Cyprian inferreth b Cyprian lib. 2. epist 3. If Christ onely be to be heard or harkened vnto we are not to regard what any man before vs hath thought fit to be done but what Christ hath done who is before all for we are not to follow the custome of men but the truth of God And if by this rule we esteeme of the way wee shall soone perceiue that Popery is out of the way because in that path which the Apostles and Prophets haue chalked out vnto vs we neither find the Pope nor his pardons nor his masse nor his images nor his reliques yea all these and the rest of his trinkets are easily perceiued to be but false and base and broken wares 3 If wee desire somwhat more briefly to heare the way our Sauiour Christ telleth vs c Ioh. 14 6. I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the father but by me S. Austin amplifieth the words d August in Ioan. tract 22. Ambulare vis c. Art thou desirous to walke I am the way Woldest thou not be deceiued I am the truth Woldest thou not die I am the life There is no whither for thee to go but to me there is no way for thee to go by but by me Christ only himselfe is our way to come to Christ e Heb. 10. 20. Through the vaile that is his flesh he hath prepared the new and liuing way whereby we are to enter into the holy place His pasâ—â—on is our redemptioÌ„ his obedieÌ„ce our righteousnes his resurrection our iustification he is for vs whatsoeuer wee neede to bring vs vnto God f Act. 4 12. There is not saluation in any other nor any other name giuen vnder heauen by which we must be saued This way must we go if we will go the right way but if wee seeke for a way in our selues or in any other creature if we g Ro. 3. 10. set vp our owne righteousnes against the righteousnes of God another altar and sacrifice against the crosse and sacrifice of Christ if we trust to other mediations merits and satisfactions wee are out of the way wee wander in strange and crooked paths which will neuer bring vs to our desired end In a word the Apostle willing to instruct vs of the rightway and to that purpose setting downe a briefe summe of the doctrine of the gospell saith thus h Gal. 6. 14. God forbid that I should reioice but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ wherby the world is crucified vnto me and I vnto the world for in Christ Iesus neither circumcision auaileth any thing nor vncircumcision but a new creature Now hereto he addeth And they that walk according to this rule peace and mercie shall be vpon them Here is then the rule and way of our walke to reioice that is to put trust and confidence of remission of sinnes saluation only in the crosse of Iesus Christ not in the crosse of Peter or in the crosse of Paul or of the Virgin Mary but only in the crosse of Iesus Christ so to be possessed with this reioycing as for the enioying of the ioy hereof to bee mortified to all worldly conuersation and to be content to beare the malice and persecution of the world They that walke in this way and according to this rule they shall finde mercie with GOD to attaine to peace but with the rest it shall come to passe which Ionas saith i Ionas 2. 8 They that wait vpon lying vanities forsake their owne mercie 4 Now that peace is the end of our walke euen the ending of all our labours and sorrowes and the fruition enioying of God who is k Rom. 15. 33. the GOD of peace and of Iesus Christ our Sauiour who is l Esai 9. 6. the Prince of peace in whom is full perfect blisse and happines for euer This is the thing wherto all our walking ought to tend which as the marke before the archer so ought to be before our eies to aime at in al the course of our life and the regard thereof so to ouerpasse all other regards as that nothing be further or otherwise regarded then as may stand with the attaining of this end hauing alwaies in remembraÌ„ce that which our Sauiour Christ saith m Mat. 16. 26. what profiteth it a man to winne the whole world and to lose his owne soule This mind the Apostle Saint Paul expresseth when he saith n Phil. 3. 8. I haue counted all things losse for the excellent knowledge sake of Christ Iesus my Lord for whom I haue counted all things losse and doe iudge them to be dung that I might winne Christ c. that I may know him the vertue of his resurrection and the fellowship of his afflictions and be made coÌ„formable to his death if by any means I may attaine to the resurrection of the dead Giue me hunger thirst cold and nakednes sicknesse and sores torment and death this end to attaine to the blessed resurrection of the dead maketh amends for all Giue me the kingdomes of the earth and all the pleasures and glory thereof yet if my end be not to attaine this end I am a most wretched man and better had it beene for me that I had neuer bin borne The more may we wonder at