alwaies be open to speake ill to misconster thy actions and to blaze abroad thy infirmities and scapes He that would haue no enemies must make himselfe none by vniust vnkind or vnneighbourly dealing but he must rather by couttecusnesse of speech helpfulnesse and good neighbourhood win the loue and liking of men yet a man may be too wise in this point Many being Ioth to incurre any mans displeasure will not seeke to vphold right and equitie they will not speake for the poore nor stand out to maintaine Gods cause when he is dishonored by open sin as swearing lying rayling and such like Many to keepe in with all vse all companies alike for auoiding a mans company breedeth a grudge But the good will of men is neuer to be purchased with forsaking of duty Such things as may iustly be ill taken auoyde for peace sake Whereof the Wiseman noteh some as medling in others mens matters He that medleth with a strife that belongeth not to him is as he that taketh a dog by the cares that is casteth himselfe into dangers 2. Be not hasty to go to Law no not in a right cause but agree at home For besides that a man doth seldome scape without great losse in which respect it is also to be auoided as an enemy to thrift thy neighbour is openly put to reproach he becometh thy mortall enemy and will alwayes watch to do thee hurt 3. Sometime to seeke recompence of a wrong breedeth greater malice in the authour of the wrong aud maketh him double it as a man spurreth his horse for kicking when he was spurred Say not I will recompence euill but wait vpon the Lord and he will saue thee 4. Ost haunting of another mans house may bring thee into mislike wherfore the Wiseman saith Withdraw thy foote from thy neighbours house lest he be wearie of thee and hate thee If by carefull auoiding of all iust occasions thou canst not auoide ill will as the world loueth none but her owne neuer seeke to win fauour by departing from duty but commit thy self to God and turne thy mind to make vse of thine enemy Let enmitie which is alwayes prying and seeking occasions to hurt by word or deed make thee to walke not more closely but more vprightly and then mayest thou defie thine enemy For be that walketh vprightly walketh boldly Another enemy to thrift which is also a breaker of peace and good will among men is much borrowing He that is to borrow doth spend much time and le ts slip many occasions of doing his businesse in the due season he must repay in better measure then he borrowed or else ill words or ill will will follow If it be a matter of any value which is borrowed then as Salomon saith The borrower is seruant to the lender that is beholding to him and in his danger The thriftiest men loue least to be beholding to others and therefore seldome seeke and often refuse euen when they be offered to receiue benefits at others mens hands He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing and euery deniall he receiues where he thinkes he should speed is the seed of grudge in the minde of the denyer of him who is denied But of all borrowing to borrow vp on vsury is the dearest buying and the rankest poyson to thrift When Dauid would wish a sore plague to his enemy he prayeth that he may be giuen into the vsurers hand Let the vsurer eate him vp If the vsurer be a deuourer woe be to them that come in his hands To auoide borrowing a good husband must cut off all vnnecessary expences that he may haue all necessaries in his house To auoide borrowing of money take heed of suretiship of dealing in bargaines which you are not fully able to compasse of dealing with many things and hauing too many irons in the fire at once Looke how you may compasse matters before you enterprise them Prouide long before against any day of payment and haue not money to seeke vpon the sudden for that driues a man to borrowing yea to vsury or to sell Robbin Hoods peny-worths Besides he must keepe none in his house idle or halfe set to worke none more then needes must Let euery one haue his charge that will throughly occupy him Also looke that they do their taskes euery one in his place and haue an often eye vnto them whether they haue done as they should do The maisters eye maketh a fat horse so also the mistris eye maketh a friendly dairy Except you haue rare seruants such as truly feare God and haue good consciences trust them not further then you see them except necessitie driue you Hitherto of the duties that be belonging to the chiefe ruler os the familie that is the husband touching honest prouision for it Now seeing that God hath ioyned the wife to her husband as an helper she must help him in the prouision for her family so much as lieth in her power and is meete for to do And indeed her industrie and wisedome may do much herein that though her husband should be much wanting in his dutie yet she might hold in the goale Thus many haue done and so Salomon saith the wise woman will do A wise woman buildeth her house But it is not euery womans case because that all are not wise as she that Salomon speaketh of This wise woman is els-where called a gracious woman Prou. 11. 16. And a vertuous woman Prou. 12. 4. because many graces and vertues meete together in her For she is To her husband dutifull faithfull and louing Towards those of her familie wise and prudent In her businesse diligent painfull Towards her neighbour modest humble kinde and quiet First if she be not subiect to her husband to let him rule all the hous-hold especially outward affaires if she will make against him and seeke to haue her owne wayes there will be doing and vndoing Things will go backward the house will come to ruine for God will not blesse where his ordinance is not obeyed This is allowable that she may in modest sort shew her mind and a wise husband will not disdaine to heare her aduice and follow it also if it be good But when her way is not liked of though it be the best way she may not thereupon set all at sixe and seuen with what should I labour and trauaile I see my husband taketh such wayes that he will bring all to nothing This were nothing else but when she seeeth the house falling to helpe to pull it downe faster Salomon saith The wise-woman buildeth her house much more then doth she vnderprop it and hold it vp that by her husbands vndiscreet dealing it be not pulled downe She must not thinke her selfe freed from dutie because he walketh not in his dutie but hold her place and labour for her part to vphold all and so God will either blesse the workes of her hands
with benigne sweete and gentle conuersation vntill it be so increased and fastened that no great storme be able to dissolue and breake it And all suspition must be at all times but especially at the beginning of matrimony eschewed and shunned lest they should first begin to hate or euer they begin to loue yea and they must beware they do not faine any suspition nor conceiue it of any light occasions and coniectures for vnto such they in no wise must giue eare although there were some shew and great apparence of likelyhood And this will be a good meanes to effect and worke this namely if they 〈◊〉 themselues to speake kindly and cheerefully one to the other For as the ancient Counsellors of King Salomon gaue wise aduise and counsell vnto Rehoboam King ofIsraell to the end that he might winne the loue and good liking of the people Speake kindly vnto them said they and they will serue thee for euer after which counsell not being followed great inconuenience and mischiefe after befell vnto him Euen so likewise if the husband be 〈◊〉 to procure the loue ofhis wife and to winne her to God or if the wife be desirous and would also procure the loue of her husband and winne him to God then they must draw on one another with sweet and gentle words ofloue speaking kindly one to another because gentle words do pacifie anger as water quencheth fire But if they shall vse taunts or words of reproach and despite one against another much hurt then may ensue thereof For a little leauen sowreth the whole lumpe And therefore let them vse to giue one to the other their dutifull names and titles and to eschue and shunne the contrary For example like as the spitefull Iewes which hated the Lord Iesus would not vouchsafe to giue him his name when they talked of him or with him but to shew their vtter dislike of him they vsed to say Is this he or Art thou he that will do such a thing Is not this he c. Againe Whither will he go that we shall not finde him they would not say Is not this Iesus Christ or the Sonne of God but they vsed a most despitefull kind of speaking which did bewray abundance of malice that was hidden in their hearts euen so it sometimes falleth out betwixt the husband and the wife betwixt the father and the sonne betwixt the maister and the seruant c. that they could speake dutifully one to another but contempt and disdaine anger and malice will not suffer the one to affoord vnto the other their due names and titles lest they should be put in minde of those duties which those names require Whereout Sathan sucketh no small aduantage whereas many times the very name of husband or wife father or sonne maister or seruant c. doth greatly helpe to perswade the minde and to winne the affection yea the very mentioning of these names doth oftentimes leaue a print of duty behind in the conscience Husbands must not forget this point namely that it is not sufficient for them to declare and outwardly make a shew of a good life in words and precepts onely but also in life and deed So that two things are very necessary for them to rule withall to wit wisedome and example and that they themselues fulfill the thing that they command to be done The life and outward conuersation of a man whether it be good or euill doth not onely perswade but also constraine and enforce We do see how mighty and auaileable this or the like exhortation of a Captaine is in the time of warre and battell Oh my souldiers do that ye shall see me do the which contempt of death in the Captaine doth so creepe through the whole host that there is not one be he neuer so feeble and weake-hearted that doth esteeme his life for the which he perceiueth that his Captaine careth so little Thus did Christ with his Apostles and Martyrs draw the world vnto the Christian faith Leuit. 11. 44. and 19. 2. and 20. 7. and 21. 8. Ioh. 13. 15. Phil. 3. 17. 1. Tim. 1. 16. 2. Thessal 3. 9. For as they liued so they spake and as they spake so they liued Therefore if the husband would haue his wife to be temperate quiet chast painfull in her calling religious c. then he must be carefull that he be not distemperate vnquiet no whoremonger nor carelesse in his calling nor irreligious c. So that if he command any thing to be done he must looke that he deny not to do the same himselfe and so shall his wife and family obey the same and be the more readie and willing to do it being both honest and lawfull to be done The very name of a wife is like the Angell which stayed Abrahams hand when the stroke was comming If Dauid because he could not expresse the commoditie and comfort of vnitie and brotherly loue was faine to say Oh how good and ioyfull a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in vnitie Then let husbands weigh and consider how harsh and bitter a thing it is for them and their wiues to dwell together in enmitie and strife For the first yeare after marriage God would not haue the husband go to warre with his enemies to the end that he and his wife might learne to know one anothers conditions and qualities and so afterwards liue in godly peace not warre one with another and therefore God gaue a law and appointed that the new married husband that yeare should stay at home and settle his loue that he might not warre and iarre after for the God of peace dwelleth not in the house of warre As a kingdome cannot stand if it be diuided so an house cannot stand if it be diuided for strife is like a fire which leaues nothing but dust smoke and ashes behind it We reade in the Scriptures of maisters that strooke their seruants but neuer of any that strooke his wife but rebuked her Lot was drunk when he lay with his daughters in stead of a wife and so is he which striketh his wife in stead of his seruants The law sheweth how a bondman should be corrected the wife is like a Iudge which is ioyned in commission with her husband to correct other Wilt thou strike one in his owne house no more shouldst thou strike thy wife in her house She is come to thee as to a Sanctuary to defend her from hurt and canst thou hurt her thy selfe Therefore Abraham said to Lot Are we not brethren that is May brethren iarre But they may say are we not one can one chide with himselfe can one fight with himselfe He is a bad host that welcomes his guest with stripes Doth a King trample on his crowne Salomon calleth the wife The crowne of her husband Therefore he which woundeth her woundeth his owne honour She is a free Citizen in thine house
of counsell and will betweene the husband and the wife yet such as the counsell and commandement may rest in the husband True it is that some women are wiser and more discreet then their husbands as Abigail the wife of Nabal and others Whereupon Salomon saith A wise woman buildeth vp the house and blessed is the man that hath a discreete wife Yet still a great part of the discretion of such women shall rest in acknowledging their husbands to be their heads and so vsing the graces that they haue receiued of the Lord that their husbands may be honored not contemned either of them or of others which falleth out contratie when the wife will seeme wiser then the husband So that this modestie and gouernment ought to be in a wife namely that she should seldome speake but to her husband or by her husband And as the voice of him that soundeth a trumpet is not so lowd as the sound that it yeeldeth so is the wisedome and word of a woman of greater vertue and efficacie when all that she knoweth and can do is as if it were said and done by her husband The obedience that the wife oweth to her husband dependeth vpon this subiection of her will and wisedome vnto him as 1. Peter 3. 6. Ephesians 5. 33. Ester 1. 12. So that women may not prouoke their husbands by disobedience in matters that may be performed without offence to God neither presume ouer them either in kindred or wealth or obstinately to refuse in a matter that may trouble household peace and quiet For disobedience begetteth contempt of the husband and contempt wrath and is many times the cause of troubles betweene the man and the wife If the obedience importeth any difficultie she may for her excuse gently propound the same yet vpon condition to obey in case the husband should persist in his intent so long as the discommoditie importeth no wickednesse For it is better to continue peace by obedience then to breake it by resistance And indeed it is naturall in the members to obey the conduct and gouernment of the head Yet must not this obedience so farre extend as that the husband should command any thing contrary to her honour credit and saluation but as it is comely in the Lord Colos. 3. 16. Ephes. 5. 13. Therefore as it were a monstrous matter and the meanes to ouerthrow the person that the body should in refusing all subiection and obedience to the head take vpon it to guide it selfe and to command the head so were it for the wife to rebell against the husband Let her then beware of disordering and 〈◊〉 the course which God in his wisedome hath established and withall let her vnderstand that going about it she riseth not so much against her husband as against God and that it is her good and honor to obey God in her subiection and obedience to her husband If in the practise of this dutie she find any difficultie or trouble through the inconsiderate course of her husband or otherwise let her remember that the same proceedeth not of the order established by the Lord but through some sin afterward crept in which hath mixed gall among the honie of the subiection and obedience that the woman should haue enioyed in that estate wherein together with Adam she was created after the Image of God And so let her humble her selfe in the sight of God and be well assured that her subiection and obedience is acceptable vnto him and that the more that the image of God is restored in her and her husband through the generation of the holy Ghost the lesse difficultie she shall find in that subiection and obedience as many in their marriage haue in deed tried to their great contentment and consolation Further there is a certaine discretion and desire required of women to please the nature inclinations and manners of their husbands so long as the same import no wickednesse For as the looking-glasse howsoeuer faire and beautifully adorned is nothing worth if it shew that countenance sad which is pleasant or the same pleasant that is sad So the woman deserueth no commendation that as it were contrarying her husband when he is merry sheweth herselfe sad or in sadnesse vttereth her mirth For as men should obey the lawes of their Cities so women the manners of their husbands To some women a becke of her husband is sufficient to declare that there is somewhat amisse that displeaseth him and specially if she beare her husband any reuerence For an honest Matron hath no neede of any greater staffe but of one word or one sowre countenance Moreouer a modest and chaste woman that loueth her husband must also loue her house as remembring that the husband that loueth his wife cannot so well like of the sight of any tapestry as to see his wife in his house For the woman that gaddeth from house to house to prate confoundeth her selfe her husband and family Titus 2. 5. But there are foure reasons why the woman is to go abroad First to come to holy meetings according to the duty of godlinesse The second to visit such as stand in need as the duty of loue and charitie doth require The third for employment and prouision in houshold affaires committed to her charge And lastly with her husband when he shall require her Gen. 20. 1. c. The euill and vnquiet life that some women haue and passe with their husbands is not so much for that they commit with and in their persons as it is for that they speake with their tongues If the wife would keepe silence when her husband beginneth to chide he should not haue so vnquiet dinners neither she the worse supper Which surely is not so for at the same time that the husband beginneth to vtter his griefe the wife beginneth to scold and chafe whereof doth follow that now and then most vnnaturally they come to handy-gripes more beast-like then Christian-like which their so doing is both a great shame and foule discredit to them both The best meanes therefore that a wife can vse to obtaine and maintaine the loue and good liking of her husband is to be silent obedient peaceable patient studious to appease his choler if he be angry painefull and diligent in looking to her businesse to be solitary and honest The chiefe and speciall cause why most women do faile in not performing this duty to their husbands is because they be ignorant of the word of God which teacheth the same and all other duties and therefore their soules and consciences not being brought into subiection to God and his word they can neuer vntill then yeeld and performe true subiection and obedience to their husbands and behaue themselues so euery way as Christian wiues are in duty bound to do But if wiues be not so dutifull seruiceable and subiect to their husbands as in conscience they ought the onely cause thereof for the most part
