East and West North and South all the children of Abraham to enioy the presence of his Maiestie the inheritance of his kingdome and the end of their faith the saluation of their soules Pharez begat Hezron Now we will briefely giue you the exposition of the names so make an end of this Historie Pharez or rather Peretz in Hebrue signifieth a diuision and the occasion of this name was because of the two twinnes in the wombe of Thamar he first of all brake foorth and therefore they called him a diuision from the time of his birth hee was borne in the land of Canaan Hezron or Chetzron which was also borne in the land of Canaan and the Sonne of Peretz who was borne about the time that the Israelites went into Egypt and signifieth in our English tongue the arrow of ioye for till the Israelits went into Egypt they endured a great famine which â—zechiel calleth the arrowe of famine and when they were deliuered from this famine by going into Egypt for corne this child being then borne he was called the arrow of ioy as the famine is called the arrowe of sorrow as a remembrance of the mercie of God to them in giuing them bread Ram was the Sonne of Chetzron and was borne in Egypt about the time of Iacobs death when the children of Israel began to be hated of the Egyptians and therefore they called him Ram which signifieth in our English tongue cast downe or cast off because they then began to bee afflicted and saw no doubt great misery like to fall vpon them and they should be cast downe so soone as either the king or Ioseph should bee dead Haminadab the Sonne of Ram was also borne in Egypt about the time of Iosephes death when he tolde the Israelites that the Lord would visite them and deliuer them from the Egyptians and it signifieth in our English tongue a people that would be free being compounded of two words wherein the Israelits testifie the hope of their deliuerance that although they were now in thraldome yet they should bee in freedome againe Nahashon or Nachschon the Sonne of Haminadab was also borne in Egypt a little before the departure of the Israelites when hey cryed grieuously to the Lord for their affliction which they endured in Egypt vnder the Taxe-masters and it signifieth a crying or complayning thereby noting in the name of the child that hee was borne in affliction which might put him in minde of his Fathers miserie this man when the children of Israel were gon out of Egypt and pitched their tents in wildernesse of Sinai was by election or appointment of God made the Prince of the whole Tribe Salmon or Shalmon the Sonne of Nachschon was borne after the Israelites were departed from Egypt while they wandered in the desert and were deliuered from the Amalekits and other their enemies and his name signifieth peaceable because they liued then peaceably being freed from the Egyptians and other calamities this man married with the victualer Rachab of Iericho of whoÌ„ he begat Boaz. Boaz signifieth in strength who was born about the time of the deliuerance of y e Iewes from the tyrannie of the Moabites by the hand of lame Ehud by which meanes they got strength and remained a long time in peace Obed signifieth a seruant who was borne as wee see in Ephratha Bethlehem his mother being Ruth the Moabitesse the women gaue him this name because hee shoulde serue for the raysing vp of Elimelechs family the restoring of Naomies life and the comfort of his parents Boaz and Ruth Ischai or Ishai the Sonne of Obed signifieth an oblation and was borne about the daies of Iipthach and it may bee had his name giuen by reason of the vowe of Iipthach when he went against the Hammonites that he would offer the first liuing thing that met him after he returned with y e victorie whervpon his daughter meeting him she liued in perpetuall virginitie Dauid the youngest Sonne of Iischai who no doubt was borne in the time of Heli signifieth beloued because commonly the youngest are best loued or else his name did prophesie that hee should be so loued of God with whom he would establish his couenant concerning Christ and aduance him to the kingdome By which wee may plainely see that this Historie was written after he was chosen from his brethren and anoynted to be king after Saule or else the eldest Sonne of Iischai should haue beene named because the birth-right belonged to him Lastly by this we may gather that the foundation of the Gospell must be searched for in the olde Testament for this Genealogie as all the other of Christ is taken from thence and the Apostle defining the Gospell saith that God had promised it before by the Prophets in the holy Scriptures that is in the olde Testament and therefore it was needfull for Mathew to begin his Gospell with the Genealogie of Christ from Abraham and Dauid who had most liuely promises of his incarnation also Marke and Luke begin with Iohn Baptist who was the promised Eliah and the forerunner of Christ according as before it was prophesied and Iohn fetcheth it from the creation and beginning of the worlde as it appeareth in the entraunce of his Gospell By which we may see the hope of the Fathers for the comming of Christ to be the same with ours and had the liuely promises thereof reuealed in the law and the Prophets Secondly the heauenly agreement that is betweene the olde Testament and the new for there he was promised thence he was proued to be the Messiah all the Prophets giue witnesse vnto him now he is exhibited humbled and aduanced to the highest degree the gouernment heauen and earth sitting at the right hand of God making intercession for his Saints working in the calling of his seruantes with the ministerie of his worde disposing all things to the damnation of the wicked and the saluation of the godly Now let vs giue praise to God FINIS Gen. 1.1 Esay 1.1 Iere. 1.2 Eph. 1.1.2 Math. 2.1 Mar. 1.3.4 Luke 1. â— Iudg. 2.18 21 25 Pro. 20.30 1. Ki. 14.16 16 2.3.4 1 Kin. 18 35 37. Hos 7.14.13 Ier. 44.19 1. Kin. 18 17 1. Kin. 18 15.17 Psa 127.5 Mat. 25.3 Mat. 21.30 Ioh. 15.2 Ioh. 10.14 Ge. 31.34 Pro. 7.22 Mat. 3.10 Reu. 18.4 Num. 16.12.32 Hos 6.1.2 Deut. 28.23.24 Dan. 6.9 Psal 12. â—6 Ps 145.17 2. The. 1.6 Eze 18.26 1. Pe. 4.17 Heb. 12.6 Mat. 25.48 Eze. 5.16 1. Sam. 24 14.15 Ge. 12.10 Gen. 26.1 Ge. 41.30 2. Sam. 21 1. 1. Kin. 18.2 2. King 6.25 Act. 18.28 Am. 8.11 Ios 19.15 Ge. 35.19 Math. 2.1 Chap. 15. 1. Kin. 22 34. Psa 29 6.6.8 Psa 149 8 Psa 113 7 Exo. 10.22 Exod. 11.29 2. Kin. 25 10. Gen. 2.24 Gen. 12. â—1 8. Gen. 26.1 Gen. cap. 42 43.44 1. Tim. 5.8 Gen. 6.1 Pro. 5.18 Psa 37.35 Psal 17.14 Psal 73.4 Ver. 12 Iob. 21.7 Ier. 12.1
the time permit Now Naomies husband In this verse is contained the description of Boaz vppon whome the whole historie following dependeth This Boaz was the sonne of Salmon who was sonne to Nahasson the prince of the hoast of Iudah the mother of Boaz was Rachab the harlot which receiued the spies of Israel into her house at Iericho as we see in Mathew and is commended for her faith by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrewes So that euerie waie wee see this dignitie commended vnto vs if we looke for birth his grandfather was the chiefe of the princely tribe of Iudah if for authoritie he was sayth this scripture of great power if for wealth his inheritance must needes bee great who was deriued of such noble ancestours and the reaping of his corne lasted to the end of all haruest the chief of all his religion is excellently commended vnto vs in the text and historie following So that we haue not to deale heere with meane and base personages being all of a kindred howsoeuer some are soner come to decay then other but out of this wee learne many profitable lessons First that seeing Boaz and Elimelech are said to be kinsmen as those which are desceaded from the same predecessors or ancestry wee are admonished of the frailty and vanity of worldly dignity that howsoeuer parents prouide for the maintenance of posterity yet the Lord must dispose the decay of their children Here we see poore Naomi hath a wealthy and an honourable kinsman yet shee a destitute and a desolate widdowe Her husband and shee were no meane persons but vndoubtedly both descended of noble familyes the yeares were but few since the death of Iosuah vnder whom the inheritance of euery tribe was giuen by lot and all the Iewes Israelits wealthy possessors yet see this godly Naomi is faine to liue of the gleanings of her daughter which neither her parents nor her husband did euer thinke vppon Beholde therefore as in a glasse the perfect image of temporall felicyty the father a king the children beggers the father honourable the sonne not worshipfull the predecessors the chiefest in authority but the successors the meanest in calling this made the fathers thinke that the world was like the sea heere a mighty waue and there a great downefall some thought it to be like ise where a man can neuer stand sure but the one will bee breaking or hee bee slyding some like to trees whereof the tallest are soonest ouerturned but all agree in this that worldly felicity is miserable vanitie For our present wealth is like a pleasant summer which must needes come to an end though all the world should striue to the contrary it was accounted to king Dauid for a specyall blessing of God vnto him and none other that shee shoulde not bee without a sonne to sit on his seate if his posteritie would obserue his commaundements yet wee see in Ioseph and Mary the mother of Christ beeing both of his ofspring how they could not obtaine in his owne citie a chamber to lie in but were faine to lodge in a stable so that this is not onely to the wicked but to the dearest saints of God Adam continued not still in paradise but was cast out that his felicity might bee heauenly and not earthly euen so the posterity of the righteous are brought into pouerty that they set not their mindes vppon temporall glory Therefore the Lord doth heere correct vs with pinching pouerty that there wee shoulde not with the world be condemned for delighting in vanity Then by this we learn humilitie in our wealth and worship honour and dignitie Set not vp your homes so highe sayth Dauid and if riches encrease set not your hearts vppon them for the Lorde resisteth the proude and giueth grace to the humble and meeke Wee read of stately kings and Emperours which haue beene caste from throne to the foote stoole of wealthy persons which in one houre haue beene vtterly vndone but of children whose parents were honourable riche many thousandes brought to perpetuall slauerye If you feare not your owne estates yet care for your posteritie and make much of them whome now you see cast downe the poore the destitute the despised the miserable for if Ionathan in his honour make of Dauid in his humilitie when Dauid commeth to his kingdome hee will aduaunce his ofspring to his owne table euen so if you make much of them that are poore nowe when you shall bee humbled in your posterity the Lord shall prouide for your issue by these that haue beene fauoured by you The wheele of the world runneth round sometime that which was lowest is highest and that which was highest is made lowe againe So bee you assured the Lord aduanceth dayly out of the dust to set with princes therefore make you friendes of the vnrighteous Mammon that when you shall haue neede they may receiue you into their euerlasting habitations Distribute liberally giue plentyfully line peaceablie walke humbly for the wealth of the world doth not alway last neither the crowne from generation to generation Secondly by this we gather that the godly may safely enioy great possessions of the blessing of God be exceeding rich men but some will say indeede they may be wealthy but with the hazarde of their soules for Christ sayth How hardly shall they which haue riches enter into the kingdome of God it is easier for a cable to go thorough the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of heauen Then if the danger of it bee so great the poorest condition is the safest welfare I grant you but Christ speaketh of carnal wealthy which make their goods their God as after he saith those that put their trust in their riches Of this sorte the world was neuer fuller as on the contrary of the other there was neuer fewer you shall haue them in all places which speake against the Gospell because it is an enimy to their liuings and offices promotions and honors like Demetrius for Diana a heathen deuill you shall haue other that will offer largely to the Gospell like the young man that came to Christ but when it toucheth a litle greater cost then farwell religion But this is the faulte of the men not of their wealth and yet I am persuaded that there are many wealthy Abrahams which will giue of the tenthes of their possessions to the heauenly Melchisedech Iesus Christ many Lots that will harbour the angels of God and rather wishe violence to their own daughters then to the righteous and finally like to this Boaz in riches religion of whom wee dayly pray the Lord increase the number Thirdly we see in this Boaz an excellent example of the reward of religion and faith for we haue heard that hee was the sonne of Rachab which receiued the spyes of Iosuah who afterwarde was married to Salmon the son of Nahasson by
prayed for Boaz the dutie of them that are gathered together in any godly assembly which is to ioyne themselues in the same holy exercises if they heare the other must heare if they pray the other must pray if they sing the other must also sing for this is the felowshippe of the saintes or els nothing is When we read the church of God continued together in breaking breade it is also saide they continued in prayer as if the holy Ghost had saide as if euery one did eat bread so euery one did pray to the Lorde as it auaileth not a hungry man to see another eat he haue none but rather increaseth his desire so if you be euery day hour where praiers are made your selues tast not of them it doth but increase your damnation So wee read when the Apostles were forbidden to preach in the name of Christ they came to their fellowes and lift vp their voices with one accorde to the Lorde and when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled and they all were filled with the holy Ghost and spake the word of God boldly such is the effect of God his faythful when they pray vnto him with one accord like the assault of the four windes vpon Iobs childrens house which not onely shooke but also ouerturned the same many handes make a great labour to be lightly dispatched and many mens prayers doe pull downe the mercyes of God vpon vs. This I think is very needfull for our dayes wherein this dulnesse is growne so grosse that among a churchfull of hearers you shall haue very fewe which are not faultie in this doctrine for it is a world to see howe many haue their bodies at the sermons but their soules and affections are wandering in a thousande matters these pray not when we pray heare not when wee preach neyther sing when wee sing What profite haue these persons by our prayers or preaching surely they are idols they haue tonge but speake not eares but heare not eyes but they see not And this is most lamentable to see many vpon whom the Lorde hath bestowed this gift of reading or learning to come hande ouerhead to Churches without eyther booke or minde to profite themselues or other Thus they bury the graces of God in them they quench the fire of the holy spirite they loose the costes of their parentes which they bestowed to bring them to learning they disdayne to sing with the faithfull they abhorre the labours of their