you may by your good works which they shall see glorifie God in the day of the visitation God is magnified of vs as Ambrose and Origen note when as his image is repaired in vs. He created man according to his likenes that is
men in all things for all times In it obserue Prefaces One of the Law writer God spake all these words c. Another of the Law-giuer I am the Lord thy God c. Precepts of the First table coÌ„cerning our loue to God Second touching our loue to man In the former preface note the Matter all these words Manner When. Who. The matter is these words that is these sentences and all these for Almightie God spake not the first Commandement only nor the second or third and left there but hee spake them all and therefore the Pope proues himselfe Antigod in leauing out one and dispensing with many God gaue so strict a charge to keepe euery one as any one but the Vicar of God abounding with vnlimitted authoritie doth first publish what he list and then expound them as he list To leaue them who thus leaue God is our dutie because God spake them all to beg of him obedience and make conscience to keepe them all as one wittily Totus Tota Totum The whole man The whole law The whole time of his life In the manner I note first the circumstance of time when God spake namely when all the people were gathered together aud sanctified as appeareth in the former Chapter then God spake Whereupon it is well obserued that all men ought to take notice of the law whether they be Commoners or Commanders high or low none so mighty that is greater or so meane that is lesse then a subiect to God and his ordinances and therefore Martin Luther hath worthily reprehended Antinomian preachers who teach that the Law need not be taught in the time of the Gospell Indeed Christ is the end of the Law but as Augustine construes it finis perficiens non interficiens an end not consuming but consummating for as himselfe said I came not to destroy the law but to teach it and doe it Secondly we may learne by this circumstance due preparation when wee come before God either to speake or heare his word Auenzoar vsed to say that hee neuer gaue purgation but his heart did shake many daies before Let the Physition of the soule then tremble to thinke what hurt bad physicke may doe when it is administred abruptly corruptly without either paines in reading or reuerence in speaking Vnto the vngodly said God Why doest thou preach my lawes and takest my couenant in thy mouth when as thou hatest to be reformed and hast cast my words behind thee If hearers of the Law much more Preachers of the Gospell ought to be throughly sanctified In the Millers hand wee lose but our meale in the Farriors hand but our mule in the Lawyers hands but our goods in the Physitians hand but our life but in the hands of a bad Diuine wee may lose that which surpasseth all our soule Hearers also being of vncircumcised hearts and eares ought to fit and prepare themselues as Moses and Iosua were commanded in disburdening their mind when they come to Gods house to heare God speake not only from vnlawfull but also from all lawfull worldly busines presenting themselues and their soules in the righteousnes of Christ a liuing holy acceptable sacrifice to God and it is the dutie both of speaker and hearer to desire the Lord that he would forgiue our want of preparation and so to assist vs with his holy spirit in handling of his holy word as that the whole businesse may be transacted for our good and his glory The second circumstance noted in the manner is the person and that is God Then God spake these words in his owne person attended vpon with millions of glorious Angels in a flame of fire so that there is neuer an idle word but all full of wonderful wisdome so perfect a law that it proues it selfe to be Gods law For the lawes of men albeit they fill many large volumes are imperfect some statutes are added daily which were not thought vpon before many repealed which after experience taught not to be so profitable but this law continueth the same for euer comprehending in a few words all perfection of dutie to God and man inioyning whatsoeuer is good and forbidding whatsoeuer is euill God is author of all holy Scripture but the ten Commandements are his after a more peculiar sort first because himselfe spake them and said in a sound of words and a distinct voice that the people both heard and vnderstood them in which sâ—nse S. Stephen happily calleth them oracula vina liuely oracles not that they did giue life for Paul sheweth that the Law was the ministration of death but liuely words as vttered by liuely voice not of men or Angels as other Scripture but immediatly thundred out by God himselfe Secondly because God himselfe wrote them after a more speciall maner hee did vse men and meanes in penning the Gospels and Epistles and other parts of sacred writ for holy men of God wrote as they were moued by the spirit of God as the Fathers obserue they were the pennes of Gods owne finger but in setting downe the Decalogue Gods owne finger was the pen hee made the tables also wherein they were first written that there might be nothing in them but only Gods immediate worke Since then God had such speciall regard in deliuering the Law wee must hence learne with all humble reuerence to receiue the same If King Eglon a barbarous tyrant respected Ehud a man of meane qualitie when he brought a message from the Lord how much more should we with awfull respect embrace the Decalogue which God in his owne person vttered and it should make vs exceeding zealous also notwithstanding the scoffes of Atheists and carelesse worldlings in obseruing and maintaining the same For what need any feare to defend that which God himselfe spake and whereof Christ said He that is ashamed of me and my words in this world I will be ashamed of him before my father in the world to come As a liuely faith is the best glosse vpon the Gospell so dutifull obedience is the best Commentarie vpon the Law To conclude with Augustine Faciemus iubente imperatore non faciâ—mus iubente creatore Yes Lord speak for thy seruants herare Thus much concerning the first preface The second is of the Law-giuer I am the Lord c. Containing two sorts of arguments to proue that hee may giue a law and that his people are bound to keepe it The first kind of reason is taken from his essence and greatnes in himselfe I am Iehoua The second from his effects and goodnes towards Israel In Generall Thy God More speciall Which haue brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage Now whatsoeuer is said vnto them is said vnto all Almightie God is euer the same which is which was and which is to come who being Iehoua the Lord made vs