21. 2. Tim. 3. 2. 3. 4. 5. 2 The riches of the body Beautie Chuse a wife for vertue onely Pro. 19. 14. Seek no match in marriage aboue thy 〈◊〉 Equalitie in marriage to be respected Of the choise of a wise A good wife is aboue all things to be craued of God by prayer Heb. 13. 4. Ephes. 5. 25. 26. 27. Three causes of marriage Psal. 51. 5. The second cause wedlocke lawfull for such as haue not the gift of chastitie The third cause This is often found most true that such as are contemners of marriage are most offenders against marriage and liue most vnchastly 21. Pet. 2. 7. By honour is meant that the husband is to sustaine and relieue the wants of his wife to support vphold beare with her infirmities as the weaker vessell Besides the prayers had with their family they must pray priuately Gen. 25. 21. 1. Cor. 7. 3. 4. 5. Col. 3. 19. Anger in a husband is a vice The roote of bitternesse to be weeded out by the spade of patience How when the husband ought to reproue Faults sometimes must be couered with loue Not to take vnkindnesse for euery trifle Ephe. 5. 25. 26 27. 28. 29. The husband is to the wife in Gods stead Husbands may 〈◊〉 be rigorous 〈◊〉 their wiues especially when they be new married Prou. 20. 3. The wife is not to be vsed or intreated as a handmaid or seruant but as a fellow Prou. 8. 7. 14 9 15. 5. 18. 2. 27. 22. Prou 9. 9. 19. 25. Gen 16. 6. The falling out of louers is a renewing of loue That man is miserable that is married vnto a foolish woman Husbands must prouide things necessarie for the house A mans house will continue by prouision before hand and by order in his expences 1. Tim. 5. 8. But where disorder is in a house it cannot endure Spare in time and spend in time for sparing is a rich purse The honour of the husband dependeth on the wife 1. Cor. 11. 7. The third point Can. 4. 9. 10. 1. Cor 9. 5. 1. Pet. 3 7. 1. Cor. 11. 3. Ephes. 3. 23. Ephes. 5. 28. 29 1. Sam. 1. 8. Gal. 6. 2. Gen. 1. 28. Gen. 2. 18. The causeswhy the husband should loue his wife The husband must loue his wiues kinsfolkes Gen. 26. 8. 9. 1. Cor. 7. 4. Duties common both to the husband the wife 1. Cor. 7. 2. Gen. 1. 18. 1. Cor. 7. 5. Ephes. 5. 15. Tit. 2. 5. Mat. 5. 44. Gen. 6. 2. Psal. 38. 22. Mat. 19. 5. Ephes. 5. 31. Gen. 31. 4. 5. c. Math. 19. 6. Pre. 2. 27. Mal. 2. 14. Mat. 19. Leuit. 20. 10. Ioh. 8. 5. Mat. 19. 8. Mat. 19. 6. 1. Cor. 7. 12. 1 Cor. 7. 11. Obiection Answer 1. Cor. 7. 29. 1. Pet. 3. 7. 1. Pet. 3. 7. Gen. 30. 1. 1. Sam. 1. Gen. 16. The best pollicie in marriage is to begin well 1. King 12. 7. 8. c. Iudg. 19. 3. Prou. 15. 1. Gal 5. 9. Gen. 22. 11. Psal. 133. 1. Leuit. 24. 5. Mat. 12. 25. Gen. 19. 33. Gen. 18. 3. Pro. 12. 4. Gen. 2. 23. Ephes. 5. 29. 1. Pet. 3. 1. Ephes. 5. 22. Col. 3. 18. 1. Cor. 7. 2. Wiues must be seruiceable obedient vnto their husbands and stand in a reuerend awe of them Ephes. 5. 24. Cheerefull in countenence Gen. 27. 9. Gen. 2. 23. 24 Math 19. 5. 1. Cor. 6. 16. Eihes 5. 31. How the wife ought to behaue her selfe vnto her husband Rom. 12. 15. 2. King 2. 6. Gal. 6. 2. 1. King 21. 5. 1. King 14. 4. Gen. 12. 1. Gen. 2. 18. 1. Cor. 1. 27. 1. Pet. 3. 1. 2. King 5. 3. 49. Hest. 7. 3. 〈◊〉 32. 21. 〈◊〉 10 19. Prou. 5. 18. 19. 1. Sam. 16. 23. 1. Sam. 25. 3. Gen. 38. 4. Gen. 33. 1. Why wiues are called huswiues Tit. 2. 5. Pro. 7. 12. 2. King 30. Gen. 18. 9. 2. King 4. 22. Ephe. 5. 22. 23. 〈◊〉 Cor. 11. 14. 34. Gen. 18. 12. 1. Pet. 3. 6. Ephes. 5. 24. Gen. 3. 1. 1. Tim. 2. 14. Num. 30. 7. Pro. 14. 1. 18. 22. 19. 14. 31. all The wife must keepe a good tongue When the wife doth hold her peace she keepes the peace The cause of domesticall combats Silence becometh a woman Lacke of knowledge of Gods word is the principall cause why wiues do not their duties to their husbands One heart and one will How the loue faithfulnesse and dutie of married folkes may be kept increased They must secretly keepe no euill will in their minds but tell their griese 1. Sam. 25. 36. 37. 1. Cor. 7. 10. 11 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Mat. 19. 6. Mat. 19. 9. Luke 16. 18. The wife ought to obey her husband in all things that be honest and agreeable to Gods word Gen. 3. 16. Hest. 1. 20. 22. Numb 30. 7. 8 9. 1. Pet. 3. 6. It is a speciall dutie of a mother to giue her children sucke her selfe 1. Tim. 5. 10. Gen. 22. 7. 1. Sam. 1. 23. Exod. 8. Cant. 8. 1. Psal. 22. 9. Mat. 2. 14. Luke 2. 7. 12. 1. Tim. 5. 10. Stepfathers stepmothers their duties The husband must so praise his first wife she her first husband as it be not done to the offence or reproch of either to the other Iealousie which is the suspecting of adulterie in the married parties ought wisely and carefully to be suppressed in both parties without apparent matter The very name of stepfather stepmother teacheth them their dutie 1. King 12. 13. 2. Sam. 2. 7. As wiues ought to go comely plainly and handsomly in their 〈◊〉 so they must in any wise beware of pride riot or excesse therein Pride is hatefull before God and man be not therefore proud for thou art but dust ana ashes Prou. 16. 18. Titus 1. 3. Temperance in apparell The dutie containeth foure points Namely in teaching or instructing them in religion in manners good example of life and skill of an occupation The first point The children of Christians ought not to be called by any papish name We are neither better nor worse in respect of our names Iosua 10. 3. The name profiteth none in whom vertue is not conuinced Luk. 1. 59. 2. 21. Proper names are also giuen vnto vs for this vse and end that is to distinguish between man man Instructing correcting prayer make good children and happy parents Deut. 6. 7. 8 4. 9. 11. 19. Psal. 78. 5. 6. 78. Iosu 4. 6. Exod. 12. 26. 27. Gen. 18. 19. 1. 〈◊〉 28. 9. Act. 10. 2. 2. Tim. 1. 5. Parents must performe their dutie to their children moderately with great grauity and authority Which is done by example Fruits are wont to take their shape nature of the tree Deut. 6. 5. 6. 7. 31. 13. 1. King 17. 10. c. 2. King 4. 1. c. Ioh. 4. 53. Luke 19. 9. Act. 10. 44. 2. Tim. 1. 5. 3. 15. Ezech
A GODLY FORME OF HOVSHOLD GOVERNMENT FOR THE ORDERING OF PRIVATE FAMILIES according to the direction of Gods Word Wherunto is adioyned in a more particular manner the seuerall duties of the Husband towards his wife and the wiues dutie towards her Husband The Parents dutie towards their children and the childrens towards their parents The Maisters dutie towards his seruants and also the seruants duty towards their Maisters First gathered by R. C. and now newly perused amended and augmented by Iohn Dod and Robert Cleuer ISIDORE Thou profitest much when thou readest if thou practisest that which thou readest BERNARD What auaileth it thee to reade often in bookes the holy Name of our Sauiour except thou studie and endeuour to haue godlinesse in thy behauiour LONDON Printed by R. Field for Thomas Man and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson neare the great North doore of Pauls Church 1621. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVL MAISTER ROBERT Burgaine of Roxall one of his Maiesties Iustices of peace in the County of Warwicke to the right worshipfull Maister Iohn Diue of Ridlington Parke in the Countie of Rutland and to the worshipfull Maister Edmund Temple of Temple hall in the Countse of Leicester Esquires as also to their religious and vertuous wiues R. C. wisheth with heart and minde grace from God the Father by Iesus Christ and constancy in the truth of the Gospell to the end and in the end Auing collected finished this Treatise ensuing and deuising very carefully with my selfe to whom I might Dedicate the same at length I resolued that none were meeter to vndertake the patronage therof then some such meete persons as did alreadie in some good measure practise within their seuerall charges the seuerall points and duties contained therein and so would further prosecute those other necessarie parts which they haue yet in some part pretermitted Wherupon calling to minde the holy exercises daily vsed and exercised in all your houses I was moued for two causes to make you all iointly Patrons thereof First for that I acknowledge my self beholden and indebted vnto you all diuersly since my first acquaintanoe with you and therefore left I should deserue the blame of vnthankfulnesse for benefits receiued I am bold vnder your Names to offer to the whole Church of God these my simple collections Secondly for that as you are all ioyned and linked in kindred by reason of marriage so also you are and haue bin a long time inseparably knit in a zealous and sincere profession of Gods word and Religion And for so much as I may not for many respects accomplish what good I willingly wold yet lest I should be thought to spend the remainder of my yeares in an idle condition or to hide my talent in a napkin I haue bene no lesse carefull then willing to labour other wayes to do what I may to glorifie God and profit his Church Neither will these my labours be vtterly vnprofitable if my purpose therein be rightly conferred with the purpose of my writings For such Housholders as pretend to be great Protestants and sound professors of the Gospell may long enough talke of Discipline and still complaine of the want of Church gouernment but all in vaine and to no purpose vnlesse they will begin this most necessary discipline in reforming their owne houses according to the direction in this Treatise and so suffer the holy religion of God to take place among their familie at home otherwise they shall trauell much and profite little For although there be neuer so good lawes in Cities neuer so pure order in Churches yet if maisters of families do not practise at home catechising in their houses and ioyne their helping hands to Magistrates and Ministers they may in truth but vniustly as many haue done complaine that their children and seruants are disordered and corrupted abroad when in truth they were disordered and are still corrupted and marred at home And therefore it cannot be neither is it to be hoped for that either the father of his children or the husband of his wife or the maister of his seruants should looke for that obedience that reuerence that faithfulnesse and that dutifulnes which they of right ought to haue and the other in conscience and of bounden duties are bound to performe vnlesse they do now at length endeuour to see these orders and duties hereafter mentioned to be practised within their seuerall housholds For if Parents and Housholders shall performe no further dutie to their children and seruants then to prouide for them meate drinke and apparell and to pay them their wages then Papists Atheists yea Turkes and infidels do yeeld this dutie as well as they And seeing all men be carefull that their horses and bullockes should haue sufficient fodder and prouender to the end they may haue their labour in lieu and recompence thereof it doth consequently follow that therefore a Christian housholder ought to haue ouer his children and seruants as much more Christian care then he hath ouer dumbe and insensible beasts that so he may receiue a singular comfort from the daily contēplation of their increase in spirituall graces Oh what a sweet and comfortable thing shall this be to the soule and conscience of such an Householder when he hath bene so diligent and carefull in the training and bringing vp of his children and seruants in the obedience and wayes of the Lord that he may rightly deserue to haue this worthy report and commendation giuen vnto him from the mouth and penne of the godly Namely that he hath a Church in his house that is a company of sound and faithfull Christians such as feare God indeed as the like report was giuen by the Apostle to those godly house-keepers Aquila and Priscilla his wife Rom. 16. 5. 1. Cor. 16. 19 as also to Philemon Phil. 2. Therefore all Parents and householders are in the Lord to be exhorted that they would be carefull to bring vp their children and familie so as they either by some good tokens may see them the children of God and heires of his Couenant or at the least they may be comforted in their owne consciences notwithstanding that their children and seruants for some cause vnknowne to them do refuse their counsell and instruction seeing they to the vttermost of their power and abilitie haue vsed all good meanes to bring them vp well and haue rightly offered them to the Lord. Now if parents and maisters haue iust cause to bewaile and lament when thus trauelling in good education information they cannot yet see good effects and godly fruites in their children and seruants how much more cause of griefe may they haue when they haue vsed bestowed no labor at all either by themselues or others for them to bring them vp in the nurture and feare of the Lord And yet alas many will be grieued for the one that will not be any thing moued for the other Wherefore let all parents and maisters of families know
and learne that if they will conuey Gods blessings to their posterities then they must do and performe the duties belonging thereunto Yea let them if they be loath to conuey Gods iudgements to their children carefully auoyd the meanes vnto it And surely as it is a blessed thing in the houre of death with Simeon to depart in peace leauing their wiues children and seruants members of Christ spouses to Christ children to God and seruants to the Lord so in extremitie of death no one thing will be more grieuous vnto parents and housholders then the Lord hauing giuen them the charge of so many soules to be furthered to saluation that 〈◊〉 owne tormented consciences shall presse them in as much as they haue helped their children and seruants forward to their damnation and so which is more fearefull they shall haue them spewing and foming on their faces continuall curses in hell then accusing them for euer to be the murtherers of their soules and cut-throats of their saluation Is it any maruell if housholders many times find small obedience lesse dutifulnesse and faithfulnesse at the hands of their children and seruants seeing they omit and leaue vndone the performance of these so Christian duties towards them herein expressed and enioyned of the Lord For so doth God often leaue manifest tokens of his wrath in punishing disobedience with disobedience How can any maister of a houshold whatsoeuer he be looke to haue his familie trustie and faithfull vnto him and yet he himselfe is faithlesse to God Doth he maruell that his children and seruants feare not him whereas he himselfe feareth not the Lord Will he maintaine his authoritie ouer those vnder his charge and he himselfe doth not yeeld obedience vnto the authoritie of God his Creator Moreouer it is manifest that the good man of the house by planting Gods religion in his familie shall not a little aduance and set forward his owne priuate profit and commoditie For wicked and vngodly seruants are for the most part loyterers pickers and deceitfull whereas on the other side godly seruants are iust and faithfull whom in his absence he may trust to do such businesse and worke as he willeth them to do If maisters of families be carefull and desirous as in conscience they ought that their wiues children and seruants should reforme themselues and endeuour to practise such duties as do appertaine and belong vnto them then they must likewise be diligent and carefull to reforme themselues both inwardly and outwardly in such points and duties as hitherto they haue left vndone otherwise they may iustly say vnto them Phisitian healc your selfe er why do you will vs to do that which you do not practise your selfe For as one candle cannot light another if it selfe be out euen so a maister of a houshold shall not reforme those of his charge and inflame them with the loue of God and godlinesse if he himselfe be voyde of the same Let euery maister of a houshold therefore say and performe with Ioshua I and my familie will serue the Lord Ios. 24. 15. And likewise let euery Christian Ladie Mistris and Dame say with Hester I and my maides will do the like Hest. 4. 16. And so no doubt God will powre his blessings on them and theirs in this life and euerlasting happinesse on them in the life to come Touching the Booke it selfe I will not say any thing to the commendation thereof but onely this That I am assured that if such duties as are mentioned therein were duly and carefully practised of all such as are named in it then no doubt vertue and godly religion would greatly flourish to the aduancement of Gods glory and also sinne and wickednesse would then decrease and fall downe to the vtter subuersion and ouerthrow of Sathans kingdome This Treatise I confesse is not garnished with eloquence nor full of great cunning nor beautified with flowers of mans wisedome neither yet doth it discourse or treate of high or darke things neither is it stuffed with subtill questions and arguments nor indited with Rhetoricall and eloquent stile as those commonly be which are propounded and set forth to the world rather for boasting and vaine-glory sake then for any desire to edifie and to do others good but it is plaine and without any great gaynesse yet so full of good necessary and wholesome instructions that whosoeuer readeth and marketh it with a right disposed minde and willing to practise it without respect to any other things then God the reformation of his life and the 〈◊〉 of his 〈◊〉 which is the onely worke which Christians must leuell at he may reape singular profit thereby And vndoubtedly it may well be said that vnto true Christians good and holy bookes are as ladders to climbe vp vnto heauen as sparkes to kindle the 〈◊〉 of the Spirit when it is quenched or waxen cold in them and as props to stay vp their faith that it may increase Praying therefore your Worships to accept of my dutifull good will and to pardon my boldnesse I ceasse to adde any further things beseeching God of his endlesse mercy for Christs sake to strengthen you still in that good and happie course of his word and all other good learning to furnish you all abundantly with all spirituall and heauenly knowledge to the carefull practising of the same in the fruits of your most holy and blessed callings to the aduancement of the glory of our God and to your owne euerlasting comfort in Christ Iesus So be it Your Worships in all Christian dutifulnesse most willing R. C. A GODLY FORME OF HOVSHOLD GOVERNMENT CAREFVLLY TO be practised of all Christian Housholders AN Houshold is as it were a little Commonwealth by the good gouernment whereof Gods glorie may be aduanced and the commonwealth which standeth of seuerall families benefited and all that liue in that familie receiue much comfort and commoditie But this gouernment of a Familie is not verie common in the world for it is not a thing that men can stumble on by chance By Wisedome saith Salomon is an house builded and with vnderstanding it is established and with knowledge shall the chambers thereof be filled with all precious and pleasant riches that is shall obtaine all kind of blessings See also Pro. 28. 2 by which two places it is manifest y such families as are not ordered by hap hazard or as it falles but by wisedome discretion and counsell do prosper in inward outward goods and endure long When we speake of wisedome we do not meane that this gouernment can be in all points exercised by naturall reason and wisedome for mans wisedome reacheth but vnto one point and that the least of that which family-gouernment tendeth vnto But the wisedome that we speake of is not naturall but fetched from the fountaine of all wisedome God himselfe who by his word giueth vnto vs pure light to walke by not in the Church