youth and mocke the Lord with their presence Looke vpon it my brethren for if the Lorde haue giuen any of you learning that you are able to reade his worde then hee hath planted you to beare fruite in his owne orcharde but if you vse not this gift then you are fruitlesse trees and the Lorde will cut you downe and cast you into vnquencheable fire if you say you haue no books I aunswere the fault lyeth in your selues for if you bee poore aske the godly and your want shall bee supplyed if you bee wealthy saue some of your idle expenses to spende vppon such a holy businesse If you say you forget your bookes behinde you I aunswere it is a signe you care but little for your iourneys ende for if you had that reuerence to come prepared to the exercises of the faithfull which you ought to haue you coulde not forget your bibles nay you shoulde rather forget your apparell then your bookes if you considered as it becommeth you But some say they vnderstande well enough though they say not amen to our prayers and though they sing not to the Lorde with vs but Paule sayth to such that they doe no good to their brethren because they edifie them not and that it is better in the Church to speake fiue wordes to instruct others then ten thousande for his owne benefite for in the Chuch wee are assembled for our brethren not for ourselues onely and whosoeuer prayeth not with his brethren in the Church or congregation doth breake the fellowshippe of the faithfull and standeth for a cipher among the sayntes Therefore if you haue any care of your duety to the Lord of the loue of y e faithful of obedience to your parents of increasing your talent of learning or the saluation of your owne soules both magistrate and subiect elders and people riche and poore olde and younge men and women fulfill the expectation of the godly praye when wee pray sing with vs when we sing heare vs when wee preach for with such sacrifice is the Lord pleased The Lorde make Now wee haue made an ende of the first parte let vs go to the second which is the prayer of these people and elders the first member whereof is contayned in these wordes wherein they pray for the fruitfulnesse of Ruth alleadging an example to testify the loue they beare to Bohaz that they desire his wife to bee as fruitfull as eyther Leah or Rahell who builded the house of Israel so that they would haue him the father of much people in so much as his name both of wealth and children might aduance the dignity of Bethlehem Ephrathah First therefore hence we note the duetie of all the godly which is to pray for the welfare one of another but especially in marriage for the prayers of the faithfull are as needfull for the married as skilfull mariners in the boate of passengers Therefore wee reade of fewe godly marriages in the scripture but they were celebrated with prayer when Rebecca was married to Isaake her mother brother and frends prayed that she might grow vp into thousand thousandes and her seed to possesse their enemies gate and in this place these frendes of Bohaz pray the like for Ruth for what make the peoples presence the multitude of lookers the number of acquaintaunce at the time of celebrating marriages excepte it bee to pray for the parties wee haue shewed you the last Saboath that for the ignorance of the people which coulde not pray came the ministers to haue a hande in it for supplying their wante and howe lamentable is it to see in many places and most persons that are marryed where their company are none but godlesse ruffians ignoraunt Atheistes prophane swearers and notable blasphemers to bee present at their vnhappy weddinges what prayers can these powre forth for their newe marryed frendes can the Cockatrice breath forth any thing but poyson or the spider spinne any sounder cloth then her webbe no more can these persons but curse them with their prayers not blesse them with their cursinges Is it not a worlde to see howe many agaynst their marriages compasse the countrey some to prouide delicate diuersities of meates to feede both the belly and the eye other to inuite their friendes which come ruffling into the Churches in silkes veluets sattins and softe apparel and some to decke vp themselues in braue clothing against their mariage day but neuer
one thought for the faythfull prayer of the godly that their prosperous lyfe may bee blessed in wedlocke this they ought to be most careful for and yet not to leaue the other vndone but godly prayers are better then great portions and it is better to haue poore Christ at your weddinges then a thousand thousande of these glistering gallantes Truely in these dayes how doe men and women prouide for mirth not for modestie that their day of marriage may bee ioyfull with worldly disportes not godly with Christian exercises they buy hire musitians to passe the time in pleasant dauncing but neuer entreate or speake one word to the godly to bestow their hearty prayers vpon them Let therefore beloued this bee our direction that as we marry for the Lorde not for the world so we studie for prayer and not for pleasure Secondly by this wee gather that the greattest blessing in marriage is the bearing of children the blessing vpon the vyne is to bring many grapes the blessing vpon the earth is to bee fruitful in bringing and springing much corne and pasture the blessing on the sea is the multiplying of the fish and the blessing of marriage is many children Therefore in this place they pray that Ruth might bee like Rahel and Leah which builded all Israell that is they were the mothers of a greate nation they multiplyed in their posterity to a number like the starres of heauen For this cause the first blessing vpon mankinde after the floode was that they shoulde increase and fill the earth for this cause the fathers desired children so much and the ouerloue of many children encreased the multitude of their wyues for this cause the Apostle saith that women through bearing of children shall bee saued if they continue in fayth and loue and holynesse with modesty For all other blessings may be had without marryage wealth and ryches comfort and frends honour and pleasure quietnesse and rest may be founde in the liues of vnmarried persons onely children must come of a grafted stocke which is a holy and sanctified marriage or wedlocke When Abraham wanted a sonne he prayed for one when Rebecca was barren Isaacke prayed for her and she conceaued When Mauoah wanted children he prayed and the Lorde gaue him Sampson when Amah was barren shee prayed and obtayned Samuell and when Zacharie and Elizabeth had no issue by prayer they obtayned Iohn Baptist So they accompted of their marriage without children as a faire and pleasant garden without fruites and as the one doth fructifie by seasonable showers so the other doth multiply by faythfull supplications Therefore here this people of God pray for Bohaz and Ruth that many pleasant twigges may spring out of their fruitful bodies By the which wee see the ready remedy for barrennesse which are godly and zealous prayers powred forth into the eares of the Almighty that he would remoue his hande from punishing and withdrawe the curse of barrennesse from penitent sinners But in our prayers we must alway take heede that wee appoint not the Lord what he shall giue vs eyther sonnes or daughters but rest vpon the will of God to receyue eyther of both And indeed be it that children are the greatest blessing of marriage yet all things considered it is much happier to bee barren for our miserable dayes adn sinfull liues call for a scourge and once more the saying of Christ shall be fulfilled that there shall be woe to them that are with childe and that giue suck in those daies yea vndoubtedly our posteritie count them happy that are vnborne and themselues shall wish with Iob Ieremy they had neuer seene the sunne Oh who are they that haue any desire of many children Looke vpon the worlde it falleth to Atheisme looke vpon the Church it declineth to errour looke vpon the Gospell it is persecuted by the Deuill and viewe euery degree if corruption groweth not vpon them truely truely as Esau saide the dayes of mourning for my father will shortly come so may all the faithfull say the day of mourning for y e Gospel and knowledge wil one day come and the Lorde knoweth how soone Therefore if you woulde leaue your children to be atheistes your issue to bee heretickes your posterity to bee afflicted and all your ofspring to bee corrupted and miserably punished in this life or eternally plagued in the life to come then desire little children be it you can prouide landes to maintaine them teachers to instruct them learning to defend them honour to aduance thē frends to assist them castels of security to keep them from the hurt of the world yet alas alas into how many thousand aduersities may their soules descend I speake not this to discourage any from desiring children but I admonish from the Lorde that you bee wise in your petitions and thinke as well of your infantes misery as your owne suffering nowe you desire ease without paines but they in all manner of afflictions may sende vp cries to the heauens and not bee heard Oh that all degrees both marryed and vnmarried would haue pitty on their posterity before they be borne then shoulde fewer be vagabondes then now are more be prouided for then nowe can bee then should men and women for their childrens sake amend their loose and desperate behauiour not fit for pagans much lesse for christians left the children shoulde be plauged for the fathers fault Assuredly beloued the Lord hath spoken it that if your children proue wicked they shall suffer and beare the sinnes of all their auncestors yea though they be dead many hundred yeares agoe Thirdely by this prayer of these elders and people we note that for the helping of our weaknes in prayer and releeuing of our wantes we may set before vs the goodnes of God vnto others In this place they pray that Ruth may be as fruitful as Rahel and Leah which were the wiues of Iacob who bare him eight sonnes one daughter expressing their hearty prayer for Bohaz and Ruth by the example of these twaine The like we may reade of the Apostles when they prayed after their deliuerance from the rulers and elders they alleadge Dauid for their helpe as he speaketh in the second Psalme For wee many times know not what to aske as wee ought but the spirite which wrought these giftes in the fathers helpeth our infirmities by the examples of the ancient godly that wee shoulde aske the same graces which they enioyed to leade the same lyues which they liued and obtayne the same crowne wherewith they are all rewarded Yet we must alway remember the rule of the Apostle that this is our assuraunce if wee craue any thing according to his will wee receiue it that is wee must not desire the least thing in worldly affaires but vnder this condition If it bee thy will O God because the Lorde is not bounde to giue vs any thing no more then wee are
their insteritâ—â—ice to multiplie their Fathers family for wordly honour the Rewarde of the Religion THE REVVARD OF RELIGION Ruth Cap. 1. ver 1 2 3 4 5 6. 1. In the time that the Iudges ruled there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethleem Iudah went for to soiourne in the countrie of Moab hee and his wife and his two sonnes 2. And the name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wyfe Naomi and the names of his two sonnes Mahlon and Chilion Ephrathites of the lande of Iudah and when they were come into the land of Moab they continued there 3. Then Elimelech the husbande of Naomi died there and shee remained with hir two sonnes 4. Which tooke them wiues of the Moabites the name of the one was Horpah the name of the other Ruth they dwelled there about ten yeres 5. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both twaine so the woman was lefte destitute of her two sonnes and of her husband 6. Then she arose with her daughters in lawe and returned from the countrie of Moab for she had heard saie in the countrie of Moab that the Lord had visited his people giuen them bread ALthough the author of this booke of Ruth hath not expressed his name yet there is no doubt but it proceedeth from the spirit of God as well as the bookes of the Iudges Kings Chronicles which haue not the names of their authors described but if it may be lawfull to iudge or giue anie sentence thereof it was either Samuel or some other godly prophet vnder the raigne of Saul which is proued by the genealogies in the last chapter where Dauid is by name mentioned testifying vnto vs that it was then written when he was chosen from his bretheren and anointed king ouer Israell and yet before his raigne or els there had bene added vnto it the title of a King for the aduauncing of the name of Ruth who was his grande mother vppon whom this history following dependeth for the sumne and scope hereof is to shewe the pedigree or ancestry the naturall progenitours of Christe from Iudah the fourth sonne of Iacob vntill the time that he beganne to challenge the princelye seate the royall scepter the right of gouernment ouer the people of Israell which was at that time when Dauid was chosen from his fathers house anoynted king by Samuel Againe in this history there is deliuered vnto vs the hope which the fathers had concerning the calling of the Gentiles for this mariage of Ruth into the kindred of Christ who was a Gentile by nature none of the people of God did plainely foretell that the Gentiles shoulde be called in Christ for as hee tooke parte of his humane nature of them so he shewed vs that hee would giue the same for them that there might be no difference in his bodye between Iewes gentiles but that the power of his death the graces of the spirite and the knowledge of redemption might redounde to all Now the occasion of this history is deliuered vnto vs in this first Chapter which is the soiourning of a certaine Iew in the land of Moab by reason there was a famine in the land of Iudah with his familye and the returne of them that liued which were onely Naomi his wyfe and one other Ruth the Moabitesse the widdowe of his eldest sonne This wandering or soiourning is described with all the circumstuances thereof in these first sixe verses lately read and generally containe in them these two parts the first is theyr trauaile to the land of Moab the second those things that happened vnto them after they came thither The first parte is expressed in these two first verses first by the occasion which is declared by the time and by the thing that moued them thereunto in these wordes In the time that the Iudges ruled there was a famine c. Secondly by the persons that trauayled who are described by the place froÌ„ whence they were namely of Bethlehem Iudah these were the parents and the children which are named in the 2. ver The second part of these woordes is in the foure other verses following and it concerneth eyther the parents or the children the parents that one of them euen Elimelech the father of the familye dyed there shorâ—y after their arriuall the children first that they married ver 4 secondly that they likewise dyed ver 5 Then remained onely Naomi with hir two daughters in lawe and the time of her a bode in Moab is set downe to be ten yeares ver 4 secondly the occasion of hir departure because shee heard say that God had visited his people giuen them bread ver 6 of these partes let vs speake in order as the spirite shall giue vttrance and the time permit In the dayes that the Iudges ruled In these wordes the holy Ghoste after his accustomed manner for the more certaintye of the historye beginneth at the time as Moses beginneth his booke of Genesis from the first creation of the world so the prophets in the beginning of their bookes set downe vnder what king or kings they prophesied so also in the newe Testament we may see how three of the Euangelists beginne their Gospels from the preaching of Iohn Baptist and the raigne of king Herod The which order they vndoubtedly learned of the olde writers the same spirite guiding them to one and the same trueth vseth but one and the same manner of speaking For the almighty desiring to meete with the wrangling obiections of humane inuentions so tempereth the texte of euerie scripture as if question were made who did such a thing He nameth the persons where it was done He quoteth the place and when it was done Hee mentioneth the time The cause heereof is that hee might staie the waues of our sickle mindes vpon the piller of truth his euerlasting word But in this place he chiefly mentioneth the time of the Iudges to shew vnto vs that wheÌ„ religion was corrupted the worship of God decaied and idolatrye aduannced when the Lord was forgotten of his owne people when his lawes were no more obserued but euery man did that which seemed good in his owne eyes yea when there were almost as many Gods among them as they were men then euen then did the Lord send this plague of famine among them For Salomon sayth the blewnes of the wounde serueth to purge the euell and the stripes within the bottome of the belly as if he had sayd as the rypenes of a wounde calleth for a corasiue so the fulnes of sinne cryeth for vengeance by this therfore we note that the corruption of religion neglect of the worship of God is the cause of all his iudgments that are exercised in the world For the idolatry of Ieroboam and his sinnes whereby hee induced Israell to sinne did the Lord threaten by Achia the prophet to