mutassediem vt oftenderent exemplum abrogationis legum ceremonialium in die septimo Melanct. tom 2. fol. 363. Whereas therefore the Iewes obserued their Sabbath on the seuenth day wee celebrate the eighth They gaue God the last day of the weeke but Christians better honour him with the first they keepe their Sabbath in honour of the worlds creation but Christians in memoriall of the worlds redemption a worke of greater might and mercie and therefore good reason the greater worke should carrie away the credit of the day See the Gospell on Saint Thomas day The particular rest of the Iewes is ceremoniall also for it is a type of our inward resting from sin in this life Exod. 31. 13. Ezek. 20. 12. and a figure of our eternall Sabbath in the next as S. Paul disputes Heb. 4. Yet this Commandement is morall in the generall As for example wee must keepe one day in the seuen holie to the Lord wherein we must doe no manner of work which may let the ministerie of Gods word and other exercises of pietie We must leaue to doe our worke that the Lord may bring foorth in vs his worke The duties then required on the Lords day be principally two Rest. And a sanctification of this rest A double Sabbath rest from labour and rest from sinne for as our Church doth determine two sorts of people transgresse this Commandement especially 1. Such as will not rest froÌ„ their ordinary labour but driue carry row ferry on SuÌ„day 2. Such as will rest in vngodlines idlely spending this holy day in pampering pointing painting themselues So that God is more dishonoured and the Diuell better serued vpon Sunday then on all the daies of the weeke beside Thou shalt do no manner of worke That is no seruile work of thine ordinarie calling which may be done the day before or left well vndone till the day after But some workes are lawfull namely such as appertaine to the publike worship of God as painfull preaching of the sacred word reading of diuine prayers administring of the blessed Sacraments and euery worke subordinate to these as ringing of bels and trauelling to Church Acts 1. 12. 2. Kings 4. 23. And workes of mercie toward Our selues as prouision of meate and drinke Matth. 12. 1. Other Men our Sauiour healed the man with the dâ—ied hand on the Sabbath Mark 3. 5. Beasts in watering cattell and helping them out of pound and pit Luk. 14. 5. Workes of present necessitie Physitions on the Lords day may visit their patients Midwiues helpe women with child Shepheards attend their flock Mariners their voiage Souldiers may fight and messengers ride post for the great good of the Common-wealth Works of honest recreations also so farre as they may rather helpe then hinder our cheerefull seruing of the Lord and the reason of all this is giuen by Christ Mar. 2. 27. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath Thou Thy wife is not named because she is presumed to be thy selfe that whatsoeuer is forbidden thy selfe must also be knowne to be forbidden thy second selfe Thy sonne and thy daughter Euery man is a gouernour in his owne house and therefore must take charge of such as are vnder him Adduc eos ad domum dei tecum qui sunt in domo tua tecum mater Ecclesia aliquos à te petit aliquos repetit petit eos quos apud te inuenit repetit quos per te perdidit Thy man seruant This is for Thy good Their good The common good Thy good For hee that on Sunday shall learne his dutie will be more fit all the weeke to doe his dutie such as obey God with a good conscience will serue their master with an vpright heart as Iacob serued Laban and Ioseph Pharaoh Againe it is for thy good often to remember with thankfulnesse that God hath made thee master and him seruant whereas hee might haue made thee seruant and him master For their good that they may know God and whom he hath sent Christ Iesus the way the truth and the life Thy seruants are men of the same mold with thee Iisdem constant nâ—triuntur elementis eundem spiritum ab eodem principio carpunt eodem fruun ur coelo aequa viuunt aeque moriuntur serui sunt imo conserui That is in the words of scripture Thy seruants are all one with thee in Christ made of the same God redeemed with the same price subiect to the same law belonging to the same master Ephes. 6. 9. Pitie then and pietie require that thou see them obserue the Lords day for the good as well of their bodies as soules For the common good For euery man hath iust cause to be ready willingly to labour all the weeke when as he is assured he shall rest on Sunday Thy cattell Hence we may gather much comfort for if God in his mercy prouide for the welfare euen of our brute beasts of which he hath made vs Lords he will assuredly much more respect vs his seruants and children he cannot be carelesse for men who is so carefull for oxen The Commandements are so well knowne and often expounded that as Augustine speakes in the like case Desiderant auditorem magis quà m expositorem I passe therefore from the first table containing all dutie to God vnto the second teaching all dutie to man I say to man as the proper immediat object of them Otherwise these Commandements are done vnto God also for he that clotheth the naked and visiteth the sicke doth it vnto Christ Matth. 25. 40. The law then concerning our neighbour is partly Affirmatiue teaching vs to do him all good Honour thy father and mother c. Negatiue teaching vs to doe him no hurt Thou shalt not kill c. This table begins with honour of our father First because next vnto God we must honour those who are in the place of God Secondly because the neglect of this one Commandement occasioneth all disorder against the rest for if superiours gouerne well and inferiours obey well how can any man be wronged in word or deed Thirdly because of all neighbours our parents are most neere to vs as being most bound to them of whom we haue receiued our life Thy parent is Gods instrument for thy naturall being thy Prince Gods instrument for thy ciuill being thy Pastor Gods instrument for thy spirituall being Wherefore as thou art a man thou must honour thy naturall father as a citizen honour thy ciuill father as a Christian honour thy ecclesiasticall father Honour imports especially 3. things Obedience Reuerence Maintenance Obedience Children obey your parents in all things Coloss 3. 20 that is as Paul doth interpret himselfe Ephes. 6. 1 in the Lord. In all things agreeable to the will of God otherwise for Christs loue wee must hate father and mother Luke 14. 26.