but coldly and for custome sake at the Church and God accepteth no more of their worship they do there then they loue and like of his gouernment in their houses The Gouernours of families if as it is in mariage there be more then one vpon whom the charge of gouernment lieth though vnequally are first the chiefe gouernour which is the Husband secondly a fellow-helper which is the Wife These both do owe duties to their familie and dutie one to another The duties they ow to their familie both concerning godlinesse and the things of this life belong either to the Husband especially or to the Wife especially The duties that belong to the Husband touching holinesse are such as either He must 1. Performe to them of his familie 2. Or require of them The duties which he must performe to them are first touching the publike ministery of the Word to prouide that they may liue vnder an ordinary ministery of the word or else to take order that alwayes vpon the Sabbath and at other times when it may be they resort to such places where they may haue the word ministred vnto them for else how shall they be brought into the Sheepfold of God from which naturally they go 〈◊〉 but by hearing the voyce of the chiefe Sheep-heard speaking vnto them by those whom he sendeth How shall they belieue and so be begotten againe by the seede of the word except they heare such as God sendeth for the begetting of men vnto him How shall they be reconciled vnto God but by hearing his messengers into whose mouthes he hath put the word of reconciliation How shall they grow in faith and increase in grace but by receiuing with meeknesse the ingrafted word which is able to saue their soules Seeing then the word preached is the meanes to beget men to a new life and to nourish them in it a great dutie lyeth vpon the Gouernours of Familyes to prouide by some meanes that they may haue it For where the word is not preached there the Lords Sabbath cannot be hallowed as it ought Now the Lord would not onely haue Maisters of Families to keepe holy the Sabbath themselues in all the parts of his worship publike and priuate but also that euery one should in his seueral place and roome carefully to take order that so many as be committed to his charge should sanctifie the Lords day as well as himselfe Which though it be true in all other commandements namely that whatsoeuer we are bound to do our selues we must be meanes to further others in doing the same because the loue of God and of our Neighbour spreadeth it selfe ouer all the Commandements and therfore though it be not expressed it is necessarily vnderstood yet in the fourth commandemēt it is so much the more required because besides the analogie and proportion betweene it and the other Commandements which do enforce it the very words themselues do binde vs thereunto For when it is said Thou and thy Sonne and thy Daughter thy Man-sernant and thy Mayde though it speaketh by name onely of resting vpon the Sabbath yet because the end of that is that the day might be sanctisied looke how many reasons there be to binde the inferiours to rest and the superiours to prouide that they do so indeed so many are there to compell them to sanctifie the day in their owne persons and in so many as belong vnto them Therefore when first of all it is generally said in this fourth Commandement Remember the Sabbath-day that thou keepe it holy And afterwards The seuenth day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God that is which must be dedicated vnto his seruice in the end you must therfore rest that you might serue him in it as he requireth and then nameth the seueral parties that should rest His meaning is to declare the right end of their resting and so speaking by name to the Gouernours saith Thou and thy sonne and thy daughter thy man-seruant and thy maid the stranger that is within thy gates to shew vnto them that it is not sufficient for them to looke that they vnder their gouernmēt should rest vnlesse they sanctifie the day of rest also which they must be so much carefull of by how much the sanctification of the day is greater then the ceassing to worke vpon it as the end whereunto this is but referred and therefore if it be a sinne in them at any time not to haue a sufficient regard vnto them that they do not worke then it must needes be a great sinne if that through their negligence they do not sanctifie and keepe holy the day of rest So that here the Lord God requireth that in all places there should be such good lawes publickly in the Common wealth and priuately in mens houses established and diligently executed as thereby not onely the rulers but also all in subiection should be compelled to sanctifie the Lords day and that they should be sure they do it indeed And as he must not leaue it indifferent to them to choose whether they will work or rest and so thinke it sufficient that they do not lay any worke vpon them So is it not enough that they hinder them not from seruing God vpon that day vnlesse they procure all the meanes vnto them whereby God might be worshipped of them and see that they worship God in them as well as themselues Therefore the maisters of families must prouide as much as lyeth in them that the word be publikely preached where they dwell not for themselues alone but for their children and seruants take that they might keepe holy the day together with them and they must not onely come themselues to the place of common-prayer and diuine seruice but bring these also with them and spend the rest of the day in all priuate godly exercises themselues and cause others to do so also And here lest this might seeme too heauie vnto vs and that it might not be grieuous to take so great a charge vpon vs we must remember that as we haue great helpe by our inferiours in many things so the Lord woud haue vs to helpe them in the chiefe and princîpall and as he hath made them our seruants so we should make them his seruants and when they haue serued vs sixe dayes we might cause them to serue him vpon the seuenth And as the Lord hath preferred vs aboue them with their seruice so he would humble vs with this charge and care ouer them or rather exalt vs in that he would haue vs to be as it were the ouerseers of his worke and not onely serue him our selues but also see his seruice done by others committed to our charge which if ye do not wherein shall the Christian Gouernours of Householdes differ from the Infidels and Heathen and what greater thing shall we do for our Seruants then they Nay what shall we do more for them then
in them vnto God that vpon this day which is but one among seuen his seruice should be so slenderly looked vnto that there is no such diligence vsed towards their seruants that they might performe it And how must it not needes be a great iniurie to their seruants who are naturally and for the most part more negligent and carelesse in Gods seruice by reason of their corruption then they can be in the seruice of men to be depriued of that benefite of their gouernours which is the chiefest and for which cause especially they are committed to their gouernement namely to be furthered by them in the seruice of God but vse them more like beasts then men euen that they might be seruiceable vnto them then care not whether they serue God or the diuell We know that seruants looke to be preferred by their maisters and so there is good reason when they haue serued them faithfully but what kind of reward is this when hauing bestowed some earthly benefite vpon them by hauing no care to make them serue the Lord and sanctifie the Sabbaths they do in the end not onely make them lose the euerlasting reward but preserue them to eternall destruction Moreouer there are a companie of idle Seruing-men who in spending their time all the sixe dayes hauing almost nothing therein to do are seldome looked vnto vpon the seuenth day but permitted to bestow it as vainly as the other and as they neuer almost do any good dayes worke to their maisters so much lesse do they spend any Sabbath in the Lords seruice but they especially are left to go and come at their will Others that haue any office of great charge and attendance as the Cookes Butlers and such like in great houses seldome or neuer come to the Church and that but by peeces either when halfe is done or else they are readie to depart before halfe be ended so both hinder the Lord from that seruice which he should haue by them themselues from that blessing which they should idherit that way and both cause the name of God to be ill spoken of and pull vpon themselues their masters that curse which belongeth to the continuall polluting of the Sabbath And how can they looke that that seruice and that meate and drinke should do them good which is thus prepared and bought as it were with the continuall danger of the soules of their seruants besides the dishouour of the name of God When Dauid had inconsideratly desired to drinke of the water of Bethleem three mightie men brake into the host of the Philistins and drew water and brought it to him but he would not drinke thereof but powred it for an offering vnto the Lord and said Oh Lord be it farre from me that I should do thus is not this the bloud of the men that went in ieopardie of their liues How much lesse then ought men to eate and drinke of that for which their seruants do venter the liues of their soules And besides if we iustly find fault with them who do neuer or seldome preach to the people committed to their charge and so cause their soules to starue and die eternally how can they be blamelesse who seldome or neuer bring their seruants to the preaching of the word And must they not needs be culpable of the same iudgement before God seeing it is all one with the seruants whether they liue in the place where the word of God is not preached at all or if it be yet they come not vnto it But whereas men are ready to obiect that in a great family many must needs be absent We grant it to be true in some part that is at some time vpon some occasion but so ordinarily and so continually as they themselues in their own cōsciences are priuie to who make this question we know no necessitie that can excuse that Nay we are sure that the Lord hath laid no such calling vpon any man that should keepe him in a continuall breach of the Sabbath and therefore both maister and seruant may suspect that he is in such a calling as is not agreeable to Gods word or that he vseth it not aright when it maketh him if not wholy yet for the most part to neglect the seruice of God vpon the Sabbath day And we know where there is great care to serue and please God by prayer the Lord will giue to them such wisedome that they shall be able to redeeme if not the whole yet at least a great part of the day which otherwise will be mis-spent namely by letting passe many needlesse things by preparing so much before as conueniently may be by rising so much the more earlie in the morning and by the interchangeable helpe of our seruants especially when they will for these causes be contented with so much the lesse though not in quantitie for the reliefe of others yet with lesse exquisite and curious dressing which especially taketh vp the time and so we are sure and they that will trie it in the feare of God and with a care to serue him and in a loue to the soules of their brethren shall find it to be true by experience that many might keep holy the Sabbarh which now do it not at all others might keepe it more then they do Which if yet it be thought vnpossible because we go not about to practise it let vs but obserue that which we shall see done in the house when the seruant is very desirous to go to a Faire and the maister is as willing to let him go you would wonder to see how things shall be dispatched vp suddenly and in good order they shal be absent many houres and yet not greatly missed if any thing be otherwise then is vsuall it is horne with because it is a day of prouision for themselues and that day is not euery day So then if the maisters were perswaded of the Lords day as they ought to be euen that it is the time of making prouision for the soule and were as carefull for the soules of their seruants as they are for their bodies and did esteeme it more for their worship credit that their seruants were religious then that they were costly well set out in apparel they would be better contented to spare them during the time of that market where they may buy without money all the graces of Gods Spirit and the riches of the kingdome of heauen whereby they should not onely saue their owne soules but be made more fit to do duties to their maisters of conscience Therefore to end this point it is the duty of all houshold gouernours to cause the whole familie to be in a readinesse to attend vpon them too and fro the Church and that it be not left at euery mans discretion to come when he wil but that they should go together And indeed this hath bene the orderly comming of
so rare in the world as it is and men altogether so vnacquainted with it as they be nay so lothsome and tedious to flesh bloud that they are afraid once to begin with it yet let the bare commandement of God preuaile more with vs to take it in hand and to continue in it then all that can be said or thought against it should weigh with vs either to keepe vs from it at the first or afterwards cause vs to giue it ouer And that all men might do it so much the rather let them be assured that the want of this especially is the cause of so many wicked and rebellious children vntrusty and disobedient seruants nay vnfaithfull and vnkind wiues euery where euen for that their husbands their fathers and their maisters do not call vpon them to serue God and see them sanctifie the Sabbath It is a common and iust complaint in all places in the mouth of euery man that seruants and children will not be ruled that they cannot tel where to find a good seruant they know not whom to trust but they see not the greatest cause of it to be in themselues and so go not about to remedie it For whiles they labour not to make their children the sonnes and daughters of God by adoption and to bring their seruants within the houshold of God that they might be his seruants by grace and to make their wiues the chast spouses of Iesus Christ and so all of them to serue him the Lord iustly punisheth them making wiues children seruants and all disobediēt vnto them For how can they do duties vnto men if they haue not learned to do duties vnto God and so of conscience for Gods sake to do duties vnto men Nay must not the Lord needs punish them with disobedience against themselues that by their owne experience they may know how grieuous the neglect of his seruice is vnto himselfe when he iustly measureth out vnto them with the same measure that they haue meat vnto him before And whereas men are readie to imagine and we know it is that which many do obiect against this that to deale so straightly with their houshold were the next way to ridde themselues of all good seruants and that then they might soone be maister and man themselues They must againe on the contrary vnderstand that it is a great wickednesse in them once to thinke that the Lord should require that of them which would necessarily driue them to such inconuenience Nay rather they must be assuredly perswaded That godlinesse hath the promises of this life as well as of the life to come and that if we first seeke the kingdome of God and his righteousnesse in our selues and others all needfull things shall be cast vnto vs. Euen as it is said of Abraham I know that he will commaund his sonnes and his houshold after him that they keepe the way of the Lord to do righteousnesse and iudgement that the Lord may bring vpon Abraham that he hath spoken vnto him So that thus to do is the very high way not to keepe vs. from but to bring vs vnto the fruition of all Gods promises if we giue credit vnto him who as he onely maketh them in the beginning of meere mercy so must he onely accomplish them in the end by his constant veritie and truth We confesse indeed if he be an ill seruant this is the readiest way to be rid of him whose roome is better then his company for he thinketh himselfe to be in a prison nay in hell all the while but in the end he shall perceiue that he is gone from the way of heauen vnto hell if the Lord be not more mercifull vnto him And why should we be loth to depart from the seruice of them that haue no care to serue God or can we looke that they should do any faithfull seruice vnto vs that are so vnfaithfull in the seruice of God But as concerning the rest if any be religious this is the best meane to retaine and keepe them if they be but indifferent this may winne them if they be falling away this may recouer them For what shall we thinke of all the godly fathers in times past that when they vowed diligently to looke to their housholds that they should serue God with them and did constantly performe it that then they had no seruants at all Was so great a man as Iehoshua without seruants when he promised before so many witnesses that he and his house should serue the Lord Was Dauid left alone and constrained to do all himselfe when as being a mightie King he bound himselfe vnto it by that song which he made for the same purpose wherein he saith Mine eyes shall be vnto the faithfull of the land that they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way he shall serue me there shall no deceitfull person dwell in mine house he that telleth lies shall not remaine in my sight Had not Abraham a great household when he was able on a sudden to carrie forth with him of them that were borne and brought vp in his house three hundred and eighteene men in armour to rescue his brother Lot Ofwhom notwithstanding it is said that he would teach his children the way of the Lord as it appeareth he did indeed when by his onely perswasion at the word of God all the males were contented to be circumcised and to receiue that Sacrament vnknowne before and painefull and also ignominious to the flesh if they had looked onely to the outward signe And must not that worthy Captaine of an hundred Italian souldiers needs haue a greater familie then many of these that cauill at this doctrine of whom the spirit of truth reporteth That he feared God and all his houshold What shall we thinke of all these men Shall we ignorantly presume to the further deceiuing of our selues and hardening vs in this sinne that the times were then better and good seruants then more plentifull Or must we needs confesse as the truth is indeed that these men vsed more meanes to make their seruants the seruants of God then men do now a dayes and that so the blessing of God was greater vpon them And is it not set downe in writing for our learning to shew vs what is that which we might looke for at Gods hands if we would walke in the same way that they did seeing there is no respect of persons times or places with him Secondly he must set an order in his house for the seruice of God to wit that morning and euening before meales and after meales prayers and thankes may be offered vnto God and so he acknowledged to be the authour not onely of all spirituall graces that belong to a better life but also of all temporal blessings that belong to this life For seeing that it is Gods good hand ouer vs that doth defend