the strange retchlesnesse of the greatest nuÌ„ber of men with whom this is least of all thought of and least of all respected o Bâ—rnard so vainley vsing their soules saith Saint Bernard as if they did not reckon that they haue any soules at all so wholly dreaming and doating vpon the things of the world as if they were borne to no other end but to liue for euer in the world A wandring fancy men commonly haue of a desire to come to heauen but how few set their hearts thereupon to make it the drift of their life the main end of all their purposes and counsels and doe not rather drowne the regard thereof in the purposes and desires of other things That we runne not with others into this common errour let vs duely remeÌ„ber that our life is but a walke and a walke must haue an end therfore that it concerneth vs so to frame our courses and doings as that we may make a good end that our death to this world may be to vs the beginning of euerlasting life in the world to come 5 To this end we are to call to minde that walking importeth mouing and stirring and therfore aduertiseth vs that seeing our life is a walke we are still to be mouing and stirring and doing in the way and worke of God that being by the mercy of God broght into the right way we are not there to sit downe at rest idle and vnfruitfull but as the life of Christ is described p Act. 10 38. He vvent about doing good so ought our walking and life bee to doe good
or commander but of the side and though as a companion yet an inferior to her husband and therefore that she ought a Eph. 5. 22 to submit her selfe to her husband that b Gen. 3. 16. her desire is to be subiect vnto him and he is to rule ouer her that c 1. Tim. 2. 12. she is not to vsurpe authoritie ouer her husband but d 1. Cor. 14 34. to be in subiection as the lawe teacheth It teacheth husbands e 1. Pet. 3. 7 to dwell discreetly with their wiues giuing honour to the wife as vnto the weaker vessell euen as they who are heires together with them of the grace of life Againe it teacheth the wife to be f Gen. 2. 18. a helper to her husband as was said before and not a hinderer g Eccles 36. 24. a pillar for him to rest vpon not a stumbling block to make him fall h Pro. 12. 4 the glory of her husband not an infamy and reproch to him a meanes i 1. Pet. 3. 1 to winne him by her good conuersation if he do not yet obey the word not an occasion to offend him and driue him further off from the liking of the word It teacheth k 1. Cor. 7. 33. 44. the husband in the things of the world to care how hee may please his wife and the wife likewise in the same to care how she may please her husband In a word it teacheth both husband wife to set God before their eies and to consider mariage as his ordinance and institution and that to him they shall giue account how they haue vsed it with that honour and regard which he hath required as due vnto it 18 Which that it may be the more duely performed necessary it is that with religion there be ioyned affection and without affection religion sufficeth not Affection I say whereby each is entertained and lodged in the heart of other and do yeeld each to other that contentment and delight as that it may bee betwixt them which Solomon saith l Pro. 5. 18 Reioyce with the wife of thy youth let her bee vnto thee as the louing Hinde and as the pleasant Roe let her breastes alwayes satisfie thee and delight thou in her loue continually It is very worthy to be noted how the holy Ghost in the Canticles to describe the amitie betwixt Christ and his Church demeaneth himselfe to the phrases of amitie betwixt the husband the wife m Cant. 2. â—0 4 10. 5. 2. my faire one my sister my spouse my loue my doue my vndefiled and such like as to consecrate and sanctifie the same to the vse of chaste and faithful loue so to import what the affection ought to bee which is to vtter it selfe by the issues and streames of such gratious and louely wordes It was truly said by him that said it that n Bodin de repub lib 1. cap. 3. ex Artemidore marriage loue ought to exceede and ouerpasse all other kindes of amitie and loue and therefore the foundations of mariage are to be laid accordingly that affection truly and faithfully obteined on both parts may be thenceforth as an impregnable fortresse castle neuer to bee conquered or ouercome Therefore rash and hasty and casuall marriages are to bee condemned wherin their wanteth time and occasion and meanes to linck together the hearts and affections of them that are to liue together and that barbarous and wicked couÌ„sell is followed which sometimes is giuen to marrie first and to loue after Whereby it commeth to passe that marriages many times are but discontentments and draw after them a long cord of miserie and sorrowe and grieuance of the one party