of the earth Of all these mistryes you may see in the booke of Iudges Samuel and Kings to which I referre you at your leasure as of Saul Dauid Ieroboam Achab Zidkia others as in this present place where they are oppressed ten yeares together so that heauen and earth may passe but the word of the Lord abideth for euer For this cause the prophets adde to their preaching of iudgmentes Thus sayth the Lorde as if they had said it shall neuer bee altered And if the lawes of heathen men such as the Medes and Persians might not alter much lesse the word of the Lord which is like siluer purified seuen times should haue any drosse or changeable substaunce in it Wee see the law of nature stand inuiolable for euer and shall not the law of him which made nature be also immutable when the fire ceaseth to bee hote and the water to be colde then shall be exception taken against God his iudgments and not before The vse of this doctrine is to cast downe the presumption of notorious sinners who to auoyd the terrors of God his iudgmentes deceiue their owne soules vvyth this that God is mercifull So that in theyr most singular sinnes they will flye to the mercyes of God as if they were the verie bonde of all iniquitie yea and these kinde of people perswade themselues to bee as good Christians as anie in the worlde because they can saie the Lord is mercifull But heare me a little in one word I praie you I am perswaded that I speake to many these people this daie What hurt hath the Lorde done vnto you that you rob him of his iustice Shall the Prophet be found a liar that sayth The Lord is iust in all waâ—es and holy in all his workes Or shall the Apostle speake vntruth that sayth It is a iust thing with God to render affliction to them that afflict you release to you that are afflicted Why shall we then spoile God of his iudgements vnlesse wee wyll depriue our selues of our owne saluation But you will saie this serueth for the wicked as Atheists Turkes Pagans Infidels and such lyke which shall haue no part with Christ I answere what greater wickednes can there be than to depriue God of his iustice Would a mortall man indure to be accounted without honestie and shall the euerlasting king abide to be spoiled of his righteousnesse Nay the iustice of God pertaineth to such as you would be holy persons as well as to anie For what saith the Prophet When the iust man turneth from his righteousnesse to doo iniquitie he shall die in it And Peter sayth that iudgement must begin at the house of God And a father once saide God of his most deere iustice hath decreed the summe of all discipline both in exacting and in defending as if he had sayd there is no correction of the Lord but it proceedeth from his iustice now the children of God are corrected for hee scourgeth euerie child whom he receiueth And therfore the iudgmentes of God must bee thundered out as well for the confirming of the faithfull as the confusion of Infidels But others there are that are so farre past feeling of either mercies or iudgements that as soone the deafe adder wil heare the voice of the charmer as they anie impression of terrour for sinne Hence commeth this custome of sinning which euerie sabboth commit their wonted iniquitie euerie houre vomit out their poison of blasphemies and euerie daie violate the lawes of charitie who through their dayly staring on the sonne of righteousnesse are nowe become starke blinde and with the continuall noise of God his waters are made so deafe that they can heare no goodnesse Vnto both these sortes of people hearken what the Lorde sayth in his Gospell But if that euill seruant shall saie in his heart the Lorde deferreth his comming and shall begin to finite his fellow seruants and to eate and drinke with the dronken The Lord of that seruant shall come in a daie that hee looketh not for and in an houre that hee knoweth not and shall separate him and giue him his parte with vnbeleeuers there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth This shall be the end of secure christians and contemptuous sinners carnall Atheists despisers of wholsome doctrine which haue no part but in this present life with endlesse and fearefull damnation in the world to come Thus much of the first parte the circumstance of time now let vs go to the thing which is the second parte of the occasion There was a famine in the land This was the chiefe cause which moued these persons to trauell the auoiding of the pinching penurie of fearefull death by lingering till the end of this pining famine Of all the punishments of sinne which happen in this life theâ—e is none more vehement than famine Therefore the Lord by the Prophet threatneth to send his arrowes of famine to breake the staffe of bread Where he alludeth to a maine battell signifying vnto vs first as the arrow is the fittest instrument to break the ranke so a famine is the sharpest weapon to dismaye the couragious stomackes of rebellious sinners For as the arrowe is alwaie in sight so a famine euer in sense the arrowe hurteth but not with a speedie death a famine spoileth yet with tedious miserie the arrowe entered doth procure more paine and greater wound at the pulling forth than the falling in euen so abundance of meate sooner dispatcheth a famished person than lingering hunger Therefore Dauid put to his choice of three plagues famine flying and pestilence chose the last as the most sodainest and therefore accompanied with lesse griefe for that disease by the rule of phisicke is most daungerous which is the longest in growing Now wee may reade of many famines in the Scripture one and the first we read of was in the dayes of Abraham another in the daies of Izhak his sonne Seuen yeeres famine was in Egypt where Ioseph by the hand of God succored the Church in his fathers familie And to omit that in Dauids time and that in Ahabs time with those in the dayes of Iehoram and Zidkia with many others VVee reade in the new Testament of a vniuersall famine in the dayes of Claudius Caesar prophesied by Agabus when the Church dyd most notably releeue one another Vnto the which wee may adde that at the destruction of Ierusalem about fortie yeeres after Christe All which are most worthie spectacles of humane miserie and worthy examples of God his iudgementes to terrifie all them which saie in theyr prosperitie they shall neuer be moued There wee may reade of the pittifull death of many thousands which starued in the streetes in the face of theyr dearest friendes and yet were not able to releeue them There wee may see howe men were driuen to eate dogges cats rats mice and horse
flesh but that which is most miserable the mothers to succour theyr stomackes and bodies with the slaughter and eating of their owne children VVhat heart of Adamant would not weepe yea rather bleede at the sight heereof And yet beholde a greater famine than all these Is it possible yea verily a famine of the worde of God when men shall goe from one sea to another and from the North to the East running to seeke the word of God shall not find it In that daie shall fall both the fayre virgins the young men which sweare by the idols of Schomron saie As thy God liueth O Dan and as the God of the waie of Beershebah liueth they shall fal neither shall they euer rise vp again Is not this greater than the famine of bread There was neuer famine so great but if liberty were giueÌ„ the famine was eased but in this they shall haue libertie to runne too and fro and shall not bee releeued There was neuer anie famine wherewith men were so hunger-starued but some recouered but in this sayeth the Lorde They that fall shall neuer rise agayne Oh that the open contemners of God his woorde woulde drinke but one droppe for a tast of these fearefull iudgementes I am perswaded that the heat of greedie sinne woulde bee so cooled in them that they shoulde recouer the health of their soules which will neuer bee tyll of open prophaners they become publike professours But of all these famines there is but one cause which is the abuse of the creatures of God for so the equitie of iustice requireth that in the same thing wherein they sinned they shoulde bee punished Like as the theese was bound for that which hee stole to restore foure folde Fulnesse of bread was one of the sinnes of Sodome and they vnderstoode not from whome they had it because they were vnmerciful to the poore and therefore abused it by vnthankfulnes And this is a worthie doctrine to bee vrged in our dayes wherein our abuse is greater than our want and yet our want is such as hath not beene heard of these many yeeres The couetous seller keepeth in his corne and draweth vppon himselfe the curse of the poore saying it is scantie it is scantie vvhen his garners are full Is not this to tell that the Lorde his hande is shortned when in deede it is lengthened Is not this to say thou openest thy hande and fillest vvith thy blessing euerie liuing thing Nay you plainely accuse the Lorde of illiberalitie Oh detestable crueltie vvho for to fat vp their owne posterityes vvyll murther the bodyes of manye thousandes of pouertieâ— yea this is more cruell than murther in the sight of God VVhy deale you not playnely and saie the Lorde hath giuen abundaunce yet your price must bee raysed so you shoulde speake truelye and excuse the liberalitie of the Lorde in accusing your owne couetous desires But oh vvretchednesse you wyll not laye the faulte vppon the guiltie you iustifie the couetous whome the Lorde abhorreth and condemne the innocent liberalitie of him vvho giueth to all freely and casteth none in the teeth Another sorte there are more viler than thase who of this great want vvhich if the Lorde suffer to indure vvyll turne to extreme famine yet they will spend more vpon one to make him dronke than vpon one dozen of poore folkes These are the tiplers alesellers dronkards the very caterpillers of our countrey who like the horse leache are euen sucking and neuer satisfied and these onely consume much that other should not be contented with it Of these both cities and countreyes are replenished and the magistrates suffer them with little or no punishment at all but if the poore preachers rebuke the folly their safety is indangered by this rauenous brood who are not ashamed to giue rayling yea threatning speeches And magistrates seruants are in greatest fault who are not onely partakers of this vnseasonable drinking but also deale priuatly with theyr maâ—sters that those which are complained might escape vnpunished Thus are the poore vnrelieued the countrie vnprouided the people vnanswered the wicked vnpunished the commonwealth vnreformed the godly vncomforted and the iudgments of God haled downe vppon vs that we might be euerlastingly confounded There went a certaine man Now are we come to the persons that traueled which is the second part of this verse which we shewed you ended in the second verse they are first generally described in this verse and after specially by name in the next verses They are of two sorts first the parents Elimelech Naomi secoÌ„dly the children Mahlon and Chilion who are all described by the place from whence they went Bethlehem Iudah it is so called because there was another Bethlehem in the tribe of Zebulun and this is that Bethlehem which in Genesis is called Ephratha therefore these persons are in these two verses called Ephrathits of the place where afterward Christ was borne Then it is apparaunt by the booke of Iosuah that the tribe of Iudah had the fruitfullest posession in all the land of Canaan they were the greatest in number the wysest in pollicy the richest by inheritance yet we see when the scourge of God came the famine inuaded their countrie and crope into the wals of Bethlehem and made the wealthiest among them to flie yet this Elimelech which was as appeareth by his consanguinity of the princes of the whol tribe such is the vehemency of the Lords arrowes when he shooteth them abroad that if king Achab were in his chariot in the middest of his host yet one of them shall giue him a mortall wound The vse of this doctrine is to teach vs that if the Lord suffer his plague to continue he will strike downe the chosen men in Israel the chosen men in England yea the noblest among vs who thinke themselues in greatest securitie can he easily bring to greatest misery Therfore you whose heads the Lorde hath aduauncted ouer your brethren look to your calling for the voice of the Lord shaketh as well the ceders of Libauns as the little shrubs in the wildernes of Cades it is as easie with him to bind the nobles in chaines and the princes in linkes of yron as to raise vp the poore from the dunghill to the throne Did not his darknesse couer as well the court of Pharao as the countrie of Egypt Was not the first borne of the king destroyed as well as of the poore pesants of the dwellings of Ham Yea when the Israelites were carried captiue to Babylon theyr King had his children slaine before his face his owne eyes put out and after lead in a chaine neither was hee spared for his throne nor you for your dignitie and wealth Oh that you woulde therefore bee warned of your slipperie estate that you might auoide the heauy wrath of God when without respect of persons he shall iudge both quicke and