vs and all our familie in the night from outward dangers and giueth vs freedome from feares and terrors and from Sathans rage and also giueth vs rest comfortable sleepe for the refreshing of our fraile bodies is it not meete we should begge it at his hand by prayer before we prepare our selues to rest and praise him for it when we rise from it Againe seeing that euery day we are subiect to innumerable dangers which we know not of and both wisedome and strength to follow good and honest callings and also the blessing vpon our labours to make vs prosper by them are from God alone should we not begin the day with feare vnto God for his gracious protection and for his mercifull blessing of vs And seeing meates and drinks are sanctified vnto vs on Gods part by the word and ours by prayer doubtlesse though God hath by his word sanctified them they are vnholy vnto vs when we do not for our part sanctifie them by faithfull prayer and thanksgiuing And this was Dauids practise Psal. 55. 1. Euening and morning and at noone tide will I pray and make a noise and he will heare my voice If any say it is sufficient for the gouernour to charge euery one in his familie to do it priuately by himselfe so might the Prince say it is enough to do as Darius did to charge euery one in all his dominions to worship no God but Daniels God Yet godly Princes thought it their dutie to set vp the worship ofGod in their dominions and to take order that God might be worshipped publickely and ioyntly of all in their land So did Iob for his houshold not onely bid his children pray to God by thēselues but he appointed set times of praying together and sacrificing and commanded his children to come prepared thereunto Againe if the maister lay the matter vpon the consciences of such as be of his family then if they be negligent God shall haue no honour and worship in that family But we reade of Abraham that wheresoeuer he became he built an altar to God where God should be worshipped ioyntly in his familie If God should measure out his goodnesse to thee as thou measurest honour and glory to him in what a case wert thou He doth giue a charge to his Angels to keepe thee he commandeth the earth to allow thee meate for thy sustenāce and his Commandement is an effectuall word that maketh them to do the thing that he chargeth them withall Wilt thou now onely bid thy seruant or sonne to serue and honour God and not see that he do it and helpe him in it Then thou doest not measure out vnto God as thou wouldest haue him measure to thee This duty then belongeth to a Christian head of a familie to worship God with all his family and to take order that when he shal be absent vpon necessarie occasions it may be done reuerently and onely by some one in his family that by reason of wit and age may be meete for it The neglect of this dutie letteth into families many grieuous enormities and outward miseries while God in his iustice refuseth to blesse such as by their carelesnesse in seruing of him do shew that they take not him to be the author of all wel-fare to soule or body but thinke to do well enough without him or else thinke to haue their turnes serued without requesting The third dutie which the chiefe gouernour must performe to all in his familie is priuate instruction and dealing with them in matters of religion for the building of them vp in true faith and for the inuring and bringing of them to a conscience towards God that they may not onely know and professe religion but also feele and shew the power of religion in their liues This dutie hath these specials belonging to it First a familiar and plaine opening vnto them the principles of religion after the manner of a Catechisme This duty the holy Ghost layeth vpon parents Ephes. 6. 1. Traine them vp in doctrine and holy precepts drawne out-of the word The like was commanded to parents in the old law Let these words which I command thee this day be in thine heart and whet them vpon thy children and speake of them when thou sittest in thy house when thou walkest in the way when thou liest downe and when thou risest vp c. So that it is not enough to bring thy children to be catechized at the Church but thou must labour with them at home after a more plaine and easier manner of instruction that so they may the better profit by the publike teaching Looke Prouerbs 22. 6. Thou euen by breeding thy children hast helped them into corruption and 〈◊〉 damnable estate how oughtest thou then by all holy care and paines taken with them in teaching them the knowledge of God in Christ to helpe them out of it that they may not be firebrands of hell And for seruants seeing they spend their strength wearie out their bodies and bestow their dayes and yeares in seeking thy profit and ease oughtest not thou then to seeke the saluation of their soules Salomon saith The iust man hath regard to his beast much more shouldest thou haue regard to thy seruant who is made according to the image of God with thee and is redeemed with as deare a price as thou art And thy care for him should not stretch to his body alone but especially to his soule that seeing his calling will not suffer him to vse so many and so often meanes for the good of it as were requisite he might herein be helped by thee The second speciall is an acquainting them with the Scriptures by reading them daily in thy house in their hearing and directing them to marke and make vse of those things which are plaine and easie according to their capacitie So Timothie was trained vp by his parents in the Scriptures so that he knew them from a child that is was made acquainted with them by reading them and being instructed in them according to his capacitie This shal make them the fitter to heare and profit by the publike ministerie whereas the neglect of this duty makes them vnable to heare and vnderstand the Preacher when he citeth examples or quoteth texts out of sundry places of Scripture The helpe that their family might reape by it should make them carefull in this reading of the Scripture The third is a diligent care and regard that they profit by the publike ministery of the word and Sacraments euery one according to their capacitie And this duty requireth that they should not onely looke that they do diligently frequent the preaching of the word and carefully come to the Sacraments in due time but also that they shew them how and put them in mind of preparing themselues to the word and Sacraments as lob did his sonnes They must prepare them to heare the word by willing them
to consider Gods ordinance his promise and their owne necessity c. by commanding them to lay aside all such cares thoughts and affections as might hinder them from a diligent hearing To the Sacraments they must prepare them by willing them to consider of Gods institution the ministerie of his Sacraments his mercie in Iesus Christ their faith their repentance and their wants that so seeking assurance of grace of reconciliation and comfort they may come preparedly to the Lords table Againe to further their profit they must diligently examine them what they haue learned what vse they can make of such doctrine also helpe and direct them wherein they faile Thus did our Sauiour Christ his Disciples Besides they must call vpon them for the practise of that which they learne out of the word that the word grow not to a common matter of no further vse but to talke of vpon the Sabbath day The fourth speciall dutie that belongeth to instruction is the vse of Gods workes either past or present as of examples of his mercie and goodnes to be encouraged by them to trust in him by workes of his iustice to be moued to feare him and so to sow the seed of conscience and religion in them Thus did Abraham Gen. 18. 19. which care of his moued the Lord to reueale to him his purpose of destroying the Sodomites The duties which they are to require of them concerning godlines be to vse the publike ministery carefully to be diligent and reuerent in the priuate worship of God to submit themselues to priuate instruction of all sorts and to make their vse of it to the building vp of themselues in faith And 〈◊〉 to practise all holy and Christian duties which being comprised briefly in the Commandements are more largely layed open by the publike ministery of the word and by priuate Catechizing But after what maner must they require these duties We answer not onely by telling of them what they must do and calling vpon them for the doing of it and by gentle admonition when they be backward but also by correcting them if they shall be negligent and contemptuous in the practice thereof This correcting is either by Rebuking or Chastising them according to the quality of the fault the condition of the partie that is so to be dealt with A rebuke is a pronouncing of some misbehauiour or knowne wickednesse of any with condemning of the same by the word of God whereby they may haue shame that others might feare Correction is a sharpe thing and therefore not easily borne of our nature which is full of selfe-loue and through the corruption of nature it is turned into an occasion of great frowardnesse sturdinesse and naughtinesse where it is not wisely dealt in Now the better to minister correction with more hope of doing good by it we must consider First the end of correcting Secondly the matters for which correction must be giuen Thirdly the manner of correcting 1. The end in correcting must not be to wreck and reuenge thine anger or malice or to reuenge thy selfe for any iniury done nor yet alonely the preuenting of the like hurt by the like fault afterward but in zeale of Gods glory who is dishonored by the lewdnesse of the offender and in loue to the party thou must seeke by wise correction to reclaime him from such euill as bringeth danger to him to make him more carefull of his duty afterwards Herein they faile who in correcting haue no respect but to their owne commodity 2. For the matters that deserue correction this is a rule that there must be no rebuking much lesse chastising but where there is a fault For where any is vniustly corrected besides the iniury it hurteth him by hardning him against iust correction For he will thinke that it is the rash hastinesse of his gouernor that putteth him to smart and not his owne desert By fault I meane not onely the committing of that which was forbidden but also the omitting of that good which was commanded But euery such fault is not to be censured with correction sometime ignorance mistaking ouersight and a desire to please in one thing maketh inferiors to offend in others Except there be contempt or willing negligence or retchlesse ouersight a gentle admonition may serue And indeed superiours must take heed of comming to the greatest remedies of correction too soone for so they may soone marre the partie by ouer-sharpe dealing which by a wise proceeding by degrees might haue bene gained Furthermore Gouernors must know yet more expresly for what to correct Some neuer correct but for their owne matters neuer regarding the faults committed against God But the godly gouernour that aimeth at Gods glory and seeketh the Lord and not himselfe is most grieued for those disorders in his family that tend to Gods dishonour and such he correcteth most carefully And as for the defaults of his family that are against himselfe he looketh more to Gods dishonour by them then to his owne hurt or losse in zeale of God is drawne to correct and not of selfe-loue He therefore counteth these things worthie of correction if any delight in the ignorance of God or be carelesse to approue himselfe as one that wholly dependeth on him loueth him feareth him reuerenceth him laboureth to approue all his wayes before him if any be giuen to idolatrie and superstitiō careth not in euery part of the worship of God to follow his reuealed will or if in the parts commanded he appeare negligent cold or put them to any other vse then is commanded or be giuen to images or superstitious monuments customes occasions or such like if any dishonour the name of God either in the vnreuerent vsing or abusing or 〈◊〉 and not vsing it with that preparatiō before feeling at the present time and fruit after which is prescribed his titles word Sacraments or works if any prophane his Sabbath by vaine pastimes and gaming as cards dice dancing c. going to playes or giue not himselfe to the exercises appointed for that day out of the Word if any neglect speciall duties towards their equals superiours or inferiours in yeares gifts authority as Magistrates Ministers Maisters parents seruants children or people if any declare not a conscience to fly euill anger malice contention quarelling fighting or any hurting of the person of man either in soule or 〈◊〉 being carefull to succour the same according to his calling if any be found vnchast in bodie words countenance or gesture vntemperate in diet in apparell dissolute not caring to maintaine the contrary holinesse in himselfe and others if any be not carefull to preserue the goods of another man or shall by falshood flattery and oppression diminish the same if he be negligent in increasing of his owne by honest and lawfull meanes or mis-spend them in cards dice gaming c if any care not to maintaine the good names of others but be giuen to
that is thou shalt be free from sorrow heauinesse and many troubles which many parents haue with vngracious children and on the other side thou shalt haue much comfort and delight by him Great benefit also commeth thereby to the children as he sheweth in the 15. verse The rod and correction giue wisedome aud Chap. 23. 13. 14. Whereas the neglect of it bringeth hurt to the child and to the parents as followeth A child set at libertie maketh his mother ashamed And for seruants the Wiseman doth closely shew how they must be dealt withall where he saith Prou. 29. 21. He which bringeth vp his seruant delicately from his youth at length will be depriued of his children And a little before verse 19. he saith A seruant will not be chastised with words though he vnderstand yet he will not answer or regard These Scriptures shew that God hath put the rod of correction in the hands of the Gouernours of the family by punishment to saue them from destruction which if the bridle were let loose vnto them they would run vnto Where men and women are content to go contrary to their owne nature and to vndergo ill reports to obey the ordinance of God there God will giue a blessing that is a well ordered familie wherein all shall be of good hope These be the duties that the chiefe of the familie oweth to them of his familie within doores as touching godlinesse The wife also which is a fellow-helper hath some things belonging to her to further godlinesse in her familie As for example in her selfe to giue example to her houshold of all readie submission to all good and Christian orders to order her houshold affaires so carefully that no exercise of religion be hindred or put out of place at such time as they should be done in her husbands absence to see good orders obserued as he hath appointed to watch ouer the manners and behauiour of such as be in her house and to helpe her husband in spying out euils that are breeding that by his wisedome they may be preuented or cured Salomon saith of the vertuous woman that she ouerseeth the wayes of her houshold And a little before she openeth her mouth with wisedome and the law of grace is in her tongue And Saint Paul requireth that wiues specially the elder be teachers of good things and that they instruct the yonger They may also do much good in framing the tender yeares of their children vnto good while they be vnder their hands For euen as a child cockered and made a wanton by the mother will be more vntractable when the father will seeke to bend him to good so on the other side a child wisely trained vp by the mother in the yong yeares will be the easilier brought to goodnesse by the fathers godly care We reade that Timothy was made acquainted with the Scripture from a little child by meanes of his godly mother and grandmother a good patterne for Christians And marke the proofe God recompenced their godly care exceedingly for Timothie proued a rare yong man of excellent graces to the great ioy and comfort of his parents Mothers may also powre good liquor into their childrens tender vessels the sauour whereof shall sticke in them a long while after I meane they may sow in their mindes the seede of religion and godlinesse These and such like duties if the wife performe constantly she shall bring no small helpe to her husband for the godly and religious ordering of his house And thus much of that part of Houshold gouernment which concerneth godlinesse Now we come to the other part which pertaines to the things of this life wherein is to be considered what is the duty of the husband and of the wife namely to Take order for Prouision and Health They must take order for prouision for necessaries to the maintenance of themselues and all their charge These necessaries are food and rayment Also care must be had of the health of such as be in their families both to preserue it by rest and recreation if need be and to restore it if it be hindred by good looking to such as are fallen into sicknesse That the gouernours of the familie must make honest prouision for themselues and their charge and not liue vpon the Church-almes or by begging purloyning borrowing or cousining It is most euident by that saying of Saint Paul to Timothie He that prouideth not for his owne and especially for them of his house hath denyed the Faith and is worse then an infidell And Salomon saith The iust man regardeth the life of his beast much more of his seruants and children And as the Spirit of God chargeth vs with this dutie so he setteth vs about such things whereby this may be compassed and forewarneth vs of those things whereby it might be hindered The things that he teacheth vs for the making of this prouision are first That euery one should haue some honest and good calling and should walke diligently in it that it may bring in honest gaine whereby necessaries for the family may be prepared That euery man must applie himselfe to some studie and calling is so knowne that it needeth no proofe In the sweate of thy browes thou shalt eate thy bread c. Which condemneth all such as liue of the labours of other men and themselues take no paines or trauaile do no good in the world benefite not humane societie any way but deuoure the good creatures of the earth which indeed belong to them that take all the paines In this ranke do a number of Gentiles in the world march deuising gay toyes which might well be spared who are but vnprofitable burthens of the earth that fill vp number like Ciphers who glory in their shame that is in their ease pleasures and brauerie whereof if they knew whereto a man was borne they would be ashamed These be they for whose maintenance in their iollitie a number are faine to toyle very hardly fare meanely and spend their strength to the very skinne and bones and yet can get but a slender recompence through their vnmercifull exactions But enough of them to returne The good gouernour of a house must be none of these but he must haue a calling that is good honest and lawfull not onely gainfull to himselfe but also holy and profitable to the societie of mankind For thus much doth Saint Paul comprehend within the compasse of his words Ephes. 4. 28. But let him labour the thing that is good It is not enough to haue a calling though it be neuer so good but it must be followed so as it may bring in maintenance for thee and thine such as is meete for thy estate But how must it be followed First with diligence for as Salomon saith Prou. 8. 9. He that caryeth himselfe slothfully or loosely in his businesse is the brother of a great waster that is