against the other and both aduisedly repent of that which they vnaduisedly begun Of the same kind are those marriages which Hierome speaketh of wheÌ„ men make choice of wiues o Hieron idu Iouini au lib. 1. non oculis sed digitis not by their eies but by their fingers not by their eies by which the person and behauiour is discerned approued but by the fingers by which the money is told that only being respected how rich she is in the purse not how well to bee liked in her selfe the man many times by this occasion thinking that he hath a good marriage if the woman were away and the woman by like occasion thinking her selfe well married if the husband were away and the one hoping and wishing soone the sooner the better to bee rid of the other Lasciuious and wanton eies are indeed greatly to be condemned but yet in honest and lawfull loue the eie is the window by which affection and loue entreth into the heart and if the eie beare not some stroke in choice of a companion to liue so neerely with so as that the husband be to the wife p Gen. 20. 16. the vaile of her eies to stay her from looking to any other and the wife to the husband q Ezech. 24. 16. the pleasure of his eies that hee may ioy to behold her ill is that mariage sorted and whatsoeuer other contentments there may bee in it there wanteth that which should be the seasoning sweetnes of all the rest 19 From religion and affection must grow patience both in husband and wife whereby vpon occasions of heare and anger without which hardly caÌ„ our life passe each can kindly beare with other and each is carefull to take that notice and knowledge of the nature and disposition of the other as may serue to preuent and exclude those vncomely extremities to which intemperate and vnbrideled fury carieth headlong both one and other Wee are all flesh and bloud we all haue our imperfections and ouersights but patience and loue digesteth all and still healeth that which offence woundeth But if there be no patience if by impatiencie the one be fire and the other flax and gunpowder what must needs followe but the blowing vp and burning of the whole house To be short r Eccl. 25. 1. three things are there saith the son of Syrach which reioice mee and whereby I am beautified both before God and men the vnitie of brethren the loue of neighbours and a man and wife that agree together The more gratious gladsome these things are and namely the amitie betwixt the husband and the wife so much the more it concerneth all partes to vse all care for the preseruing of amitie and vnitie as a iewell most pretious in the estimation and acceptation both of God and men 20 Now here I might further speake of the other two the vnity of brethren the loue of neighbors and generally of peace and concord as the garland crown of heauen the glory of the earth the strength of kingdoms the preseruation of families the ioy and happines of all societies the light of all mens eies and the marrow of all mens bones as on the other side discord and variance to be vncapable of heauen the confusion of the earth the destruction of kingdomes the ouerthrow of families the bane of all societies as thornes in all mens sides and as fire in the bones of all men But I haue already stood long and therefore will here end leauing the rest to be vnderstood by that that I haue sayde c. To God the Father God the Sonne God the holy ghost bee all honour and Glory for euer and euer Amen FINIS
to glorifie God to further the Church of God and common wealth to further righteousnes and truth to helpe the oppressed and afflicted to comfort the comfortles to releeue the widow and fatherles and to these ends to doe all other good workes which either the common duety of Christianity or our own priuate calling requireth of vs. Titus the Emperour of Rome when he had ouerpassed a day wherein he had done no speciall good deede no good turne to any man was wont to say Diemperdidi I haue lost a day Alas what a thing is it when a Christian man shall so spend a whole life as that in the end thereof hee may say Vitam perdidi I haue lost a life I haue liued so as that I haue neither done any faithfull seruice to God nor left any memoriall or example of any good that I haue done amongst men Seneca saith well that q Seneca de tranquil animi there is nothing more shamefull then an old man who hath no other argument to proue that he hath liued long but onely that he is old no good fruits no good effects by which it may be remembred that his life from time to time hath bene beneficiall to other men Euen so it is a long life is but a great reproch when by weldoing it hath left no testimonie of it selfe To which purpose it is worth the noting which Gregory obserueth that of good men it is sayd in Scripture that such a one or such a one died old and r Greg. Moral l. 35. cap. 15. full of dayes but neuer of an euill man as whereby wee should vnderstand that he is full of dayes who hath made good vse of his dayes and bestowed them in good deeds but otherwise we do but lose our dayes and by losing our dayes loose our selues also He that hath warned vs that we shall ſ Mat. 12. 