dead Let not the lots of your inheritance deceiue you though their soile bee as fruitfull as this of Iudah and your possessions neuer so great he that in one night destroyed all the fruites of Egypt can also in one houre blast your corne with deawes consume your possession with drought for a fruitful land maketh he barren for the wickednes of them that dwell therein Secondly we note out of these wordes when he tooke his wife and children with him an example of a religious father and a louing husband he might if hee had consulted with flesh and bloud done like our husbands in these dayes which had rather in their wandering shifte about for themselues and leaue wife and children in a sea of troubles to sinke or swimme to some doubtfull releefe But the godly in old time knew that their wiues and children were as themselues and as they were carefull to cherish their owne bodyes so they were mindfull to nourish their owne families This the Lorde at the first mariage that euer was comaunded that for a mans wife he should forsake father and mother and they two shall be one flesh as if hee had sayd parents must not hinder fellowship of wedlocke much lesse pouertye or temporall wants as the barke is ioyned to the tree the fleshe to the bone if one be without the other they both perish so must husband and wife liue and loue togither vnlesse they will be the slaughter slaues of their owne destruction We read of this practise in the scripture when Abraham by reason of a famine went downe into Egypt hee tooke Sara his wife with him when I shak by reason of a famine wēt to Abimelech the king of Gerar he took Rebecea his wife with him How do we read of Iacob how twise he sent into Egipt for al his family the third time hee went down with all his household his sonne Ioseph fed him fiue yeares of famine yea the Apostle sayth that he is worse then an infidel that prouideth not for his own family and Christ going from his disciples asked them if they had wanted any thing and they answered nothing Against this pointe of doctrine there are manye that offend some that are married by their couetous parents who respect nothing but wealth are so matched as if a vine were planted in the flowing of the sea which prospereth best whē the water is lowest euen so these are in sweetest fellowship when one is a thousand miles frō the other Others there are which in theyr marryages please nothing but their eies which as old persons cannot see without spectacles so they cannot find wiues without the spectacle of bewty and these loue as long as bewty eudureth which is till they be sicke for sicknes is the cutthrote of beauty Some take wiues and husbands as fooles find pearles for as they cannot discerne them pebles so these are ignorant of all kind of dutie towards one another From hence proceedeth all the adulteries which are dayly committed here ariseth the fountaine of strife contention debate ielousie also the vnhappy blows which many giue to their wiues hence it cōmeth that so many gentlemen and others are seldome at home but eyther beyond the sea in warres or in trauaile which in their vnmaried estate wanted nothing but vviues but novv being maried vvant all things but vviues Hence it commeth that they termed them by the odious titles of crosses plagues troubles and also as I haue heard some say the causes of their vndoing vvheras they may as vvell accuse the eye of his blindnes as their vviues of their own wilfull miserie and to conclude there is not one breach of loue or kindnes betweene them but it springeth from these corruptions which then were sowed when they intended their mariage But oh beloued let not the godly be drawen away with the crooked conuersation of these contentious persons but let thē be armed vvith the forenamed examples of godly vnitie that as their troubled daies were eased in the ioy of their ovvne loue so let our miseries be releeued which you suffer in wedlock with your comfortable agreement in christian societie for so saith Salomon Let thy fountain be blessed and reioyce with the wise of thy youth and thus much of this second doctrine Thirdly by this we may note that the godly are oppressed vvhen the vvicked haue abundance heere vve see the Israelites vvhich vvere the Church of God had a famine but the Moabits to vvhom this man descended being a cursed generation incestuous gentiles had plentie abundance for els Elimelech vvould not haue gone thither to be relieued This may seeme a strāge thing that the godly shuld be oppressed with famine when worldlings heathens shall wallow in their wealth Of these Dauid speaketh I haue seene the wicked strong spreading himselfe like a bay tree And in another place They are inclosed in their owne fat And againe he saith They haue their portion in this life whose bellies thou fillest with thy hid treasure their children haue inough leaue the rest of their substance to their children And in another place there are on bands in their death but they are lusty strōg they are not in trouble like other men and a litle after these are the wicked yet prosper they always increase in riches The very like you may heare in Iob in the prophet Ieremy But of the rightous he saith often crieth out of their afflictions their sorrowes nakednes their hūger misery all the day long are they appointed as sheepe to the slaughter yea our sauiour Christ pronounceth himself in his members poore hungry naked harborles thristy and imprisoned the foxes haue holes and the birds of the aire haue nests but the sonne of man hath not where to rest his head And the authour of the epistle to the Hebrues sayth of the godly Some are stoned some cut asunder some slaine with the sworde some wandering abroad in goats skinnes and sheepe skinnes destitute oppressed euill entreated of whom the world was not worthy wandering in deserts in the mountaines in dennes and caues of the earth Iudge now I beseech you betweene the outward estate of the godly and the wicked are they not contrarie That which of the world is condemned is of the Lorde commended yet I beseech you my brethren be not terrified from godlynes but rather strengthened in your profession Then will you say tel vs the cause of all this inequality Our sauiour answereth it very wel You are not sayth he of the world if you were of the world the world would loue his owne and Dauid saith that their portion is onely in this life but Christ sayth our reward shall bee great in heauen and againe you shall weepe and lament but the worlde shall reioyse but your sorrowe shalbe turned to ioy like a woman that reioyseth
Lorde were not able to releeue vs or else were vniust in punishing our sinnes howe can that bee seeing hee calleth for repentaunce and amendement and then promiseth plentye and abundaunce These saintes endured some three some seuen and other tenne yeeres famine and yet wee saye was there euer such a people thus afflicted like to vs with one yeres dearth They were driuen to wander abroade in their enemies Countrie for manie yeeres together shall wee then thinke it such a miserye to goe two or three miles for our corne They aduentured the losse of their liues and wee are afraide of the lessening or diminishing of our goods And shall wee yet saye there was neuer anye people tormented like vnto vs Yea I adde this that euen at this daye there are people in the worlde which sâ—ant in all their liues doe eate anye bread but onely the barke of trees with some other vnseasonable fish others liue on the rootes of the earth some on the fruites of trees And what shall I saye more our wickednesse is greater then our want our sore is smaller then our sinne our transgressions haue deserued to bee punished with the scourge and yet wee are scarce corrected with the rodde our complaintes are greater then our huâ—te and our murmuring exceedeth our misery therefore wee haue greater cause to tremble at that which hangeth ouer our heades then to feare or crye for this which wee already suffer for it is hardly the beginning of sorrow So Mahlon and Chilson Now when they were compassed about vvith the friendes of their vviues vvhich did promise securitie then after a fevve yeeres spent in safetie the Lorde called them avvay after their father Where vvee see our former doctrine iustified that the end of one sorrovve vvas the beginning of another When they were most like to continue then they gaue ouer as it were in the armes of theyr wiues and the sight of their aged mother to whome no doubte this was the greatest griefe of all other that now beeing lefte destitute both of husbande and children she should without comfort liue with the Moabites and without ioye returne agayne vnto her owne Countrey as a bird robbed of her young ones Yet seeing this is our worldly lot still to endure misery let vs set both our shoulders vnder the burthen if it be too heauy let vs flee to the finisher of our faith with zealous and earnest prayers desiring him eyther to ease or to remooue his hande But seeing wee haue spoken of this before this shall suffise at this time to serue for a remembrance Then shee arose When her friends were departed and her selfe lefte comfortles yet the Lord remembred her for euen then came the rumor vnto her that the famine was ceased in Iewry that the Lord had visited the sicknes of his people and restored the plenty of the earth againe and therefore it is time for her to bee hasting home againe for here the holy Ghost setting downe her returne and the cause of the same sheweth that it was euen then when her children were dead for what should a godly woman liue there where were non that could strengthen hir in the wayes of the Lord but rather prouoke her to imbrace infidelity And againe euen at that time when shee was most comfortlesse for the losse of her children came this rumor vnto her of the restoring of her Countrey so that now Naomi thou art here in Moab a sorrowfull pilgrime go home to thy Countrey and bee a ioyfull inhabitant indeede thy children are dead but thou shall haue greater comfort of thy ancient acquaintaince What knowest thou but now the Lord hath called thee to consolation whereas of late thou mightest thinke hee had wrought thy confusion By this wee note that the Lord deferreth to helpe till greatest necessity euen as hee stayed the stroke of Abraham when hee was at the verie instant to cut of little Isaks necke So wee read that when the king of Assiria had inuaded the kingdome of Ezechia wonne his cities subdued his Country conquered his people and had not lefte him two thousand horsmen being destitute of all helpe then the Lord raised vp the king of Ethiop who called the Assyrians from the siege of Ierusalem What shall I saie of Lazarus raised from death Of the deliuerance of Peter out of the handes of Herod the daie before he should haue bene martyred Of the shipwracke wherein Paul was and yet not one of them were lost And excellent is that of Christ sleeping in the shippe on a pillowe suffered his disciples to bee so long tossed with the violence of the sea till they cryed out Lord saue we perish and then hee awaked rebuked the rage of the windes and stilled the stormes of the sea and a peaceable calme followed This is that preseruatiue agaynst desperation which must staie our mindes on the leasure of the Lorde wee must not at the first look for our desires but as Abraham and Zacharia were old before they had any children and yet in the end the Lord promised and also perfourmed euen so when wee haue least hope for obtaining of our desires wee most often receiue them For the Lord desireth our requests for the triall of our fayth and pacience that like as the wheate corne groweth not till it bee dead euen so his works doe not answere our expectation till they seeme to vs impossible that as the most precious pearles are farthest brought and longest in comming when wee haue them we keepe them more carefully euen so his excellent mercies being with difficulty obtained should be esteemed more thankfully Therefore be of good comfort you that now sorrow for you shall bee comforted you that now hunger for you shal be satisfied you that nowe weepe for you shall laugh the Lord will shortly come beare but a litle and he will wipe away all teares from your eies then oh how happy shal they be which haue trusted in him That the Lorde had visited This is the last parte of this scripture being the reason that moued her to returne into her Countrey O it is as if the holy ghost had sayd The Lord looked vpon the afflicted estate of his people supplied their want of food To visit in the scriptures is taken two wayes first to punishe as when God sayth in the second commaundement that he will visite the sinne of the fathers vppon the children vnto the third fourth generation secondly it signifieth some times to pardon or to show mercy as that of Zachary The Lord hath visited and redeemed his people that is hee hath shewed mercy in redeming his people In this later sense it must be taken in this place Now the word properly signifieth to goe to see and is referred to them that are sicke which by a metaphor is applied to sinne for sinne is the sicknes of the soule and is very fitly applied to punishments sent
and leases are forestalled by other that they them selues cannot enioy them such buying selling cosoning and deceiuing borrowing and lending vppon vsury taking of fines raising of rents vndoing of the poore and thrusting the weakest to the wall as if charitie were forgotten and the precept of the Lord had neuer bene written and finally as though all were our owne which we can get in our handling manie giue counsell like lawyers for their fees but few like Naomi for their conscience They licke their owne fingers as the prouerb goeth but few will cast any salt on their neighbors meat if they can get aduantages of their neighbours vpon statuts they sue the extremity as if they were infidells They will not saye as Abraham to Lot If thou take the right hand I will take the lefe that is my brother my neighbor take thou the choise I wish not thy wrong aske coūsel let there be no occasion of strife betweene vs men will hardly giue either coate or cloake in these dayes by suffering iniurie they will rather take both although they thinke it better to giue almes then to take yet they had rather take bribes rewards them to giue Oh my beloued let vs at the length bee ruled by the counsell of the Lord esteeme better of others then of our selues help as many as we can but hinder none Cursed are they that lay stumbling blockes before the blind and giue euill counsell for their owne aduantage Secondly by these words we may gather to whom widowes belong their husbandes beeing dead namely to their owne mothers house that is to their parents if the parents of their husbands will not prouide for them Therfore is it that the Lord cōmaunded if the daughter of a priest were a widdowe and returned to her fathers house hauing no children shee might eate of the peace offrings of the childrē of Israel And Paul giueth charge to the godly in his time that if any of their kindred were a widow of their owne costs they should prouide for her and not charge the church This is a profitable doctrine both for parents and children for parents that they bee carefull to bestowe their children in godly marriages where they may be well prouided for neither must they then cast them of but if neede bee receiue them to their owne families againe for children seeing the Lord doth thus commend their welfare careth for their widdow head as wel as their virginity that they cast not thēselues away vpon euery one they can loue without the consent of their parents wherby they impouerish their frends vndoo themselues bring a woful curse vpon their innocēt posterity Thirdly lastly by this counsel of Naomi we gather that if the father be dead we ow the same duty to our mother which is aliue for she saith to her owne mothers house And Salomon sayth it is foolishnesse or wickednesse to despise ones mother The Lorde curseth