yet if the parents afterwards shall certainely know this and that there was no will nor vnfained meaning at all in the party neither yet is but rather a loathing and abhorring of his Spouse betrothed though he be not able to render iust and sufficient cause thereof they may vpon this occasion either deferre the day of marriage the louger to see if God will happily change the mind of the partie or vtterly breake and frustrate the promise if all good meanes and occasions hauing bene vsed none will preuaile but that the party rather groweth worse and worse For a Contract being a willing and a voluntary consent there is no cause why the parents and such as haue authority and power in sueh cases when they shall vndoubttedly know that the promise was altogether vnwilling and therefore made in meere hypocrisie and dissimulation neither can be by tract of time or any other good meanes vsed be bettered but rather waxeth worse and worse may not breake and frustrate the same For why did Rebeccaes parents deny her to Isaack neither would send her with Abrahams seruant to be married before such time as they had asked her consent yea when as they said We will call the maide and aske her consent do they not plainly shew that both the law of Nature and the Law of God taught them that this consent was of great moment absolute necessity And when the Apostle doth command men and women to marrie in the Lord how can the marriage be in the Lord when one party doth not onely not loue but hate the other And how can such two become one flesh lawfully when as there wants the vnion and coniunction of the heart the true naturall mother of all marriage duties Wherefore this promise must be in this respect at least willing and voluntary For albeit it is not necessary neither yet possible that there should be such great measure of true holy and sanctified loue at that time as afterward for that groweth by little and little according to the blessing of God and the faithfull performance of other duties afterward euen to their liues end yet if it be voluntarie and vnfained it is enough and sufficient to make a true contract in the Lord. So as no man ought to separate those whom God hath thus ioyned Secondly we call it voluntary in respect of constraint and compulsion contrary to a free cōsent For if either party be vrged constrained or compelled by great feare of their parents or others by threatning of losse of preferment of health of limbe of life or of any such other like or by any other violent manner of dealing whatsoeuer to yeeld their promise cleane contrary to the motion or good liking of their hearts this kind of promise as it doth not binde the partie to keepe it so it ought to be frustrated broken by the parents themselues or by such maisters as may and ought to command and rule them in such cases If this were not so how could the parties keepe the commandements of God giuing them direction whom to marrie First that they should marrie onely in the Lord. Againe that they should not be vnequally yoked with infidels neither of which they can keepe if their parents might compell them to Contract and marrie It becometh the parents to perswade their children by all good meanes to yeeld their consent rather then to draw them by wicked sleights and cunning drunkennesse or any other wicked and violent meanes For as that is not to marrie in the Lord so all such forced Contracts may be broken and frustrated by the Magistrate who is Gods Lieutenant to redresse such intollerable enormities among the societies of men For if parents may deny marriage to such as haue onely by force and violence obtained the word and body of their child much more may the magistrate deny marriage where onely a verball promise nath bene gotten by violent compulsion and for these causes and in this sense and meaning alone we conclude that Contracts must be voluntary Fourthly it must be a mutuall promise that is either party must make it to other not the man onely nor the woman onely but both the man and the woman though decency and order require the man to do it first and then the woman because he is her head and she his glory and ought to leade and guide her in all things wherein the Lord hath put a pre heminence For if this promise be not mutually made of them both but of one alone it is no true and perfect Contract and therefore may be broken by parents and such as haue authority herein because the party vnpromising is not bound by word or deed but is free in so much that such a Contract is rather so termed then that it is any true Contract indeed But if it be mutuall then it doth mutually and muiolably bind both so that in this regard neither parent magistrate nor any other can or ought to breake it for this being fully performed and accomplished is one principall cause of making two one flesh in such sort as it is written Therefore a man shall leaue his father and mother and shall be ioyned to his wife and they two shall be one flesh c. Genes 2. 24. Also that the man hath not power ouer his owne body nor the woman ouer hers and so to be short hence ariseth all mutuall beneuolence betweene them And therefore a point of great weight and necessitie in no wise to be omitted in a Contract Fiftly we say it must be betweene one man and one woman where first it is to be noted that it may not nor ought not to be betweene any other creatures but man-kind nay neither among brute beasts nor Angels For God hath not ordained or instituted marriage for them neither can it be betweene man and man or woman and woman If any such Contract be either voluntary or by fraud and deceipt by ignorance or errour it is no Contract at all but a meere wicked profanation of Gods ordinance who gaue onely woman to man not woman to woman nor man to man Likewise it cannot be betweene Angels good or bad and woman because God hath set no such ordinance in the nature of these creatures If therefore there hath bene any such matter or shall be attempted by Sathan with any woman as some stories report it is nothing 〈◊〉 but a meere illusion and diuellish practise to deceiue and draw superstitious into the kingdome of darknesse and to intrap them in the chaines of condemnation against which and all other diabolicall illusions we ought to watch and pray continually Secondly it is to be obserued that betweene one man and one woman and not two men and one woman or two women not betweene two women and one man or moe By which is condemned as meere nullities and prophanations all Contracts whatsoeuer made betweene moe then two For it is written And they twaine shall be
is no stable and stedfast friendship vnlesse it haue his beginning from God and therefore must godlinesse needes shine before the rest For when couples haue determined to obey God all things afterwards become more easie 2. Vertue and honest conditions breede mutuall delight betweene man and wife For when vertue is exercised it maketh conuersation of liuing more amiable 3 Mutuall forbearing whereby we take in good worth one anothers conditions and faults is very needfull For in this weaknesse of nature there happens many scapes which will breede strife if they be not couered by mutuall forbearing 4. Mutuall loue hauing his beginning of godlinesse and true vertue maketh the husband and wife not to be too sharpe-sighted in spying into one anothers fauits but that many things either they mark not or if they marke them they couer them with loue For loue couereth a multitude of sinnes 1. Peter 4. 8. Prou. 10. 12. 5. Dutie performed godlily caresully and cheerefully on both sides maketh the marriage-yoke light and sweet For when man and wife marke one another and finde like heedfulnesse and buxomnesse in their dutie both their companie is made more pleasant and they are the more stirred vp on both sides to render dutifulnesse that the one may requite the otheralike Where these fiue duties be not the companie of their life is both loath some and bitter or rather more sharpe then death Therefore the godly couples must do their endeuour that these vertues may be seene in their life continually for euer Now we will through Gods assistance say something concerning the three seuerall points contained in this dutie and mentioned in the beginning hereof and so end this dutie 1 The first whereof is that the husband must liue with his wife according to knowledge This point of doctrine is most plainely proued by the Apostle Peter where he saith a Ye husbands dwell with your wiues as men of knowledge giuing honour vnto the woman as vnto the weaker vessell euen as they which are heires together of the grace of life that your prayers be not interrupted Whereby he teacheth the husband his dutie to wit that the more vnderstanding and wisedome God hath endued him with the more wisely and circumspectly he ought to behaue himselfe in the bearing those discommodities which through his wiues weaknesse oftentimes cause some iarre and dislike one to the other Neuerthelesse though she be by nature weaker then he yet she is an excellent instrument for him made for very profitable vse whereupon it followeth that she is not therefore to be neglected because she is weake but on the contrarie part she ought to be so much the more cared for Like as a vessell the weaker it is the more it is to be fauoured and spared if we will haue it to continue euen so a wife because of her infirmities is so much the more to be borne withall of her husband 1. Peter 3. 7. And for so much as the husband and wife are equall in that which is the chiefest that is to say in that gracious and free benefit whereby they haue euerlasting life giuen them though otherwise I confesse vnequall as touching the gouernance and conuersation at home the wife is not be despised although she be weake And besides all brawlings and chidings must be eschued and cast away because they hinder prayers and the whole seruice of God whereunto both the husband and the wife are equally called Also for the more confirmation of this point the Apostle Paul likewise saith Let the husband giue vnto the wife due beneuolence and likewise also the wife vnto the husband The wife hath not power ouer her owne bodie but the husband and likewise also the husband hath not the power of his owne body but the wife Defraud not one another except it be with consent for a time that ye may giue your selues to fasting and prayer and againe come together that Sathan tempt you not for your incontinencie Which is as if the Apostle should say the parties married must with singular affection entirely loue one the other for that they are each in others power as touching the bodie so that they may not defraud one another except the one abstaine from the other by mutuall consent that they may the better giue themselues to prayer wherin not withstanding they must consider what is expedient lest by this long breaking off as it were from marriage they be stirred vp to incontinencie The second point is that the husband should not be bitter fierce or cruell vnto his wife which point is approued by the said Apostle saying Husbands loue your wiues and be not bitter vnto them First and aboue all things the husband must be circumspect to keepe the band of loue and beware that there neuer spring vp the roote of bitternesse betwixt him and his wife If at any time there happen to arise any cause of vnkindnesse betwixt them as it is impossible alwayes to be free from it then he must be carefull to weede vp the same with all lenitie gentlenesse and patience and neuer suffer himselfe nor his wife to sleepe in displeasure Ephesians 4. 26. And if he shall haue occasion to speake sharpely and sometimes to reproue he must beware that he do not the same in the presence of others but let him keepe his words vntill a conuenient time which is the point of a wise man and then vtter them in the spirit of meekenesse and in the spirit of perfect loue and he must not let sometimes to couer faults and winke at them if they be not too great and intollerable Whatsoeuer losse or mischaunce shall happen vnto them let him take it patiently and beare it cheerefully yea though the same should come partly through his wiues negligence yea rather let it be a louing warning to take better heed in time to come then a cause to sorrow for that which is past and cannot be holpen Euery wise-man by his owne experience knoweth that he is in his life subiect to many inconueniences and that of nature he is prone to displeasure and readie to take vnkindnesse for euery trifle and especially with his best friends yea soonest with his louing wife who is lothest to displease him Let him therefore beware of this cankered corruption and consider that he ought most of all in loue to beare with his wife according to Christs example towards his Church who gaue himselfe for it That he might sanctifie it clense it by the washing of water through the word That he might make it vnto himselfe a glorious Church not hauing spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holie and without blame so ought men to loue their wiues as their owne bodies he that loueth his wife loueth himselfe For no man yet euer hated his owne flesh but nourisheth it and cherisheth it euen as the Lord doth the Church As if the Apostle had said
without comparison more straite and bindeth them each to loue other much more then the coniunction whereby man is vnited vnto his neighbour But this is the mischiefe that in many their loue is not grounded vpon the vnion of marriage but vpon beautie riches and other carnall and worldly considerations subiect to change alteration and losse This corruption that respecteth beautie is olde and noted to be among the causes of the floud The sonnes of God saith Moses seeing the daughters of men were faire lusted after them and tooke them in marriage But indeed it is money that maketh loue and riches ingender affection witnesse the experience of our dayes Yet such loue resembleth onely a fire of straw which is but a blaze and is soone out vnlesse it be continued with great wood or other like substance Loue growing of beauty riches lust or any other like slight vncertaine and fraile grounds is soone lost and vanished vnlesse it be maintained with the consideration of this vnion of two in one flesh and the vertues thereto adioyned therefore must euery man thinke vpon this vnion in marriage that he may enioy nourish continue the loue that there of proceedeth the rather because such loue is the nurse of concord that maketh marriage happy as contrariwise the want of this loue is the fountaine of strife quarrelling debate and other like afflictions that conuert the paradise of marriage into a hell For dissention betweene man and wife is the trouble and ouerthrow of the houshold They that wil auoide such strife must therefore loue each other and especially they must haue care hereof when they are first married For as a vessell made of two peeces and glewed together may at the first be easily broken but in time groweth hard so is it also with two persons that are glewed or ioyned together by the bond of marriage This loue the mother of peace will ingender a care and duty each to support other and so to practise the same which Saint Paul requireth in all beleeuers that is To be gentle one to another friendly and each to forgiue other euen as God hath forgiuen vs through Christ. Let the husband think that he hath married a daughter of Adam and all her infirmities and likewise let the woman thinke that she hath not married an Angell but a child of Adam with his corruption And so let them both resolue to beare that that cannot be soon amended Let not the body complaine of the head albeit it haue but one eye neither the head of the body albeit it be crooked or mishapen Such defaults do neuer breake vnion and loue betweene the head and the body neither must the infirmities of the husband or the wife infringe the loue that proceedes of the vnion and coniunction of mariage If the husband be giuen to brawling or the wife to chiding let them both beware of giuing any occasion The bell hath a loud sound and therefore he that will not heare it must beware how he pulleth the rope and shake it so if the one will begin to chide without a cause let the other be either deafe and so not heare it or dumbe and so make no answer So that where the husband is deafe and the wife blinde marriage is quiet and free from dissention Whereby is meant that the wife must winke at many infirmities of her husband as if she saw them not and the husband put vp many shrewde speeches of his wife as if he heard them not Neither can it be any reproach to the husband and wise so stedfastly vnited to practise this dutie considering that Dauid protesteth that he vsed the like patience and discretion among his enemies They that seeke after my