36. giue account of our idle words doth thereby aduertise vs that we shall giue account of our idle houres and much more of our dayes and moneths and yeares which so many of vs bestow wholly in a manner in pleasure and vanity in riotousnesse and vnthriftinesse in sinne and wickednesse and therefore when they come to their end lye tumbling in their sicknesse t Esay 51. 20. like a wild bull in a net as the Prophet speaketh full of the wrath of the Lord without any hope without any comfort because their life hath bene such as hath yeelded them no hope or comfort towards God Blessed is he who when the summons of death commeth set thy house in order for thou shalt die can say to God as Ezechias did u Esay 38. 3. O Lord I haue walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart 6 But this walking importeth not only mouing and stirring but mouing and going forward wherby we gain the way more more and come neerer and neerer to the end Euen so are we still to be gaining and growing and going forward in the wayes of God in all vertue and goodnes not to stand still at one stay and as it were to runne in one ring but as wee labour to thriue in the goods of this world so much more to encrease in those things whereby we may be x Luk. 12. rich in God y Psal 84. 7. To goe from strength to strength z Ro. 1. 17. from faith to faith a 2. Cor. 3. 18. from glory to glory b 2. Pet. 3. 18. to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Sauior Iesus Christ Thus doth Solomon instruct vs that c Pro. 4. 18. the way of the righteous shineth as the light which shineth more and more vnto the perfect day Which he that careth not to doe is as the man that spendeth of the stocke and groweth thereby to decay for d Gregor in Pastoral par 3. admonit 35. the soule of man in this world is like vnto a ship or boate as Gregory saith going against the stream which cānot rest in one place but by the sway of the water is caried downeward vnlesse it be still labouring to go vpward Therfore Bernard saith e Bernard in purific ser 3 Not to go forward in the way of life is to go backward f Idem epist 2 53. not to care to increase is to decrease g Idem epist 91. look where thou beginnest not to regard to grow better there thou quite giuest ouer to be good at all h August de verb. Apost ser 15. If thou say I haue enough saith Austin thou art gone thou art vtterly vndone 7 Lastly this growth requireth perseuerance continuance till we come to the end whereto our walking is directed The end is all in all to giue ouer before we come to the end though it be but in the last attempt is the losse of all our labour and reward Therefore i 1. Cor. 9. 24. so run saith Saint Paul that ye may obtaine which is k Heb. 3. 14 when we keepe sure vnto the end that beginning wherwith we are vpholdē that is hold fast to the end the true doctrine and faith of Christ wherewith we first began and is a sure foundation for vs to build vpon for l Mat. 24. 13. hee that continueth to the end saith our Sauiour Christ he shall be saued Many begin in the spirit and seeme for the time to be nothing but spirit and yet afterward end in the flesh and m Gal. 6. 8. of the flesh reape corruption Many n Luk. 9. 2. lay their hand to the plough and afterwards looke back and thereby are vnfit for the kingdome of God Therefore let vs hearken to Saint Iohn o 2. Iohn vers 8. Take heed to your selues that wee lose not the things that we haue done but that we may receiue a great reward We lose the things that we haue done when we growe weary of doing them p Gal. 6. 9. weary of well doing and leaue to go forward in that course wherein we haue well begun And thus much of the life of man set forth vnto vs by a walke 8 It followeth now that we speake of the conueniencie of this walke which standeth in walking together in company and fellowship which as the Prophets words leade vs to consider beginneth first at two as we find accordingly the first societie to haue bene betwixt two God and Man and the second betwixt two Man and Woman From whence spring all other societies which God hath ordeined for the behoofe of the life of man God made man of the dust of the earth that from the earth he might haue company to dwell with him in heauen but yet so as that first he would walke with man and would haue man to walke together with God here vpon earth Which duty of walking with God and of care to haue God to walke with vs though on our part it began but in one yet is