him in the Lawe that despiseth or curseth his mother as wel as his father In the fift cōmandement hee commandeth to honor the mother equally or as well as the father Many thinke they may bee more bolde vvith their mothers because they are more tender ouer them than with their fathers but the godly must knovve that vpon paine of Gods heauie curse they must follovv the counsell of their mothers vvith Iacob as vvell as the aduice of their fathers vvith Esau And the Lord doth often cloath the vveaker vessell vvith more honor that thereby wee might learne to continue our obedience to our parents The Lord shew In these vvords the general blessing or praier is contained vvhich Naomi maketh for her tvvo daughters vvhere she praieth to God for his fauor vpō thē as they shewed fauor to her and to their dead husbands as if she should saie I wish no more acceptable blessing vpon you than you haue done to others VVhere we briefly note that our duties which we discharge to parents or husbands are as pledges before the Lord to doo good vnto vs. This maketh him delight to poure his blessings vpon vs when he seeth wee dutifully walke in his presence and it prouoketh those to whome wee offer this obedience to poure out their prayers for vs into the eares of the almightie Euen so the neglect of our duties the contempt of our parents and the disobedience to our superiours procureth both the curse of God and them not onely in this life but also in the life to come The Lord. These wordes are her speciall prayer for her daughters marryage and are thus in effect I can praie for no greater worldly blessing vpon you than this that eyther of you being young women may find quiet and louing husbandes and bee made ioyfull mothers of many children VVhere wee first of all note that as parents are bound by the law of nature to prouide marryages for their children so they are willed by the lawe of God to praie for their prosperous estate both before and also after they bee marryed And truelye this neuer sinketh into the heads of carnall parents who are able to doo more wyth their purses than with their prayers who wish extremities to their children minding onely a wealthie not a quyet lyfe Oh how are wee beholding to such ignorant parents which onely take care for vs that we might bee lifted higher when they prouide not for vs against the stormie tempests of vnquite liues and the dangerous downfals of worldly confusion Let them neuer thinke that theyr wishes are praiers when they saie I would God my son were marryed to such a mans daughter or my daughter to such a mans sonne This is all they aime at simple and bare wealthie marriages neuer minding or praying for God his blessing vpon them Secondly by this prayer of Naomi we note the dutie of all husbandes towardes their wiues which is that they should prepare rest for them theyr mindes beeing troubled they should pacifie them with counsell their bodyes diseased they should comfort them with their loue their estate indangered they should deliuer them with carefulnesse and finally they shoulde loue their wiues as theyr owne soules The Prophet Dauid compareth a wife to a vine which if it be not propped vp with a staie by the hande of the gardener what will it doo but wallow on the ground remaine fruitlesse Euen so the best wiues if they bee not carefully maintained by the kindnes of their husbandes their sorrowfull liues will increase their curse yea destroie the fruit of their owne bodies The Apostle wisheth husbands to loue their wiues as Christ loued his Church which is not only mindfull to deliuer it out of present dangers but also hath redeemed it from the curse of eternall damnation so the husbands duties are to prouide for the temporall welfare of their wiues bodies and specially for the euerlasting saluation of their soules that they twayne
nor the thinges of the world for he that loueth the worlde the loue of the Father is not in him And Christ sayth Whosoeuer commeth to me and hateth not father and mother and wife and children is not worthie of mee Where are nowe our naturalles that woulde be professors but their friends will not let them they woulde be Christians but their wiues will not agree to them this yeere they will be worldlings and the next yeere when they haue ouercome their businesse if they haue any leasure they will heare the word preached Oh daungerous delayes of subtill Sathan studying by the worlde to drawe men from God they lye like sluggardes in winter it is too cold in sommer it is too hotte to worke so they in their youth will be religious when they are olde beeing in age when they bee riche being rich they waxe harder and harder and so continue till the day of their damnation Secondly by this we may gather howe farre an hypocrite or an infidell may goe in Religion Horpah forsaketh her owne people for the loue of God his people she weepeth and cryeth when it is but mentioned vnto her that shee woulde departe shee trauaileth on the way towardes the countrey of God his people and in this her iourney for a fewe worldly reasons she turneth backe againe though as it may seeme with a bitter heart Euen so hypocrites may forsake the worlde and their friendes ioyne themselues to God and his people trauaile and profite in Religion towardes the heauenly Ierusalem bee readie to weepe with them that weepe and lament with them that lament and in any good action set his foote as farre forth as the best yet some occasion giuen eyther for profite or pleasure feare or daunger sodainely turneth sayle and commeth to the worlde againe Euen so sayth our Sauiour of the seede that is sowen in the 2. and 3. grounde it taketh roote it springeth and groweth vp but sodainely the heate of persecution ariseth or offence taken at the doctrine which is taught them or the cares of this life deceitfulnesse of riches choake them By this we learne what to thinke of our softe hearted Christians many among vs that will diligently heare and wring out teares from their moistened braine at the hearing of God his iudgementes thundered and threatned by the Preacher yet being gone will make no conscience of oathes carding dicing tabling gaming for their neighbors mony going abroad on the sabboth day to feasts and beeing sharply reprooued for it then farewell Religion and profession also Thirdely by this we gather what exceeding kindnes an heathen an Atheist or an infidell may shew to them that feare God Horpah for the loue of godly Naomi goeth with her on the way weepeth and kisseth at their departure so great loue did she beare to her mother in lawe that had it not bene for one thing shee had gone thorough with her to her owne people So wee may see many among vs speake well of Religion yet they will not go so farre as Bethlehem for it that is they will wish they had a preacher yet they will hardly eyther on the Sabboth day or weeke daye stirre one foote from their owne places to heare a Sermon so colde is their deuotion but if they giue a poore man a meale of meate or lende him a little money at his neede or receiue a Preacher for a night then he is the onely man in the Countrey But oh Lorde open their eyes that they may see their curtesie is but light in regard of their duetie if for their brethren they would die it were but their duetie howe little is it then that they giue them meat But they woulde knowe of vs what is the way to be saued I aunswere so woulde the young man in the Gospell yet when Christ tolde him he woulde not doe it but went away sorrowing euen so these men may outwardly and inwardly in some measure professe kindenesse and humilitie to be instructed but alasse their profession is far from true feeling of Christian religion Lastly by this verse we note that as Horpah and her companions are carnally minded so Ruth and her fellowes are spiritually minded though one be ouerthrowen with worldly reasons yet the other remaineth inuincible in her first pretended purpose So that here is an image of a Congregation where all heare and yet there is a difference of hearing in one and the same Company one parte with profite another with disprofite one to their health another to their sickenesse to some the sauour of life vnto life to other the sauour of death vnto death Yet blessed be God that hath no earth so barren but it bringeth forth some fruite no people so rude but there are some sanctified persons among them which will not be drawne away till death no battell so cruell but some escape with life If the Pharises will not beleeue in Christ yet the poore people that knowe not the lawe will receiue him for the Messiah Among the mockers at Athens Paul receiued some fruite of his labours and the Gospell was neuer preached in any countrey but it gayned some This teacheth vs to follow the example of Ruth and we shall haue the rewarde of Ruth sticke to the Lorde and to the faithfull with purpose of heart let not the vaine glittering pleasure of pleasaunt pastime or profite drawe vs from the hope of our euerlasting blessednesse The time is but shorte wee haue to spende the labour easie if we willingly endure it the profite euerlasting if we continue to the ende This is the victorie that ouercommeth the world euen our Faith for to him that beleeueth are all thinges possible Let vs therefore heare the worde with diligence that our fayth may be strengthened beleeue with assurance that our soules may be iustified and stand fast in the tryall of this world that bodie and soule may be crowned for blessed are they that endure to the ende And thus much of this conference or communication and the effecte thereof Novve let vs giue thankes to God for that vvhich hath bene spoken The thirde Lecture Ruth cap. 1. Vers 15.16.17 15. And Naomi saide beholde thy sister in lawe is gone backe to her people and to her gods returne thou after thy sister in lawe 16. And Ruth answered intreate me not to leaue thee nor to depart from thee for whither thou goest I will goe and where thou dwellest I will dwell thy people shall be my people and thy God my God 17. Where thou dyest will I dye and there will I be buried the Lord do so vnto me and more also if ought but death departe thee and me IN these wordes the holy Ghost declareth vnto vs the conference had betweene Naomi and Ruth after the departure of Horpah wherein Naomi ceaseth not throughly to trie and examine the minde of Ruth for what cause shee woulde goe with her the wordes containe in them 2. partes
The first is the perswasion of Naomi in the 15. verse to make Ruth to returne by the example of her sister The second is the answere of Ruth in the two next verses consisting of two partes the first is the petition shee maketh to her mother in these words Intreat me not to leaue thee c. which she amplifieth by the resolution of her minde in the next wordes First that for her life she would dvvell vvith her and goe vvith her Secondly for her profession her people and God shoulde be Naomies Thirdly for her death that she vvould die and be buried vvith her The last part of this aunsvvere of Ruth is the confirmation of it by an oth in these wordes the Lorde doe so vnto me and more also if ought but death depart thee and me Beholde thy sister is returned Novv Naomi goeth forward to deale with Ruth alone for the Castle may seeme almost wonne where one halfe of the souldiers are ouercome the vnitie betweene these two sisters being brokē and Horpah being departed what was poore Ruth able to doe alone surely this was a greater discouragement vnto her then any she had yet namely that her sister being departed shee should lay before her her sisters example to drawe her likewise to fall And truely thus the Spirite of God dealeth most times with those that labour to come vnto him setting some in the way like the Disciples which forbadde young children to come vnto Christ and as the prease of people kept the poore man diseased of the palsy from comming to our Sauiour euen so many scandals stumbling blockes lettes interruptions and hinderances come between the godly Christ as did betweene Naomi and Ruth But here we note that the examples of our kindred and especially of those that seemed any thing in Religion are dangerous argumentes to drawe vs from Christ Wee see in this place Naomi taketh not example of one vngodly sister to draw away the other which when our Sauiour forelawe he gaue this commaundement that for his sake we must forsake both father and mother brother and sister wife children or else we are not worthie of him And in another place one desiring of him but a little space to burie his father he saide vnto him let the dead burie their dead This is a verie profitable doctrine for these dayes wherein men are thus discouraged from Religion for feare of their friendes for now Satan stirreth vp one brother against another to hinder them from hearing the sauing worde of God now they crie out against vs Are you wiser then your forefathers Hath not all thy friendes before thee beleeued on this wife And wilt thou be singular And surely beloued we knowe it is the greatest argument that popish atheists haue their auncestours fathers mothers their masters and mistresses haue misliked this preaching and these new doctrines wherein many repose their greatest felicitie and God send vs saye they to liue no worse then they did and to die no more blessed then they But woulde you so rather be followers of your popish and ignoraunt predecessours then of the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles reueiled in his worde this is to builde your selues vpon another foundation which when the fire commeth will vtterly consume it But they say are all our predecessours damned which did as we doe to whome I may well aunswere How doe you know that all your fathers were of your mindes but wee are not in God his place to iudge and araigne them but say with the Apostle The time of this ignoraunce did not God regard but nowe hee admonisheth all men euery where to repent Because hee hath appointed a day to iudge the world in righteousnesse So that if God seeme not to regarde it why shoulde we stande vpon it And seeing now the trumpet of the Gospell is sounded by the Lordes Ministers let vs not with Marie lament ouer the graues of the dead But leauing them at their rest trudge trauaile to the mount of the Lord that of him we may freely receiue that which many kings prophetes could neuer obtain Though Moses went not into the land of Canaan yet he saw it so it may be the Lord let our predecessors see the light of y e gospel though they could not inioy it But as Peter Iohn wer with Christ whē he was trāsfigured saw his kingdom yet could not enioy the continuall presence of his glory but beeing warned of Christ tolde it to no man so many godly in time of darknesse not onely saw but imbraced the trueth which it may be is forgotten of their graceles posterity Let the parents eate the sowre grapes shal the childrens teeth be set an edge if they made cakes to the host of heauen shal we worship the sun the moone what discredite is it to a blinde father that hath a son well sighted no more is it to idolaters whose children are the appointed heires of the lande of Canaan Let vs abide with him that hath the wordes of eternall life as the wealth of our parentes is deare vnto vs yet many thousand times more dearer is the health of our soules Secondly by this we note that to sticke by our frendes to go with them from the Lord is to commit idolatry for Naomi saith Thy sister is gone to her people and to her Gods as if she had said indeed for kindredssake she is gone backe but it is vnto idols false Gods Yea more also vnto deuilles this is a worthy lesson for our naturals to learne who will forsake gospel church prayer preaching some for the loue of their wiues to keepe them company at home when God calleth for them in one congregation or other some their idolatrous frendes which are notable recusants yet because they should thinke well of thē they will falsifie their faith to the Lorde be vniust in his worke that they may please thē with their present company some are hindred by their profite some by vnlawfull gaming and many by bare idlenes Thus men make gods some of their people some of their wiues some of their popishe frends some of their profit some of their pleasures and some of their idlenes few or none are to be found that are both able willing to follow Christ when he calleth thē as litle Zacheus did but euery one hath some excuse to keep them from the Lords supper who shal neuer tast of his heauenly pleasures seeing they mind earthly things making their glory their shame their bely their God let their end be damnation But oh my beloued let vs be warned by the danger of others whē Peter rebuked Christ bid him fauor himselfe Christ rebuked him called him sathan euē so whē our deerest frendes would haue vs be slacke in preaching fauour our bodies come to the church seldome make no toile of it agree with the most