life lay snares and they that go about to do me euill talke wicked things and imagine deceit continually But I as a deafe man heard not and am as a dumbe man which openeth not his mouth Thus I am as a man that heareth not and in whose mouth are no reproofes This vnion betweene man and wife doth also engender that dutie which the holy Ghost noteth saying For this cause shall a man leaue his father and mother and cleaue to his wife And also the wife in the like respect is bound to the like duty toward her husband Not that marriage exempteth any from their due honour and obedience to parents but to declare that the vnion betweene man and wife is greater then betweene the children and the parents And indeed the true loue of the husband to the wife and the wife to the husband surmounteth all loue of children to their parents The husband and the wife haue their secret counsels and communication of matters concerning their profit and commodity The wise it more obedient to her husband and the husband more desirous to please his wife then their Parents yea and at length it falleth out that they depart from their parents to keepe house by themselues And this plainely appeared in Lea and Rachel being sisters and the wiues of lacob For lacob grieued at the wrong offered him by their father Laban boldly made his moane to them Whereupon they also complaining of their father agreed with lacob and consented together to leaue their father and to follow their husband lacob Herein likewise consisteth another dutie of the husband to the wife and of the wife to the husband namely that they shew no greater secrecie or communication of their houshold affaires to their parents then mutually each to other and this rule is especially to be put in practise when there groweth any discontent betweene themselues For if the husband shall complaine to his parents of his wife or the wife of her husband such dealing might breed a most dangerous iealousie and consequently perhaps irreconciliable dissention and strife But if it should grow to any complaint it were requisite so discreetly to prosecute the matter as that the wife should come to her husbands parents and the husband to the wiues parents So would all cause of iealousie ceasse and the complaint procure most assured remedy This loue and agreement in marriage produceth yet another dutie common both to the husband and the wife And that is that they neuer seeke neither once thinke of diuorce And to that end let them remember what is written That which God hath ioyned together let no man put asunder Likewise that nothing but adultery may separate those that are vnited by marriage All other agreements and contracts made by mutuall consent may be broken and dissolued by the like consent of both parties but in the contract of marriage Almightie God commeth in as a witnesse yea he receiueth the promise of both parties as a ioyning them in that estate And this doth Salomon note where he obiecteth to the harlot that she hath forgotten the couenant or alliance of her God But Malachie speaketh more plainely and giueth a reason why God punished such husbands as
leauing their lawfull wiues tooke others Because saith he the Lord hath bene witnesse betweene thee and the wife of thy youth against whom thou hast transgressed yet is she thy companion and the wife of thy couenant The promise therefore to God cannot be broken but onely by his authoritie In the dayes of Moses husbands were easily and soone intreated to sorsake their wiues by giuing them a bill of diuorce yet so farre was this course from being lawfull that contrarywise Iesus Christ saith that it was tolerated only in respect of the hardnesse of husbands hearts who otherwise would haue vexed their wiues and intreated them cruelly And this libell containing the cause of diuorce and putting away of the woman did iustifie her and condemne the man For seeing it was neuer giuen in case of adulterie which was punished with death all other causes alledged in the libell tended to iustifie the woman and declare that she was wrongfully diuourced and so condemned the husband as one that contraryed the first institution of marriage whereto Iesus Christ condemning this corruption doth returne them saying It was not so from the beginning And therefore Whosoeuer shall put away his wife except it be for whoredome and marrieth another committeth adulterie and whosoeuer marrieth her which is diuorced doth commit adulterie with her So straight is the bond of marriage Here of it followeth that notwithstanding whatsoeuer difficulties may arise betweene the husband and the wife whether it be long tedious and incurable sicknesse of either party whether naturall and contrary humours that breed debate wrangling or 〈◊〉 about household affaires whether it be any vice as if the husband be a drunkard or the wife a slothfull idle or 〈◊〉 housewife whether either party forsake the truth and profession of religion and do fall to idolatrie or heresie yet still the bond of marriage remaineth stedfast and not to be dissolued Neither may they be separated euen by their owne mutuall consent for as the holy Ghost hath pronounced That which God hath ioyned together let no man put asunder And therefore Saint Paul saith If any brother hath a wife that beleeueth not if she be content to dwell with him let him not forsake her and the woman which hath an husband that beleeueth not if he can be content to dwell with her let her not for sake him And because some did suppose that the vnbeleefe in anie of the parties might breed some pollution in their marriage and make it prophane and vnchristian he answereth no. His reason is For the vnbeleeuing husband is sanctified by his beleeuing wife and the vnbeleeuing wife by her beleeuing husband And this he proueth by affirming that the childrēissuing of such marriage be holy that is to say partakers of the couenant of God and consequently accepted into the fellowship of the Church Onely he addeth this exception If the vnbeleeuing man depart and for sake the beleeuing wife she is not subiect to follow him And yet must this be vnderstood where such departure ariseth either vpon hatred that he beareth to the true religion that bis wife prosesseth or vpon a desire to vse his polluted and false religion For therein cannot his wife follow him without danger of defiling and depriuing her selfe of the profession of the truth together with the food of her soule Likewise where Saint Paul speaking of the husband and wife both beleeuers saith If the woman depart from her husband let her remaine vnmarried or be reconciled to her husband he therein meaneth not that it shall be lawfull for the woman because she cannot beare the troublesome nature of her husband or to auoyde strife and debate to depart and liue as a widdow but onely he 〈◊〉 that when the husband vpon such like occasion shall put away or cast off his wife yet is not she at her libertie to marry another but must remaine vnmarried and labour to be reconciled And therefore those women which vpon the hard dealing or troublesome disposition of their husbands do for sake them are greatly to be reproued as thereby giuing occasion of great mischiefe and trouble as also are those husbands who vpon like occasion do forsake their wiues For seeing nothing may make diuorce but adultery euery purpose and determination to part vpon any other occasion or reason is restrained by Gods ordinance and the law of marriage And 〈◊〉 as it is not lawfull for vs to continue in such desperation the whole course of our liues neither is it lawfull so to abide at all or so much as enter thereinto if therefore vpon such occasion the husband forsake his wife or the wife her husband rather then to continue the mischiefe begun let them returne together againe and thinke that the shortest follies do least hurt If they alledge their intreaty in their opinion intollerable and their nature so contrary that they cannot liue without strife and debate and that being asunder and quiet in conscience free from trouble they may the better apply themselues and employ their time in prayer the answer is that such 〈◊〉 must not dissolue or breake the bond of marriage and their duties to liue together but let them thinke that God hath called them to the exercise of patience which vpon hearty prayer he will grant to them Let them labour to beare each with other that they may liue in peace and continually pray to God to giue them grace so to do Let them remember that the diuell transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light when by propounding a desire to liue in quiet and consequently a meane to pray vnto God for the compassing thereof he induceth them to gainesay Gods prohibition and also to separate that which God hath ioyned together For as the coniunction commeth of God so the separation and diuorce proceedeth from the diuell If they reply that by liuing asunder so that they marry not againe they breake not the bond of marriage let them remember that marriage being ordained for a remedie against fornication for the generation and bringing vp of children and also for an helpe each to other in mutuall societie and inseparable conuersation oflife yet doth there appeare no token or effect of marriage in those that liue asunder albeit they marry not againe So that the benefit of marriage consisteth not onely in the procreation of children but also in the mutuall societie of the two diuerse Sexes Otherwise it could not be said that there were any marriage betweene two old folkes This vnion of marriage yet teacheth vs another duty common both to the man and to the wife which is that their goods be common betweene them That Common-wealth may in some sort be said to be happy where they haue no vse of these words Mine and thine but in marriage especially they ought not to be heard If the wife haue brought most goods in marriage the marriage once consummate and made her part is gone and
and hath taken the peace of thee the first day of her marriage to hold thy hands till she release thee againe Adam saith of his spouse This is flesh of my flesh But no man saith Paul euer hated his owne flesh So then if a man aske whether he might strike his wife God saith nay thou mayest not hate thy wife For no man hateth his owne flesh shewing that he should not come neare blowes but thinke his wrath too much Some husbands are wont to say that they will rule their wiues whatsoeuer they be or howsoeuer they came by them and that it is in the hand and power of the husband what and of what qualities and conditions she shall be True it is that a great part of this doth rest and lie in the husband so that he vnderstand as he ought to do that marriage is the supreme and most excellent part of all amitie and friendship and that it farre differeth from tyranny the which doth compell men to obey Truly it may force the bodie but not the will in the which all loue and amitie doth consist and stand the which if it be drawne and forced doth resist and bow like a Palme tree to the contrary part And the husband may assure himselfe that there cannot be any quiet marriage or vnitie where he and his wife do not agree in will and minde the which two are the beginning and seate of all amitie and friendship And such husbands as do bragge and thinke themselues able to rule and ouer rule their wiues by that time they haue proceeded and gone a little further they shall well feele and perceiue themselues to be beguiled and finde that thing to be most hard and intricate the which to be done they esteemed most light and easie Some husbands there be that through euill and rough handling and in threatning of their wiues haue and vse them not as wiues but as their seruants And yet surely they are but very fooles that iudge and thinke matrimony to be a dominion For such as would be feared do afterwards pitiously lament and complaine that they can find no loue in their wiues whose loue and amity through their owne crueltie and hard dealing they haue turned into hatred And whereas at the beginning they gloried and cracked thus cruelly that they were their wiues maisters they haue now purchased vnto themselues a most miserable and lamentable life in time to come all loue and pleasure being now cast aside and compassed with feare and suspition hatred and sorrow Surely if a husband as nature reason and the holy Scriptures do witnesse be the head ouer his wife and God their Father there ought to be betweene them such society and fellowship yea and greater then is betweene the father and the sonne and not such as is betweene the maister and the seruant And amongst many reasons that may be vsed to perswade the husband and wife to liue together louingly quietly and Christianly this is not the least namely that neither of them is certaine how long they shall liue together then the partie that ouer-liueth and purposeth to marrie againe hauing bene churlish froward c. with his former wife or she with her first husband their so hard dealing one with the other before being knowne will no doubt be an occasion that they shall not speed and match so well as otherwise they might if they had behaued themselues peaceablie and dutifully in their first marriage What the dutie of a wife is toward her husband THis duty is comprehended in these points First that she reuerence her husband Secondly that she submit herselfe and be obedient vnto him And lastly that she do not weare gorgeous apparell beyond her degree and place but that her attire be comely and sober according to her calling The first point is proued by the Apostles Peter and Paul who set forth the wiues duties to their husbands commanding them to be obedient vnto them although they be prophane and irreligious yea that they ought to do it so much the more that by their honest life and conuersation they might winne them to the obedience of the Lord. Now for so much as the Apostle would haue Christian wiues that are matched with vngodly husbands and such as are not yet good Christians to reuerence and obey them much more should they shew themselues thankfull to God and willingly and dutifully performe this obedience and subiection when they are coupled in marriage with godly wise discreet learned gentle louing quiet patient honest and thrifty husbands And therefore they ought euermore to reuerence them and to endeuour with true obedience and loue to serue them to be loth in any wise to offend them 〈◊〉 rather to be carefull and diligent to please them that their soule may blesse them And if at any time it shall happen that the wife shall anger or displease her husband by doing or speaking any thing that shall grieue him she ought neuer to rest vntill she haue pacified him and gotten his fauour againe And if he shall chance to blame her without a cause and for that which she could not helpe or remedy which thing sometimes happeneth euen of the best men yet she must beare it patiently and giue him no vncomely or vnkind word for it but euermore looke vpon him with a louing and cheerefull countenance and so rather let her take the fault vpon her then seeme to be difpleased Let her be alwaies merry and cheerfull in his company but yet not with too much lightnesse She must beware in any wise of swelling powting lowring or frowning for that is a token of a cruell and vnlouing heart except it be in respect of sinne or in time of sicknesse She may not be sorrowfull for any aduersitie that God sendeth but must alwayes be carefull that nothing be spilt or go to wast through her negligence In any wise she must be quicke and cleanly about her husbands meare and drinke preparing him the same according to his diet in due season Let her shew her selfe in word and deed wise humble curteous gentle and louing towards her husband and also towards such as he doth loue and then shall she leade a blessed life Let her shew her selfe not onely to loue no man so well as her husband but also to loue none other at all but him vnlesse it be for her husbands sake and the Lords Wherefore let the wife remember that as the Scripture reporteth she is one bodie with her husband so that she ought to loue him none otherwise then her selfe for this is the greatest vertue of a married woman this is the thing that wedlocke signifieth and commandeth that the wife should reckon to haue her husband for both father mother brother and sister like as Adam was vnto Eue and as the most noble and chast woman Andromache said her husband Hector was vnto her Thou art vnto me both father and