Berea which sought the scriptures dayly whither those thinges were so or not which were taught by Paule and Silas we know how Paul withstood Peter to his face who was a piller of the church and a more ancient Apostle then him selfe yet hee was faulty and to conclude we must receiue the Gospell as from God the onely author of it not from man least we make the preaching of the corsse of none effect it is farre surer to send vs to the fountaines of the written word of God then to the braines of the best learned in the world Therfore the conclusion is that we must not in the foundation of religion depend vpon men or angels though we were neuer so truly taught by them but must referre our faith and the credit therof to the onely written word of God But some wil say had Ruth this word of God or did Naomi cary it with her into the land of Moab I answere that it is very likely they had for the Iewes at this day haue the old testament with them in all nations secondly if they had not yet the Lorde by his spirite did persuade the heart of Ruth of the truth of those things which Naomi had taught her so did he perswade his church when there was no word written for the space of aboue two thousand yeres so doth he at this day keepe his church among infidells where is neither preaching word nor sacraments yet not one of them is lost But if any say let vs then forsake the written word of God and attend to these reuelations or priuate instructions of the holy ghost I answere so the Iewes when they came into the land of Canaan might haue eate no meate tyll the Lord raigned downe more manna vpon them surely then they had all starued many thousand yeares ago euen so if we looke for such extraordinary illuminations forsake y e present food of our souls God his writtē word preached among vs the other being ceased we shal iustly be condemned as the murderers and slaughterslaues of our owne destruction Let vs therfore take heede to God not to men ground our faith vpon his word not on humane giftes attend to the voice of Christ speaking by his ministers to the ears of y e body not waiting for extraordinary illuminatiōs if we want this means labor for it as a pearle worth all our marchants substance yea a treasure greater then all the world But of lighter pointes of religion if we receiue any thing of men who in one point haue diuers iudgments let vs learne to examine the reasons of all and being proued by prayer peace of conscience leane to the best neither doubting to depend vppon men or the credit of the truth but to the word Where wee note many things what great care ought parēts magistrats ministers prechers to haue ouer their children people subiects for their instruction seeing as Ruth had truly learned of her mother in law that did she constantly defend namely the worship of the onely one God If Naomi had peruerted her from on heathenisme to another it is very likly she wold haue abode by it but being instructed in the trueth and sealed by the holy spirite of promise shee doth carefully maintaine it giuing vs thereby to vnderstand how inestimable is the benefite of good education and first training vp in religion And ought not this to bee deare vnto vs that watch ouer the soules of our people and children who by vs beeing rightlie grounded in the foundation of christian religion maye happely growe vp like to glorious oliues for the church and commonwealth Wee read when Laban swore by his false gods then Iacob swore by the feare of his father Izaac so excellent was the instruction giuen him of his father that in the presence of idolatrous Laban for feare nor fauour would he alter his religion yea it seemed to be fastened in his flesh that hauing bene twentie yeeres among the idolatrous Sirians yet hee had not changed the manner of his oth the which he lerned of his father Oh where are these Izaaks in our dayes which teach their children any religion indeed men are too careful for their childrens temporall wealth they put them to schooles and vniuersities to be students at the law and men of occupations which are good but aske them why they do so they will answere that they might haue some thing to liue by heereafter neuer a word I warrant you of the saluation of their soules but for that they will hope in God they say and thus they compasse sea and land for trifles but the neuer fading health they least thinke vpon In times past seruants prayed to the God of their maisters but in these dayes if they should do so they must praye eyther to pride couetousnes or ignorance maisters and seruants can sweare by the name of God liberally but pray sparingly insomuch as if the life of God consisted in their praiers they woulde surely murder him they so seldome call vppon him Oh that this hellish behauiour of maisters and seruantes could be reduced to the line of God his worde but nowe they deale with their seruants as the Egiptians did with the Israelits they look for their tasks and worldly busines but they neuer exhorte them to sacrrfice to the Lord nay they hinder them and call them idle personnes if there bee any forwardnes of seruants and children that wayes truely now is like seruant like maister like maide like mistresse like father like sonne like mother like daughter such is the seede such is the haruest they go from cradles to graues and from graues to damnation their whole care is for pleasure and wealth and therefore they haue no part or portion but in this present life Yet let the children of Abraham do like Abrahā teach their sons daughters seruants the couenant of the Lord that all their seed posterity may be blessed both with the temporall euerlasting promise for godlines hath the promise of this life and of the life to come Secondly by this we note the fal of vngodly flatterers which will outwardly for shew or fauor be godly with the good wicked with the profane they wil in good company temper their speech like good men they will trudge trauel to sermons godly exercises because it pleaseth some gentleman or other will say to thē thy God my God your preacher my preacher your professiō shalbe my profession whom you loue I loue whō you hate I abhor Of this sort are many ignorant persons one misliketh our religiō because some popish frend of his mislike it some speaks against our gouernment because one or other which gape for the churche liuings speaketh against it and to say the truth it is very lamentable to see how all religion of many is turned into man pleasing but these tame beasts will one day come to the slaughter as well as
Israel as she was and wife to the third yet what glory had she of her place when her husband and was iustly slaine and her people ouercome therfore shee called her son no glory for neither dignity of place highnes of birth fruitfulnes of children or the dominion ouer a whole countrey may minister any comfort to them whome the Lord hath hūbled Rahel that bid Iacob giue her children or els she should die at the birth of her second child died and yet had children she supposed if she were made fruitful had many children she could not chuse but liue in felicity but hauing the first she called him Ioseph because God would adde more yet at the second she called him Ben-oni which is the son of her sorrow because she died in trauaile so that she which accounted bearing of children her chefest ioy by that which shee loued came her greatest sorrow Thus Naomi which was once as beautiful and pleasant in prosperity as any yet now in aduersity who more bitter thē she yea the very remembrance of her name increaseth her griefe Were she the daughter of a prince yet nowe beeing a begger it is a greater discomfort vnto her then if she had bene borne poore for mans nature is like a pleasant plant which prospereth when it groweth higher higher but decaieth if it fal lower lower if Naomi had bene a Lady yet hauing lost her husbande childrē wealth the cogitation of her wonted welfare encreaseth her disquietnes euen as Phine has his wife and Rahel at the birth of their children Why then do men thus highly esteem of worldly vain glory Cannot one measure of honour afford one mite of cōfort to a distressed person Do not mē because they are proper was proud because they are learned proud ambitious what then is the fruicte of worldly titles is pride the reward of proportion loftynes of worship scornefulnes of riches and ambition of learning surely these things in the day of trouble can minister no medicine to make ease if godlynes bee not with them What was Achan the better for his gold when he was stoned to death Absalon for his beautie whan he was hanged Haman for his honour when he was mounted vppon his owne gallowes the sorcerers of Egipt for their knowledge when darknes was ouer the land or Herop for the peoples voice whed they cried a God and not man and the wormes fel vppon him consumed him Trust not therfore in princes much lesse in the titles of princes in the strength of an horse much lesse in the wealth of man say not I shall be the better because I am a gentleman a doctour or a noble man for when Salomon had considred all these things he said all is vanity and vexation of spirite For the almighty hath This is the reason wherfore she denieth her name or rather changeth it shewing that her first name had nothing in it which did expresse the relation betweene her selfe and it but her second name doth most significantly declare hir bitter affliction Where we first of all obserue the cause which moued the fathers to giue such names to theyr children which to signify or put them in mind of their duety or some other euent So God called the first man Adam which is as much as man or earthly because hee was made of the earth or the red earth so Adam called his wife Chauuath which we call Heuah by reason of the Hebrue letters because she should be the mother of all liuing the like may bee sayd of Noah Seth Abraham Izaac Israel Samuel Iohn Baptist and many others who being named eyther by the Lord himselfe or by other were so called to put them in minde of their duetyes or to note the thankefulnes of their parents The which is also lawfull for godly parents now to imitate in giuing such names to their children as may bee notes to al the world of their profession But some cannot brooke this liberty accompting it newnes and precisenesse in them that vse it as though it were a deadly sinne one iot to depart from the custome of the multitude But this curiositie is well confuted by the name of Iohn Baptist ancestors must not alwayes be followed those which are new creatures in Iesus Christ maye also haue new names But in this the worlde bewraie their palpable ignorance for they like the olde names which were verie plaine in their owne tongues wherein they were giuen but English names they cannot abide belike for verie feare least their names should bee witnesses of condemnation against theyr licentiousnesse Againe they account it a glory proper to a few persons to be called by the worldly surnames of some of theyr great ancestours but they will not beare these names of reioycing thankesgiuing repentance godlynes mercy constancie such lyke they will as easily admit them as a deafe adder the voice of the charmer But let the godly in this vse christian wisedome and ancient libertie for that which was lawfull in this point in the first age the Iews commonwealth the primitiue church with the practise of all ages since is also lawfull for them to giue holy and significant names to their children for I would haue all if it were possible to haue no other names but such as they vnderstand if they be called by the names of the ancient fathers kings or prophets which we reade of in the Scriptures it is also needful that they vnderstand the liues and the dispositions of those persons that as they haue them for the euidence of their names so they might looke vppon them as the examples of their faith and manners Secondly by this wee note what God his children thinke of their suffering which Naomi setteth out by this worde Bitternesse for bitternesse of all other tastes doth most dull the sense and corrupt the stomacke so that they account their afflictions as sharpe to them as to anie and may as lawfully complaine of them vnto the Lord. This I speake for instruction of them that are ignorant and the comfort of the afflicted First for instruction because some thinke they are not truely religious excepte they feele their miseries no more than a stone when they are afflicted and this maketh them so to wauer and doubt of themselues that in their greatest plagues they can hardly receiue any comfort being alwayes troubled with this that if they were faithfull they should delight more in their tribulations yet beloued marke a litle Naomi calleth it in this place bitternes as if shee had called the enimy to her health for when Peter would expresse the danger of Simon Magus because he offered money for the gift of the holy ghost he telleth him he is in the very gal of bitternes by that metaphor or allegory declaring the loathsomnes of sin to his soule as bitternes to the body Dauid saith that his affliction was his death as if he had
whom came this godly and wealthy Boaz. In this then we see true the saying of the Apostle that godlinesse hath the promises of this life and of the life to come for in hir selfe she was blessed with an honourable marriage in her posterity with a godly and a wealthy son This my beloued is a notable encouragement to religion for Christ sayth that whosoeuer shal for him forsake father or mother wife or children shall receiue many times so much in this world but eternall saluation in the life to come This answereth and stoppeth the mouthes of the enemyes which call the professors bankeruptes impouerished decayd persons yea as base as beggers in this world which by their religion vndoe themselues and their posterity But on the contrary we affirme that religion bringeth no discommodity euen in worldly things the reason is because it teacheth vs to vse our riches aright If a man had mountaines of money knew not how to employ it what profit could he receiue therby euen so surely without Christ and his Gospell I meane the true knowledge thereof there is no lawful vse of these worldly benefits and except euery one learne to apply them by the word of God hee possesseth his wealth as a thiefe doth the purse of a true man in the presence of God is no better then a violent robber which takeeth away the mony from the lawfull possessors which haue proued and learned the way to vse it and as they haue it without his knowledge euen so they shall vse it without his blessing Therfore be not discouraged my dere brethren come forward in religion it is the deuil that telleth you you must make bread of stones that is you must relye vppon the world and follow the custome thereof there is greater plenty and â—store in the garners of God his word then in all the cornefields of the world He which could feede fiue thousand people with fiue barly loaues and two fishes hath hee not inough for the maintenance of thy family He which fed the host of Israel almost fourty yeares with angells foode are not the heauens his for euermore when almost all the world was in a famine did hee not prouide for his seruant Eliah first commaunding the rauens to bring him bread and meate morning and euening to the brooke Cherith and that being dried vp sustained him with a widdow and her son by a handful of meal a litle oile for a long season Did not our gracious father multiplie the oile of a poore prophets widow into many vessels which before coulde not fill one And what shall I saie more I haue neuer seene the righteous forsaken or their children left destitute And Ruth After the holy Ghost had set downe the description of Boaz as the necessarie occasion to vnderstand that which followeth in the next place he expresseth this of Ruth Wherein he sheweth vs the carefulnesse of Ruth for her mother and her selfe being in a strange place would not in hunger harbor at home but rather aduenture her perill in an honest labour by going abroad to gleane in the fieldes therefore to her mother shee commeth and asketh leaue which beeing granted forth she goeth the prouidence of the Lorde directing her iourney she commeth to the haruest field of Boaz her kinsman Where first of all wee gather what manner of lyfe they lead after they came to Bethlehem namely a very poore base and despised estate not halfe so good to see to as that which they lead and liued among the Moabites insomuch as one may nowe saie vnto mee you tolde vs euen now the golden rewards and precious commoditie of true religion which it bringeth to all them that faithfully receiue it but you see these two godly women as armed examples against your selfe they liued wealthily in Moab but poorely in Iudah with the wicked they found gentle liberalitie but with the godly they indure wofull pouertie What colde intertainment doo they finde at Bethlehem euen in the Church of God for whose sake one forsooke her countrie the other her wealth and both of them their welfare so that the profession of religion looseth our friends denieth our countrie disquieteth our peace ingendereth our trouble consumeth our wealth and decaâ—eth our substance Is this the profit of your profession which promiseth mountaines of securitie and paieth multitude of miseries How shall we bee incouraged to religion when at the first entrie we shall paie so great an in-come and depart from a fine worth all our substance To this I answere that if the beginning bee not so ioyful as you or they wished yet the end answered their expectation I grant you shall first find a little want but in the end you shall possesse a great gaine A man that hath a thousand pounds layde beside him layeth it out vpon a bargaine whereof hee shall receiue no profite in many yeeres but the date expired and the daie of receit come hee receiueth his owne and many thousand pounds for his gaine you will graunt at the first hee emptieth his coffers and bags and leaueth him selfe bare and mony lesse yet you would account him a foole if he would not vpon sure bands of so great aduantage aduenture his owne and giue forth his monie Euen so it is in religion it is a pearle for which we must sel both liuing landes and yet it is worth both and many thousand times more if thou feele not the profit at the first tarry a while thou hast the promise band of the Lorde of hoasts hee is able and willing to performe and paie at the time appointed and if thou canst abide a little want of earthly commodities shortly thou shalt see them rolling vpon thee in excellent aboundance and exceeding quantityes And this teacheth vs with what mind we must embrace religion not for any present commoditye or temporall gaine but with deniall of our liues and riches that they may serue vs as ordinarye expenses in our iourney to euerlasting saluation the kingdome of heauen For they are much deceiued that receiue the truth to increase their wealth making Christianity a gainefull trade for although it hath the promises yet it hath not alway the possession of things in this life but as the right heires are many times put beside their inheritances which are possessed by vnlawfull owners so the godly are the right heires of the whole world although the wicked haue driuen them out of possession for the which the Apostle sayd that godlynesse hath the promises of this life and also of the life to come Againe those promises that the meeke shall possesse the earth and their seede shall inherite the land and especially that the verie same which are the elected heyres of grace are also the appointed inherytours of this worlde But this my beloued must establishe our mindes that as the seed which is cast into the ground seemeth for a long season to be lost
yet in the end it groweth for the comfort of mankind and the great profit of the posessors so although at the first the fruite of religion is peraduenture but sharp in worldly affaires yet if wee waite like the husbandman vntill haruest our consciences shall be plentifull garners of heauenly corne for the present comfort of our liues and the perpetuall benefit of our souls A man dresseth his vineyard all the yeare long and doth nothing but empty his purse and weary his body in the tillage and pruning and digging thereof yet there is but one vintage or time of gathering grapes euen so wee must willingly depart with our wealth and trauaile in diligence for the preparing of our soules to beare fruite to the Lord the end wil be most profitable though y e begining seem most chargeable The like may be said of the marchant which cutteth the seas of the goldsmith that melteth his metal of euery worldly trade which at the first begin with charges but at the last acquite the cost and satisfie the desire and end with the increase of substance which are but carnall and outward things to put vs in minde of inward and spirituall significations for as in none of these wee are discouraged by the costly entrance so more accursed shall we be if we forsake the wel of the water of life the running fountaine of euerlasting health to rake in the puddles of transitory riches for feare the one will giue vs too much ease and for feare the other will withdraw our wealth which is like the Gergesits sin which had rather possesse their heards of swine then enioy the presence and preaching of Iesus Christ Come not to religion for hope of world lye aboundance for nether Abraham or the Israelites or Rachab or Ruth or Zacheus or Cornelius or anye of the faythfull had this intention But the Lorde for our farther strengthning hath giuen two blessings that if the temporall fayle which are but conditionall yet the euerlasting benefits shall neuer deceaue for although the leaues fall yet bodyes of the trees abide continually Therefore let vs stay our mindes vppon this double string which is grounded vppon the credit of him that giueth the promise before whom heauen and earth shal decay and the sun shall loose her light rather then he frustrate the hope of the godly Secondly here wee note a most excellent example of obedience to parents and auoyding of idlenes Ruth was lately come to Bethlehem where it is likely shee might long haue taried before her mother woulde haue entreated her to so base a labour as gathering of barley but seeing her selfe employed in nothing first shee commeth to her mother and after asketh leaue as one desirous of some honest though neuer so simple a calling If shee had departed not acquainting her with it being to labour for their liuing shee might well bee excused but this seemeth much that shee must come vnto her not to tell her shee would go to such a busines but to giue her leaue to gleane in the fields promising she would not go beyond her bounds but onely gather in that place where the owner thereof should grant her license vnto which when the mother had granted foorth shee goeth to the field of Boaz. Where wee see what effect godlines worketh in the hearts of children for Ruth offered her seruice which her mother intreated not she abhorred no labor were is neuer so base she was not ashamed of her pouerty euen in a straunge countrey and all this must bee imputed to her religion For as Ioseph for the feare of God bore with the wrath of his father when hee told him his vision of the sun and the moone the eleuen stars bowing vnto him so did Ruth with the poore estate of her mother in law which had nothing to liue by thus the Apostle teacheth children to obey their parents in all things that is not onely to be willing to performe their commaundements but also to bee alway contented with their estate for this wretchednes of cursed children is worthy to be condemned wherein those which haue wealthy parents will please them till they haue gotten their riches which are like the prodigall sonne in the Gospell other because their parents are poore wil thinke they are bound vnto them in nothing because they haue litle or no wealth to leaue behind them both these kindes of children are heere condemned by the example of Ruth who did not onely forsake her wealth to goe with her mother but also labor with her hands to maintaine her liuing yea to her step-mother which is more commendable then if it were done to her naturall parents The vse of this doctrine is to exhort and stirre vp parents to bee more carefull to teach their children the feare of the Lord then to leaue them mountaines of riches behind them which if they will practise would their countenances be so sorrowfull as often they are would not their naturall oliues I meane their children anoint their faces with the oyle of cheerefulnes if mothers eyther would or could doo as Naomi did for Ruth teach their children the feare of the Lord their hearts should not bee so heauie for their vngracious life But since parents had no care to instruct their children children had no feare to disobey their parents Will they in these dayes acquaint their fathers mothers with their iourneis labors or runne not they headlong to their own vtter vndoing they chuse them masters seruices without fathers consent they marry are married against parents good will do they not take pleasure for profit pastime for godlines thinking thēselues to be born for wantonnesse referring the care of their old age to their gray headed parents neuer considering till beggery catch their bodies damnation their soules Surely as the fruite is sower because it is not grafted so their manners are wicked because they want religion this lieth then in the ouerlouing parents who make such dandlings of their babes while they are young that they care not for their fathers when they be old They consider not that lions are tamed when they are yong that trees are bowed when they are twigges And that Salomon saith Intruct a child when hee is young the way of his life and when he is old he shall not departe from it Their owne ignorance is so palpable that their children learne nothing but folly they themselues so vain that the other are wanton they so obstinate that their feede is rebellious and finally a wilde vine bringeth foorth nothing but wilde grapes and ignorant parents must haue vngracious children Therfore seeing by nature you wold haue obedient and wise children teach them the feare of the Lord for that is the beginning of wisedome and if you would haue your names in your posterity long to endure the prayse of it continueth for euer Thirdly here we may note an example of christian
them Whereby the vngodly entreating of strangers that manye wishe for among vs is too wicked enuying that any shoulde bee permitted to come and soiourne among vs like free borne children Yet heerein wee are to prayse God that these persons cannot bite although they barke at poore harbourles strangers and also that hee hath blessed our magistrates with more pitifull mindes And let these personnes knowe and consider that it is as easie to go out as to come into England this is they may as sone be driuen to other places out of their owne countrey to bee strangers there as these are repayred for succour hither The vncertaintie of worldly estate that hath brought great princes to extreme pouerty should bridle their churlishe and vngodly affections from offering one thought of iniurie to these poore harbourlesse strangers Wee knowe the parable of Christ of a man that trauailed from Iericho to Ierusalem and fell among theeues the kindnes of that stranger Samaritan should mooue vs to do good to strangers while the world standeth seeing wee are more helped by their presence then by our owne neyghbours but these kinde persons that thus rayle vppon poore strangers are such as are grieued against God and men who in their hearts would haue no man liuing in the lande besides themselues and theyr cursed posteritye But some will saye you make too much account of strangers the Lorde doeth not make such reckoning of them because forbidding vsury to the Iewes yet hee permitted them to take vsurye of the strangers I answere those strangers were the cursed Cananites and none other whome God had vowed to destruction to the intent the Iewes might haue them in all slauerie Of them he permitted to take vsury for this is the blessing of God vppon that people that they should bee able to lend to other but stand in no need to borrowe of other Therefore that beeing but a permission for the Iewes onely hath ceased in that common wealth but in Christ there is no difference of Iewe or gentile male or female bond or free for all are his and hee the Lordes so that nowe the name of a straunger is quite ceased but all are neighbors and brethren for euermore And Boaz answered In this verse is contained the replye of Boaz vnto the speeche of Ruth wherein is set downe the true cause of his liberalitye vnto her first in regarde of her mother in lawe and his kinswoman with whome shee had dealt so well in her owne countrey secondly in regard of her selfe she had forsaken father and mother with countreye and kindred to come among strange people Where we first obserue a singular encouragement to obey our godly parents for wee see that our good actions needed not to bee preached abroade by other for our farther coÌ„mendation but at the time appointed they will shewe themselues as the life of trees by sending foorth leaues in the spring time of the yeere Ruth as wee haue heard dealt most louingly with her mother in lawe in Moab yet you see that her kindnes hath followed her to Bethlehem in Iudah manye myles distant the one from the other If it had beene knowen there to a few onely it had bin sufficient but being spread a broade the chiefe man in a citie doth commende her for it among a multitude in a haruest field the place could not hide it were it neuer so far of the time not conceale it bee it neuer so secret the commendation of it be