of the owner to be vsed euen so children well-taught are at the commandement of godly parents 5. Lastly Iet parents remember how many sinnes they commit and heape one vpon another which do not their dutie in bringing vp their children as they ought to do First they transgresse the law of nature which telleth all men that their dutie is to bring vp their children godlily and honestly Secondly they sinne against God for they despise the commandement and authoritie of God for he commandeth that children should be brought vp religiously and honestly but he is a despiser of God that refuseth to do as he is commanded Thirdly they offend against their owne credite and estimation For Gods will is that parents should after a sort be in his stead so farre foorth as pertaineth to outward discipline But such make small account of this dignity who neglect their dutie in this behalfe Parents are further to vnderstand that it is their dutie to haue diligent care to haue their children taught to pray to God and to rehearse the Apostles Creede and the ten Commendements For as by this exercise their hearts and mindes shall the rather be inclined to godlinesse and reuerence towards God so as they increase in age they shall euery day better then other comprehend that which they learne to their owne comfort instruction and saluation Also the tongue is called the glorie of man because that besides all other reasons by his speech he is discerned from the bruit beastes so it is meete that so soone as the child can begin to speake his tongue should be employed to glorifie God by calling vpon him and by learning some short Catechisme containing the principles and grounds of Christian religion as also in repeating the will of God in such sort as he will that we should serue and honour him If parents do note and perceiue any vice in their little ones as swearing lying choller enuie filching couetousnes contempt of parents readinesse to strike and other like corruptions it is their duty diligently and in time to reproue and correct them as men vse to pluck vp weeds while they be yet yong lest growing vp among the good seedes they should hinder their growth and choke them vp By experience we can see that mothers in swadling their little ones do lay their limmes right each in his place likewise if a child be giuen to be left handed they chide him yea sometimes they bind it vp or otherwise restraine the vse of it that he may be accustomed to vse his right hand Also if the child haue some string vnder his tongue they cut it lest it should hinder his speech much more then ought they to beware that through their negligence the vices of the soule do not increase For it is the dutie of the parents euen in the infancie to begin to shape and frame the foule vnto vertue It is also the dutie of parents to prouide that their children may learne at the least to write and rcade for it may be vnto them a great helpe in the course of this life and a treasure of much greater account then mony And therefore the negligence ofmany is sharpely to be reproued besides that the performance of this dutie doth greatly binde their children vnto them Neuerthelesse the principall end thereof should not haue respect to such commoditie as the children may reape thereby towards the vse of this present-present-life but rather that they may reade the word of God to their comfort and instruction to saluation Also it 〈◊〉 their parts to vse them daily to reade some Chapters of the holy Scriptures thereby to incline and winne their affections to the word of God to inure and acquaint them in the phrase of the holy Ghost by little and little to learne the heauenly doctrine to note the examples of Gods vengeance powred vpon the wicked and disobedient and of his blessings vnto those that walke in his feare Therefore if parents do looke that their children should obey them then let them ioyne and accustome them to Gods word which will redound much to their parents profit If they cause their children to heare and read the holy Scriptures therein they may learne Honour thy father and thy mother but if parents do otherwise then they traine them vp in the Scriptures of diuels whereout their children will learne most wicked things but it is not so when they are instructed in the holy Scriptures Parents therefore are diligently to apply themselues to this which God commandeth and so often and earnestly commendeth vnto them namely to instruct their children in the knowledge and feare ofGod and in the faith of Iesus Christ Deut. 6. 6. 7. and 32. 46. Ephes. 6. 4. So also to teach them those things which they are to vse in their age It is then great folly to linger children in the learning of vaine 〈◊〉 and vnprofitable things which as they grow in years they will contemne and forget Parents can be carefull enough to bring vp their children in some course trade or other estate wherein to get their liuings when they come to be men and verily such fathers as do neglect that are vnworthy to haue children But as the soule is more precious then the body so is the dutie of parents in youth to traine vp their children in the practise of those things wherewith in age euen in this life they may glorifie God and be heires of the Lord. If parents want knowledge or bevnwilling to take leisure to teach them yet let them do as much for their childrens soules and the life to come as for their bodies and this present life Parents that either cannot write and reade or will not or haue no time to teach their children will yet send them to schoole and such as would haue them learne some art or occupation or traffique if themselues professe not the same wherein they like to employ their children they will yet put them to dwell with those that do professe the same to the end they may learne How therefore can parents excuse themselues when their children remaine vntaught in those things that concerne the glory of God and life euerlasting But howsoeuer it be if they be neither able of thēselues nor do prouide to haue them taught by others they shall be inexcusable in the sight of God the ignorance of the children ingendring contempt of God loue of the world and neglect of heauenly felicitie will crie out for euerlasting vengeance against their parents so that if they account not their children as beastes without soule or if they loue them with the due loue belonging to parents let them declare their loue especially to the soule the Christian instruction whereof surmounteth all worldly treasure Some say it would be a great comfort for them in heauen to know their neare kindred and consequently their children and this commeth of naturall affection But might it not be a greater discomfort for them
when she was sent for of Dauid to be his wife she first bowed her selfe to the seruants and then made this lowly answer to him that brought the message Behold let thine handmaid be seruant to wash the feete of the seruants of my Lord. Thirdly to admonish them louingly to salute their friends and acquaintance and generally all others whom they take to be Christians and brethren which consisteth in praying well to others wishing health prosperitie vnto them Luke 1. 28. 40. 1. King 1. 17. Fourthly to put them in mind to acknowledge a benefit where they haue receiued it with giuing of thanks Fiftly to teach them to confesse an offence where it is committed with humble crauing of pardon An example hereof they may haue in that vertuous and faire spoken matron Abigail as they may reade in 1. Sam. 25. 23. c. Oh that men and children saw what great dangers they draw vpon them by the neglect of this duty and might preuent it and also what gratious blessings they might procure both to themselues and others by meanes of it as this vertuous Abigail kept Dauid from shedding of innocent blood saued her owne life with the liues of her familie and in the end was receiued to be a Princes wife for the wise carriage of her selfe in this matter Againe parents must teach their children good manners and ciuill behauiour to rise vp to their betters to vncouer the head to make obeysance to be curteous towards their equals to be gentle and louely to their inferiours and louing and kind to all this is no lesse needfull for youth then their meate and their drinke Also to admonish them to giue their elders and betters leaue to speake before them Iob 32. 45. That they keepe silence while their betters are in place vntill they be spoken vnto and then they must make answer in few words without vnnecessary circumstances and directly vnto the matter And they may not be loud babling or hote in speech but cold and milde Prouerbes 17. Warne them that they do not interrupt or trouble others whiles they are in speaking Prou. 19. 20. Wherfore if children will keepe the bounds of good manners they must not be streperous or troublesome in talke but they must obserue and take their due time and course And if there be any thing spoken vnto which they would willingly make answer they must either curteously craue leaue of him that speaketh or else they must carrie it in remembrance vntill their turne cometh to speake which is the better of the twaine And further they must giue an entercourse of speech vnto others and suffer others to speake by them for there is a time to keepe silence and so to heare others speaking for he that will haue all the talke passeth the bounds of good manners Moreouer parents ought to teach their children how to frame their gestures to a reuerent and dutifull behauiour towards others which consisteth in these points 1. The first is to meete those that are comming towards them And of this they haue an example in holy Abraham Genes 18. 2. where it is said And he lifted vp his eyes and looked and lo three men stood by him and when he saw them he ranne to meete them from the tent doore Againe another example they may haue in king Salomon sitting vpon his regall Throne 1. King 2. 19. Bethsheba therefore went to King Salomon to speake vnto him for Adoniah and the King rose to meete her 2. The second is to rise vp to elders and betters when they passe by them And this is taught Leuiticus 19. 23. Thou shalt rise vp before the hoar-head and houour the person of the old man and dread thy God I am the Lord. But here we must warne you of a great abuse which for the most part is cōmitted in all Churches and which tendeth to the high dishonour of God which is this that neither you your selues neither your children nor seruants do know the time of your duties but you will then rise vp to men when both you and they should kneele downe to God as if one that is more honorable among you shall come into the Church while you are vpon your knees in prayer vnto God presently you start vp and leaue God to reuerence men Is this religion Is this deuotion becomming Gods house Is not this all one as if a man should say Stay God here comes in my father my maister my worshipfull neighbour and my good friend to whom I am much beholden I must do my dutie vnto him I must rise vp till he be past and then I will come to thee againe What is this but to preferre men before God This doing plainely sheweth that such are louers of men more then of God and that such as take this dutie and reuerence vpon them are robbers of Gods honour and they shall answer him for it Is there no time to shew our duty towards men but euen then when we are about Gods seruice Why know you when man standeth before God how honourable soeuer he be he is but dung and filth and not to be regarded in comparison of him And let parents learne this wisedome that while they are taught their duties towards men it is not to rob God of his worship but there is an appointed time to euery dutie and purpose as Ecclesiastes in his third Chapter well admonisheth To all things there is an appointed time and a time to euery purpose vnder heauen It is recorded of Leuie to his eternall praise Deut. 33. 9. that in Gods cause he said of his father and mother I see him not neither knew he his brethren nor his owne children Euen so beloued our eyes and our minds and deuotions should be so fixed and intent vpon God when we are in his seruice that we should not see nor regard any man in that while And againe we reade in the second Chapter of the Gospell after Saint Iohn of our Sauiour himselfe who though he was the most dutifull child that euer was borne of woman yet when he was about his fathers businesse he said vnto his mother Woman what haue I to do with thee Which examples will teach vs that when we are about Gods seruice all other duties must sleepe and be laid apart 3. The third dutie of good manners to be obserued in their gesture is to stand while their betters are sitting in place Example of this we haue in holy Abraham of his entertaining of the three strangers as it is written Geneses 18. 8. And he tooke butter and milke and the calfe which he had prepared and set before them and stood by himselfe vnder the tree and they did eate Well may Abraham be called the father of the faithfull for giuing his children so good example 4. The fourth dutie is to bend the knee in token of humilitie and subiection example of this 1. King 2. 19. 5. The fift thing is that they giue
they command them and to refraine from those things which they forbid them Thankfulnesse besides that there are many other branches is alwayes mindfull of benefits receiued and therefore carryeth continually a vigilant and watchfull eye towards the partie by whom it hath bene pleasured that no discourtesie in any case be offered or any occasion be ministred whereby he may conceiue vnkindnesse And by this familiar description of these three heads wherein standeth chiefely the honour due vnto parents we may clearely see that those children which in wedding tarrie not for the consent of their fathers and mothers do neither stand in awfull feare of them as whom they would be loath to offend or displease nor yet giue ouer themselues in all things to be gouerned and aduised by them nor haue any regard that they be not causers to make their friends and parents conceiue hardly and vnkindly of them when as it is more then manifest that in matters concerning their dutie towards their parents no griefe cutteth nearer vnto the heart then this when their children entangle themselues contrary to their mind and liking And therefore such children as match in this sort as it were in spite of the teeth of their fathers and mothers are neither reuerent obedient nor thankfull vnto them and so consequently they do not honour them whereby they incurre and runne into the curse of God which without true and vnfained repentance must needs pull downe vpon the heads of themselues and their families the fearefull plagues of God his most heauie and hote indignation against them to their vtter subuersion decay and ruine Let all dutifull and good nurtured children therefore in the reuerence and feare of God consider what honour and obedience they owe vnto their parents and what power and authoritie he hath in his word sanctified vnto them ouer their children in the Lord and in regard hereof let them yeeld vnto them in this dutie that their fathers hauing prouided for them such as are not of a wicked life nor deformed nor euill-fauoured nor of a contrary religion they 〈◊〉 submit themselues vnto their choyce which if for the present or vpon the sodaine they cannot yeeld vnto let them by earnest calling vpon the name of God not onely desire him to direct their parents in a godly and fit choyce but also to subdue in them this corrupt affection and to frame their wills to be plyable vnto their fathers in such lawsull cases For the Lord our God in his iustice doth iustly punish disobedient children as may appeare by the example of Ham the younger sonne of Noah who derided his father and was iustly punished for it Likewise Absolon vsing wicked practises to get the kingdome from Dauid his father for rebellion and disobedience came to a most miserable end Yea and he hath in his law set downe a most seuere and sharpe punishment against disobedient children If any man haue a sonne that is stubburne and disobedient which will not hear 〈◊〉 vnto the voyce of his father and the voyce of his mother and they haue chastened him and he would not obey them then shall his father and his mother take him and bring him out vnto the Elders of the Citie and vnto the gates of the place where he dwelleth and shall say vnto the Elders of his Citie This our sonne is stubburne and disobedient and he will not obey our admonition he is a riotour and a drunkard Then all the men of the Citie shall stone him with stones vnto death So thou shalt take away euill from among you that all Israel may heare it and feare For euen as a long and a prosperous life is promised vnto obedient children so on the other side all disobedient vnthankfull and obstinate children are assured of the punishment of infamie ioyned with diuers and great calamities and torments 1. Sam. 2. 22. 1. King 1. 25. c. Deut. 21. 18. c. Prou. 20. 20. 30. 17. And although that the temporall officers be negligent in punishing this disobedience yet shall they not escape vnpunished for the vengeance of God shall accompanie them vntill they be vtterly destroyed For there is nothing more vnnaturall then to see children dishonour and disobey their parents and inferiours their superiours Such may aptly be compared to the Viper that gnaweth out the bellie of her dam and seeketh her owne life with her dams death So contrariwise the word of God doth highly commend Ioseph for his great loue beneficence and obedience extended towards 〈◊〉 father Iacob and his brethren in that he both helped and liberally nourished them and prayed for them Our Sauiour Christ was also obedient to his parents euen vntill death So that the Lord no doubt will blesse obedient children with many happy dayes and yeares to his glory and their soules comfort And to the end to inuite and stirre vp children to honour their parents as before is shewed the Lord addeth this promise That thy dayes may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giueth thee And S. Paul doth note that it is the first Commandement with promise For albeit there be a promise added to the second and others of the first Table yet this fift Commandemēnt is the first of righteousnesse and none in the second Table besides it hath any promise annexed thereunto For herein hath God declared how highly he commendeth the obedience and honour that children yeeld to their parents But the Lord spake to the Israelites properly of the land that he had promised them for an inheritance which should be vnto them as a testimonie and seale of his goodnesse and loue towards them It is therefore as if he should haue said To the end that liuing vpon the earth thou mayest long enioy the earnest pennie of my goodnesse and grace towards thee But now seeing the whole earth is blessed to the faithfull the promise of long life vpon the earth is vnto vs a blessing of God First because we cannot liue long without participating of many great benefits of God euen in respect of the preseruation of this present life Secondly because the faithfull may the longer employ themselues to serue glorifie God In confideration whereof we see what the Church in old time said The dead praise not the Lord neither any that go downe into the place of silence but we will praise the Lord from henceforth and for euer The same doth Hezekiah King of Iudah also note in his Canticle The liuing the liuing he shall confesse thee as I do this day the fathers to the children shall declare thy truth In as much therefore as long life is promised as a blessing God doth continue it to obedient children so long as it is a blessing vnto them And hereupon doth S. Paul ioyne together these two sentences That it may go well with thee and that thou mayest liue long vpon the earth As also when
the dutifull seruant to obey his louing and kind maister For as the hand is said to be the instrument of instruments being it indeed that serues to feed apparell and keepe cleane the rest of the limmes and parts of the bodie which are also called instruments so is the seruant said to be an instrument of instruments because he keepeth all the instruments of houshold occupied not onely to liue but to liue well wherein he differeth from all other instruments For where they are things without soule he is diuinely enriched with a soule and herein he differeth from the hand for that the hand is fastened and vnited to the bodie but he is separate and disioyned from his maister and he is also different from Artificers for Artificers are instruments of those things which properly they call workmanship but the seruant is an instrument of the action which also is distinguished from workmanship So that the seruant if you will rightly vnderstand him is aliuely and seuerall instrument of action It is very meete and conuenient that the mistrisse or dame do not make her selfe too familiar with her seruants or houshold-folkes lest they should be too bold to talke to ieast or vnreuerently and vnmannerlie to behaue themselues towards her and so modestly and wisely to beare her self among her seruants that they may feare reuerence and so stand in awe of her as the mistresse and mother of the house And as it is not comely or beseeming that the wife should take vpon her to rule and correct the men-seruants so likewise it is not comely or meete that the husband should meddle with the punishing or chastising of the maide-seruants so that it is most meete and acceptable to the offender that the maister should correct the men and the mistris her maides for a mans nature scorneth and disdaineth to be beaten of a woman and a maids nature is corrupted with the stripes of a man Therefore we reade that Abraham would not meddle with his maid but committed her to his wife and said Do with her as it pleaseth thee As if he should say It belongeth not to me but to thee Andthese are the duties which maisters must performe in their life time All which must be shut vp with setting order for all things at their death with especiall exhortations and prayers for religion for vprightnesse in their callings for peace and order after them according to the example of Hezekiah Dauid of Iacob and of Ioseph Esay 38. 1. and Gen. 47. 29. 30. and 40. 29. So that it is the dutie of Christian maisters to haue a care not onely that their families be well and Christianly gouerned while they liue but also that after their death loue peace quietnesse and good order may be continued in their posteritie The Seruants dutie towards their Maisters THis dutie confisteth in three points 1. First that seruants and apprentises do frō their hearts cheerefully and willingly performe the labours and workes that their maisters mistresses or dames shall command them 2. Secondly that they be faithfull in things committed to them by their maisters mistresses or dames that so they may keepe their goods 3. Thirdly that they be carefull to obserue vprightnesse of manners that the wife sonnes and daughters or other fellow seruants be not corrupted by their bad counsels or lewd behauiour These points are plainely proued by these places of Scripture quoted in the margine whereby seruants are straightly charged reuerently and faithfully to obey their bodily maisters mistresses and dames in all things which may be done without offence to God And this obedience and seruice must be done with feare and trembling in singlenesse of heart as vnto Christ they being 〈◊〉 with a reuerence to Godward as though they serued God himselfe and that as well in the absence of their maisters mistresses or dames as in their presence not constrainedly as it were forced or compelled thereto but heartily and with good will as they that serue the Lord and not men not onely in respect of the earthly reward but because they know and are assured that of the Lord they shall receiue the reward of inheritance in as much as they serue the Lord Christ. So that hereby all godly seruants may in few words learne what dutie they owe to their maisters mistresses and dames namely to loue them and to be affectioned towards them as a dutifull child is to his 〈◊〉 to be reuerent and lowly to them in their words and gestures to suffer and forbeare them to obey with readie and willing mindes all their lawfull and reasonable commandements to feare them and to be loth to displease them to be faithfull and trustie to them and theirs in deedes and promises to be diligent and seruiceable to speake cheerefully to answer discreetly not ouer boldly to dallie with their maisters wife daughters or maidens to be loyall and dutifull to their maisters mistresses and dames as Iacob was towards Laban and Ioseph towards Potiphar And they must carefully endeuour to do and procure to the vttermost of their abilitie that which may be to their maisters mistresses and dames honestie credit and profit and that as well when they are absent and out of sight as when they be present and looke on This is a qualitie and propertie belonging to euery good seruant both men and maides to wit that whatsoeuer goods or necessaries of their maisters mistresses or dames they shall haue charge of as committed to their trust and keeping they carefully see such things so well and orderly placed and laid vp that if there shall be at any time any iust occasion to vse any necessary in their custodie yea if it be in the night season and that without a light they then not onely can say in such a place it lyeth but also if they be required they can presently fetch the same Seruants must take heede that they do not 〈◊〉 and willingly anger or displease their maisters mistresses or dames which if they do then they ought incontinent and forthwith to reconcile themselues vnto them and to aske them forgiuenesse They must also forbeare them and suffer their angrie and hastie words and in no wise answer againe spitefully or scornefully neither yet vpon any such occasion run away For the Angell taught and willed Hagar the seruant of Sarah when she fled from her mistresse that she should returne and humble her selfe vnder the hands of her mistresse So did Saint Paul make agreement betwixt Onesimus a vagabond and theeuish seruant and sent him againe to his maister Philemon from whom he was fled away and it is probable that he admonished Onesimus to submit himselfe to his maister Seruants apprentices therfore according to the rule of Gods word must patiently beare and forbeare their maisters mistresses and dames do whatsoeuer lawfull thing they shall command them not being against a good conscience And therefore they must remember how
might come to the Church together Psal. 24. 4. 1. Cor 6. 4. Psal. 1221. Esay 2. 2. 3. 1. Cor. 11. 10. The want of this care in houshold is the cause of much wickednesse rebellion and disorder in their families Obiection Answer 1. Tim. 4. 8. Mat. 6. 23. Gen. 18. 19. To haue such good orders in our houses is not the next way to driue away our seruants from vs. Psal 101. 6. 7 Gen. 14 24. Chap. 17. 12. Act. 10. 2. Obiection Answer 1. Tim. 4. 5. Dan. 6. 26. Iob. 1. 5 6. Gen. 12 7. 8. 13. 8. 21. 33. 22. 9. Priuate instruction Deut. 6. 6. 7. 8. 9. Reading the Scripture 2. Tim. 3. 15. Mat. 16. 15. 16. 17. Leuit. 19. 17. 2. Tim. 4. 2. Prou. 27. 5. 29. 19. Ephes. 5. 14. 10. 17. Patience and stedfastnesse in suffering the offence that comes to vs by any worke so that they cannot discourage vs. Phil. 4. 5. Col. 3. 21. Ephes. 6. 4. 9. The wiues dutie touching Christian holinesse To be a fellow helper is to yeeld helpe to her husband especially at home in all the matters of the family 1. Tim. 5. 14. Tit. 2. 3. Prou. 31. 27. Verse 26. The 2 thing whereat houshold gouernment aymeth Many are carefull to 〈◊〉 but very carelesse to 〈◊〉 well 〈◊〉 1. Tim. 5. 8. Prou. 12. 10. What things be needfull for the making of prouision A calling Gen. 3. 10. Calling is our appointed charge and manner of life in some honest worke wherin we are daily to labour as we may best profit therein Ephes. 4. 1. 〈◊〉 Thess. 2. 12. 2. The manner of following a calling Prou. 13. 4. Diligence is that by which we execitte 〈◊〉 well as we can the labour of our calling 2. Thess. 3. 10. Rom. 12. 11. Of the enemies to diligence Sloth Slothfulnesse is a wearinesse or tediousnesse in any godly spirituall or eiuill exercises which one ought for Gods sake to do for the benefit of the Common-wealth or for the sustentation of himselfe and his familie Sloth gluttonie and prodigality are the true paths that conduct and leade men to pouertie Prou. 26 13. 14. 15. 16. Prou. 26. 14. Prou. 26. 16. 2. Idle cōpany keeping None can walke in simplicity besore God that delighteth in the company of the vngodly 3. Pastime Lewd pastime causeth naked purses Thrift consisteth not in gold but grace 4. Great reckoning Iustice is a vertue that yeeldeth to euery man his owne Mercifulnes a compassion and 〈◊〉 of an other mans 〈◊〉 with best 〈◊〉 so farre as may be to comfort 〈◊〉 and succour them Psal. 16 3. Gal. 6. 10. Heb. 6 10 13. 16. 〈◊〉 3. 16. Prou. 22. 9. Contentation is a vertue wherby a man is well pleased with that estate wherein he is placed 1. Tim. 6. 6. Phil. 4. 11. 12. Mat. 6. 31. Heb. 13. 5. Esa. 33. 1. Pro. 22. 12. 13 Eccles. 5. 7. 4. 1. To spare that thou mayest haue to spend in honestie necessitie for Gods sake is well done A thing is sooner spared thē gotten a Ambition is an vnlawfull or wicked desire of glory namely when a man seeketh to be aboue al other in honor and seeketh to effect the same by vnnecessary and vniust actions besides his vocation trusting to his owne wisdome and strength b Vain-glory is a certaine disordinate desire to be wel thought of wel spoken of praised and glorified of men Sparing is good getting the greatest rent that one can haue Gluttony is a vice when any doth 〈◊〉 fill his body Drunkennesse is a vice when any dot gull in ouermuch drinke Prou. 13. 20. Prou. 29. 22. Prou. 29. 11. Prou. 26. 17. Prou. 20. 22. Prou. 25. 17. Pro. 10 9. Prou. 22. 7. Psal. 109. 1. The wiues duty touching the things of this life Prou. 14. 1. Dutifulnesse or dutifull wil is that which doth shine in the declaratiō and performance of duties 2. Faithfull 3. Louing Loue is a naturall affection of the mind inflaming all the powers of the louer with willing dutie towards the beloued A good huswife is a great patrimonte she is most honourable that is most honest and godly A good sauer is as good as a good getter As a word spoken in his place is like apples of gold with pictures of siluer Prou. 25. 11. Euen so is a businesse or worke done in a fit and due time Painfulnesse is a labour or indeauour vnto wearinesse to bring any thing to passe Answer 1. Tim. 2. 10. Act. 9. 36. Silence is a grauitie when she abstaineth and holds her peace from speaking when it doth not become her to speake What wedlock is a Mat. 19. 5. 6 b 〈◊〉 1. 27. 1. Cor. 16. Ephes. 5. 31. Prou. 5. 18. 19. 20. Yoking and dweiling together what it is Gen. 2. 24. * Marriage honorable 1. For the author which is God 2. For the time which was during the state of Adams innocency 3. For the place which was Paradice e Gen. 24. Mat. 15. 5. Mark 10. 7. 1. Cor. 6. 16. Ephes. 5. 31. Gen. 1. 18. Such as are of kind red in the flesh may not contract matrimonie f Leuit. 18. 6 c. g Deut. 7. 3. 2. Cor. 6. 14. 15. c. h 1. King 11. 4. i Iudg. 16. 17. 18. 1. Cor. 7. 12. 13 1. Pet. 3. 11. Three manner of riches in man Riches of the mind Sixe rules to be obserued in the choise of a good wife or a good husband 1 Report Pro. 10. 7. 22. 1. Preach 7. 3. Psal. 112. 6. 2 The looks Prou. 17. 4. Esay Psal. Ieb 13. 7. Act. 3. 2. Vnder faire faces are sometimes hidden filthy minds Gen. 24. 65. 3 The talke To Adam first and to 〈◊〉 after Maides must speake like an Eccho Mat. 12. 34. Mat. 12. 37. Prou. 18. 7. Prou. 16. 23. Prou. 31. 26. 4 Apparell Luk. 16. 19. Mark 1. 6. 2. King 18. 1. Thess. 5. 22. 〈◊〉 12. 2. 5 Company Men are commonly conditioned euen like vnto them that they keepe cōpany withall Prou. 1. 11. 13. 20. Psal 〈◊〉 Ios. 23. 12. Num 16. 20. 1. Cor. 6. 14. Ephes. 5. 7. 6 The bringing vp It skilleth more by whō and by what wayes men be brought vp then of whom they be begotten To be good it doth much profit to be well brought vp What betrothing 〈◊〉 Iudg. 14. 1. c 1. Sam. 18. 25. 26 27. 2 Sam. 3. 24. 25. 1 Cor. 7. 36. 37 38. 1. Cor. 7. 4. 1. Pet. 3. 7. 1. Cor. 7. 4. 5. Gen. 24. 57. Mat. 19. 5. Mar. 10. 8. Eph 5. 31. 1. Cor. 6. 16. 1. Cor. 7. 2. Math. 19. 8. Deut. 24. 14. Hebr. 13. 4. Mal. 2. 14. 15. 16. Gen. 1. 28. 1. Cor. 7. 8. 9. 1. Cor. 7. 27. Cor. 7. 36. Exod. 22. 16. 7. Cor. 6. 16. Exod. 34. 16. 〈◊〉 7. 3. Iudg. 15. 2. Sam. 3. 14. Gen. 24. Froward wicked qualities of the mind 1. Cor. 5. 10. 11 6. 9. Gal. 5. 19. 20.
16. 20. 21. Psal. 127. 3. See more of this point in the vse and necessity of catechizing The second point Deut. 6. 10. Exed 12. 26. 13. 14. The proper dutie of good parents to their children is to 〈◊〉 them soberly to keepe them vender obedience and to teach them good manners Prou. 23. 13. 19. 18. 19. 15. 17. 22. 15. 13. 24. 1. Sam. 2. 12. 3. 12. 13. 14. 1. Kin. 1. 5. 6. 2. Kin. 2. 23. 24 How children should be brought vp Hold thy children in awe and they shall haue thee in reuerence Prou. 30. 25. and 6. 0 7. Mat. 6. 19. sal 127. 3. lat 12. 33. Reasons Gen. 5. 3. Prou. 18. 21. 1. Sam. 9. 2. c. and. 16. 11. Psal. 78. 70. 71. 1. Kin. 19. 19. Amos 1. 2. Good manners in speech Good manners in gesture 〈◊〉 3. 1. Ioh. 2. 4. Mat. 18. 10. Esay 5. 8. Psal. 37. 35. 30. Psal. 111. 10. Prou. 9. 10. Psal. 19. 7. 8. 119. 105. Prou. 22. 6. Mat. 21. 15. 16. Psal. 82. 2 King 2. 13. 2. Sam. 16. 15. c. 1. King 1. 5. Mat. 5. 8. 1. Thes. 4. 7. Luk. 1.74.75 1. Pet. 5. 8. I am 4. 7. Pro. 18. 10. Psal. 50. 15. Prou. 1. 10. 11 Rom. 12. 2. 1. Ioh 215. Psal. 51. 5. Ephes. 2. 3. Col. 1. 12. 13. 2. Cor. 6. 1. Rom. 13. 12. Esay 14. 12. Zoph 1. 8. Gen. 6. 5. 8. 21. Mat. 15. 19. 2. Sam. 15. all 18. 35. Ill bringing vp is a cause of marring many which are of a good towardnesse and wit Two things which much hinder good education The fewer the children the more diligently to be cared for that they be well brought vp The second cause which 〈◊〉 good education 2. Sam. 18. 33. Gen. 4. 2. 25. Gen. 21. 2. Gen. 30. 24. 1. Sam. 2. 9. 2. Sam. 22. 24. Luke 1. 13. Children profit more by good example in one month then by instruction in a whole yeare Obiection Answer Zuke 3. 29. Youth must thinke on death betimes to the end to liue to well die well Marriage with Papists c. Gen. 23. 24. Gen. 2. 24. How should it marriage 〈◊〉 well whē 〈◊〉 bridegroome 〈◊〉 such a one 〈◊〉 whom he cannot say God speed because she is one of Gods friends 2. Ioh. 10. 1. Cor. 7. 39. But how do they marry in the Lord who marry the Lords enemies Gen. 6. 2. As the Iewes might not marry with the Cananites so Christians may not marry with them which are like Cananites Gen. 24. 3. 28. 1. Mal. 2. 11. Ezr 9. 14. If adulterie may separate marriage shall not idolatr y hinder marriage which is worse then it Parents may not giue their daughters to a man 〈◊〉 Gen. 34. 14. Miserable is that mā which is fettered with a woman that liketh not his religion He feareth not sinne which doth not shun occasions and he is worthy to be snared which leadeth himselfe into temptation so maketh a trap for himselfe Luk. 11. 4. The wife must be meete as God said Gen. 2. 14. But how is she meete if the husband be a Christian and sh e a Papist 1. Cor. 7. 1. Gen. 18. 1. 2. Iud. 14. 1. 2. 3. * It is the parents duty to giue their children that which may helpe them in this life to counsell or to prouide them fit and religious marriages 2. Cor. 12. 14. Gen. 4. 2. 3. 4. Ruth 3. 1. When parents do abuse their authority Parents must not match their children onely for carnall respects When parents do marry their daughters to men of vnderstanding they shall performe a weightie worke Colos. 3. 21. Parents ought to deale sincerely in the choise for their children In prouision of matches for their children parents ought to begin with prayer The third point Examples do much more perswade then words 〈◊〉 must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the father beginneth so it is like the son will proceed Gal. 6. 7. Mat. 18. 7. 1. Cor. 15. 33. The last point Gen. 3. 19. Ezech. 16. 49. Prou. 12. 11. 18. 9. 1. Tim. 5. 10. 11. 2. Thes. 3. 10. 11. Idlenesse bringeth much euill Mat. 12. 36. To learne that Science which they be most apt for Obiection Answer Pro. 3. 13. 14. 15. Why some men bring not vp their children to any good perfection in learning Luke 16. 27. Prou. 22. 6. 〈◊〉 of the eldest 〈◊〉 is athing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chron. 21. 3. Exod. 13. 1. 2. 34. 19. 20. Num. 3. 13. 18. 16. Deut. 21. 18. c. Gen. 35. 22. 1. Chron. 5. 1. a Eph 6. 1. 2. 3. Colos. 3. 20. b Leuit. 19. 3. Num. 12. 14. c Pro. 15. 5. 1. Tim. 5. 4. Mat. 15. 4. 5. 6 Gen. 47. 12. Fathers and mothers are to their children in Gods stead Exod. 20. 12. Deut. 5. 15. By honour is meant all kind of duty which children owe to their parents 〈◊〉 23. 39. Mat. 23. 9. 1. King 2. 19. 1. King 2. 20. Ioh. 849. 〈◊〉 9. 22. The honor due to parents Childrens dutie is from their beginning to their ending to be subiect obedient and helpfull to their parents Mat. 15. 4. 5. 6 Exod. 21. 15. 17. Leuit. 20. 9. Pro. 20. 20. 30. 17. Deut. 〈◊〉 16. What children do to their parents they do to God so that they may not purloine or diminish any of their substāce Pro. 28. 24. Mat. 7. 12. Mat. 7. 2. 1. Sam. 20. 28. c 22. 17. Dan. 3. 18. Act. 4. 19. Mat. 23. 9. When a woman loseth her honestie then hath she lost her chiese treasure Gen. 34. 12. Children may not marry without the cōsent agreement of their 〈◊〉 so that an vnlawfull promise made by the child may lawfully be broken It is a sweete wedding whē the father and the mother bring ablessing to the feast and a heauie vnion which is cursed the firs̄t day that it is knit 1. Sam. 18. 1. Contracts void without the consent of parents Children 〈◊〉 are to pray vnto God to direct their parents in a godly choyce and to 〈◊〉 their minds to accept of the same 〈◊〉 9. 22. 2. Sam. 15. 1. c. 18. 14. Deut 21. 18. 19. 20. 21. Exod. 20. 12. Ephes 6. 2. Deut. 28. 15. c. Leuit. 26. 14. c. Gen. 46 29. c. and 48. 〈◊〉 12. Luke 2. 51. Deut. 5. 16. Exed 20. 12. Ephes. 6. 2. Psal. 115. 17. 18. Esay 38. 19. Ephes. 6. 3. The housholder is called Pater Familias that is a father of a familie because he should haue a fatherly care ouer his seruants as if they were his children Maisters and Dames ought moderatly to vse their authoritie ouer theirseruants Iames 5. 4. Coloss 4. 1. Ioh 13 13. 14. 15. Deut. 24 14. 15 Mat. 8 5. 6. 〈◊〉 7. 2. God made eu ry weeke one day of rest wherein seruants should be as free as their maisters Gen. 2. 2. As the laborer which worketh but one day is worthy his hire euen so much more the 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eueryday Luke 10. 7. As Dauid did limit Ioab that he should not kill Absolon so God hath bound masters that they should not oppresse their seruants 2. Sam. 18. 5. Iob 31. 13. 14. 15. For a good man sauh Salemon Pro. 12. 10. will be mercifull to his beast therefore he ought to be m re mercifull to his seruants being his brethren Reuiling words and vnreasonable 〈◊〉 doth much more hurt to seruants then good 〈◊〉 16. 17. Exod. 20. 10. 〈◊〉 5. 14. 1. Tim. 5. 8. Seruants do rather imitate the works they see their maisters do then the words which they heare them speake Luke 7. 8. Ephes. 6. 9. The couetous wan in gaining riches loseth himselfe Psal. 39. 6. That which thou canst do conueniently thy selfe commit it not to another Masters ought to make good choyce of their seruants Gen. 30 26. 27. c. and 29. 2. 3. 4. 5 6. 23. 23. Esay 6. 6. It is a rare thing for a maister to bring his seruant to be godly who is not godly him selfe Reuel 5. 10. Act. 16. 31. 32 18. 8. 1. Cor. 1. 16. Ge 18. 17. 18. Phil. 11. 16. Gen. 29. Iosua 24. 15. Psal. 101. 7. Act. 10. 2. They must keepe no idle prophane superstitious nor disordered 〈◊〉 in their house Ephcs. 6. 4. Masters ought to haue a tender care of their seruants in their sicknesse Mat. 8. 5. 6. Luk. 7. 1. The wiues behauiour with seruants The maister must correct his seruants and the mistris her maids Eph 6.5.6.7.8 Col. 3.22.23.24 Tit. 2.9.10 1 Pet. 2.18.19.20.21 1. Tim. 6. 1. 2. Luk. 17. 7. 8. 9 1. King 5. 13. The property of a good seruant Gen. 29. 18. 19. 20. 39. 5. c. Gen. 16. 7. 8. 〈◊〉 Phil. 10. c. How far forth seruants ought to obey their maisters Mat. 8 9. And among seruants to helpe and ease of one another necessarie Seruants must to the vttermost of their power seek the commodity benefit of their maisters Mat. 7. 2.