couered because shee was a stranger nor the credit of it bee loste in another countrey Such is the nature of good thinges which wee do to other that no obliuion can euer bury it What needeth this boasting of our almes deedes like the blowing of a trumpet this bragging of our worthynes some of their manhood some of their friendship other of their riches and many of their labour as if they slept not foundly til al the world did ring of their commendation This one thing loseth all our reward for it is better that the workes then the wordes should witnes it We may also by this assure our selues that we haue done nothing so secretly to the flocke of Christ but it is knowne and the name of God praysed for it for as euill deedes remaine to the graue so good workes reâ—ound to perpetuall memory Secondlye by this wee obserue the excellencye of religion for whose sake it is commendable to forget nature and praise worthye to forsake our parents and people Which if we should doo for any other cause whatsoeuer we were accursed When the Lorde woulde establishe his couenant with Abraham â— hee called him from Father and countrey to shewe that for religion sake it is a glory and not onely to do thus but also for to bee scourged yea and to suffer death Why then is it so contumeliously vpbraided so scornefully refused of many and but of fewe â—ectiued till this day Among all the world onely Abrahams posterity had the couenant and promises and now though men bee as the sande on the sea shoare and the starres of heauen which cannot bee numbered yet shall but a remnant bee saued none come vnto it but by the especiall grace of God whereby hee draweth them as it were against theyr mindes fewe persons woulde resorte to Noahs arke because they scorned his preaching euen so fewe are religious because they account it a base worke to heare the worde of God plainely opened and sincerely expounded Where is then become this auncient zeale that made men and women as well noble as base to bee obedient to the calling of the Lord for which cause they forsook both wealth parentage cuntry kindred but in these dayes men will forsake Christe and his Gospell religion and preaching for the least of these Once the Apostle saide hee accounted all thinges as dung in regarde of Christe but nowe Christ is regarded as dung in comparison of the worlde Once Christ sayd whosoeuer loueth father or mother wife or children house or landes more then mee is not worthy of mee but nowe whosoeuer loueth Christe more then these is not worthy to liue Once it was saide firste seeke the kingdome of God and the righteousnes thereof and all other thing shall be cast vppon you but nowe first seeke the worldes riches and wealth and religion will follow too soone Oh what miserable daies are we fallen into where ignoraunce aduanceth it selfe like the moone and is not ashamed the Gospell reuiled by euerie atheist the ministers molested for euery papiste the sacramentes prophaned the professours tearmed by slanderous titles which for Christes sake haue loste their kindred and aduentured their liues Surely surelye some great plague is approaching for the quenching of this burning heate of sinne when they shall say here is a God that rewardeth the righteous verily there is a God that iudgeth the worlde Thirdly we obserue out of this verse that wee must not without
fines defrauders of simple persons bargaining who all are condemned in the last commaÌ„dement as the couetors of other mens goods and therefore guiltie of eternal damnation And do you These words are the seconde part of his coÌ„mandement whereby the former point is confirmed that Bohaz knew Ruth would not picke the sheaues therefore willeth to let fall on the grounde plentifully for her to auoide her farther and more vnprofitable labour which he therefore doth that he might testifie his goodes to bee not onely his but all theirs that feare the Lord for no doubt but there were many that did gleane in the field beside Ruth with whom Bohaz did not thus deale shewing vnto vs that there may be a difference in giuing and that we are not bounde to giue equally to all but as the persons are so must bee the gift the poorest must not haue the greatest share but the godliest for pouertie without godlines is like the apple of Sodome which is as fayre to looke on as any other but being taken in the hand resolueth to smoke and powder so if vngodly poore folks be a little examined they shal be found as the apple not worthy eating so the other not worthy to be giuen to although they crie like the horseleaches daughters giue giue yet wee must answere theÌ„ w t spare spare But Bohaz doth in this place as Ioseph did to his brethren he feasted all of theÌ„ but Beniamins part was fiue times so big as the residue afterward he gaue to euery one chaunge of garmentes but vnto Beniamin he gaue three hundred shikles and fiue change of garments the reason of all this was because hee was Rachell his owne mothers sonne but all the other were his fathers children onely euen so must we do good to all that are our fathers children by creation but to our mothers children which is the Church of Christ the houshold of faith whereof Rachel was a tipe we must w t special portions for feeding their hunger and clothing of their nakednesse compasse their wantes with the supply of our beneuolence for which cause Sainte Paule in his preaching was willed by the other Apostles to haue speciall and heedfull care ouer the poore brethren which if it were put in practise wee should be more able to do good vnto the godly and to denie the contrary minded This one thing is aboue all other to be required y t euery one giue where God may most of all be glorified but the vngodly sort take their reliefe as the hungry houndes their feeding if they bee hindered they will flye vppon their owne maisters in like sort the wicked will blaspheme God liberally and not humbly thanke or praise him for anye thing they receiue What if they murmure against thee and saye my part is not so good as thine you giue him more then to mee and you care for none but for these precise fellowes Tell them againe it is lawfull for thee to doo with thy owne as thou wilt neyther ought thy eye to bee euill because my hand is good the vnworthiest in the world shall haue the worthiest portion they which with them are last with thee let be first the first with them be last with thee for spirtuall men must looke for spirituall hearts to cast the seed of their almes into good ground where the fruit may be increased the want of the faithfull may be relieued the glorie of Christ may be magnified thy owne duetie may bee discharged a good conscience satisfied and thy soule for euer comforted Secondly by this wee obserue that Boaz might haue admitted many hinderances whereby hee might haue bene better aduised before he gaue such large liberty either to Ruth or to his seruants for her as to gather among the sheaues or to let fall handâ—ulls vnto her Hee might haue thought thus with himselfe it was lately a derth for a long time together it may be shortly y e Lord wil send such another then all that I haue will be too litle for my selfe and my family and therefore I must be wise and giue not so much till I knowe what I shall lacke but all this coulde not turne away the heart of Boaz from doing good vnto Ruth for he esteemed more of one godly Ruth then of all the possessions hee had neyther ought any of the godly once to admit any such doubt in their minde as to be vexed in distrust of the mercye of God to come They must pray with Dauid o Lord incline my hearte to thy testimonies not to couetousnes The widdow of Zareptha might haue so answered Eliah that she had but so little lefte as would onely suffise for one meale and giue him nothing yet she was obedient and beleeued the worde of the prophet and her store increased that she wanted no more The church of the Macedonians might haue said that they were poore saints as wel as the residue therefore as they asked nothing but were content with their pouerty so none should charge them in giuing to other but yet the Apostle Paule said they supplied the want of the Cornithians and gaue more then they were able And euerlasting is the commendation which hee giueth of Onesiphorus how often hee refreshed him and was not ashamed of his chaines but came to Ephesus and visited him there and followed him to Rome many hundred miles that there also he might succor him with his charity Which teacheth vs when wee haue to deale with the godly as all these persons had no coste must be spared couetousnes not admitted no feare of want suspected for he which is Lord ouerall is also rich vnto all Obadiah in a famine fedde an hundered prophets yea and hidde them in caues from the wrath of Iezabell What want did he sustaine thereby surelye none for distrust causeth want and not liberalitye for hee which maketh thee to feede his saints nowe will also prouide another to feed the when thy store is wasted Oh hearken to this you possessors of the earth vppon whome in this time of dearth the eyes of the poore doe looke as on the handes of the Lord whereby hee filleth euerie liuing thing with his plenteous goodnes Open your gates wider that more poore maye come into your houses to bee refreshed with breade open your purses farther that more beneuolence maye come out to bee caste into the fruitefull lande of the famished poore for after manye dayes you shall finde it againe put on the bowels of compassion and let not your owne bretheren want seeing you haue inough Hee that willeth you to doo this for his sake will commaunde heauen and earth to restore his owne debte which you haue lent him feare not that you shall want for the Lorde is the owner of the earth this is senâ—e vppon vs to trye your charitye and compassion towarde the poore for his sake if you nowe bee liberall Paule hath prayed for
is all heaped on the children they match without wealth or blessing they are detayned in the best tyme of their dayes and finally are discredited by their owne parents Would God you that are naturall parentes would learne of Naomi which was but a stepmother She differred not the time she knewe it a sinne against nature that youth should bee wasted and not in marriage she had a conscience of her duetie and a care to her daughter in lawe that her welfare might encrease her solitarie life be comforted her name aduaunced her religion rewarded with a temporall blessing of a godly husband and eternall saluation in the kingdome of heauen Secondly by this wee gather that for many causes mariage is better then the vnmaried estate if with the feare of God it be vndertaken For in this place Naomi calleth it rest as she did in the first Chapter and therefore by relation the vnmaried life is disquietnes and as rest is better then trouble so the maried life is better then the other And truely in the vnmaried life wee find many inconueniences First the heart is neuer satisfied if a man haue riches honour pleasure health and fauour yet wanting a conuenient mariage hee is not at rest but desireth that If he bee in sicknes the diligence care of a wife is better then a phisition Nature biddeth him marry to increase his name The world biddeth him marry to multiply mankind The Lorde biddeth him marry to prepare some heyres for the kingdome of heauen So that if nature worlde religion require it who shal speak against it Secondly in the vnmaried estate is either too too much solitarinesse or too too much pleasure the meane betweene both is mariage where hee shall alway finde company to expell sorrow and ioyfull care to driue away ouer merry pastimes it calleth a man to grauitie it admonisheth of death if sheweth the world to bee vanitie hath no hope but in heauen Therefore Salomon speaking of one kind and alluding to both saith Hee that findeth a wife findeth a good thing and receiueth fauour of the Lord euen so may a woman say If she find a godly husbande she hath a great fauour Christ taketh greatest delight in his Church and his Church in Christ Such is mariage when the hart of one resteth in another that is the rest which is to be required As for temporall blessinges which further it they must be sought for by diligent labour and prayed for by faithfull supplication because it is the Lord that giueth power to get riches grace to vse them and his blessing to increase them We knowe all the fathers so soone as their children were growen vp they willed and wished them to marry that their mindes might first be stayed at home as it were the foundation and then their actions would bee wiser abroad which would make a perfect building But some will say Paule affirmeth it is not good for a man to touch a woman that is to marrie I answere that saying of Paule is because of troubles that are incident to mariage by reason of the wickednes of the world The marchant that ventureth on the sea hath greatest gaine and suddainest losse not as if the sea were in fault but because the stormes fall on the sea euen so if any find their mariages bitter vnto them let them knowe the fault is not in the thing but in the time place or persons And though troubles followe it it is but sowre sawce to sweet meat as the furnace doth purge the golde that their loue might be manifested their fidelity tried their patience approued and their religion if they haue any declared Againe they will obiect the same Apostle saith in the same Chapter He that giueth in mariage doth wel but he that giueth not in mariage doth better therefore the vnmaried life is better then the married To which I answere first he speaketh to them that haue the gifte of chastitie but we knowe the fewest parte are endued therewith Secondly his speech is for those troublesome dayes of persecution when the faithfull were in continuall troubles and feare of their liues then was it better to die single then leaue many helpelesse widdowes behind that they might the better flie in danger bee constant in affliction and haue no lets or pul-backes to keepe them from Christ so hee wisheth and protesteth for their troubles were meanes to keepe them from mariage in which sense the Apostle calleth it better not to marrie and yet yeeldeth the other to bee good and lawfull But in times of peace where there is plentie and libertie the swelling nature will not bee appeased but onely by mariage where the gift is not and the Apostle saith in those daungerous times that it was better to marrye then to burne that is to bee vexed with the daylie desire through the feeling of our owne necessities Thirdelie they may obiect that the vnmaried care for the thinges of God but the maried to please their husbandes and wiues to the which I aunswere that marriage hindereth not the seruice of God but furthereth it in many respects first because a householde is a little Church where the married persons are the ministers of their families by priuate instruction to drawe both children and seruantes to the kingdome of heauen Secondly it putteth them in minde of the loue of God to them when they loue one another and admonisheth them of their duties which is to loue God againe Thirdely they haue mo priuate blessinges as the seales of God his fauour towarde them which also stirreth them vp to serue the Lorde Fourthly two are better then one for if one bee negligent in the worshippe of God the other may whette his fellowe on their prayers are more acceptable because the number of them that praye is greater And if any omit these duties the fault is in the persons not in the marriage for that is it which the Apostle Saint Paule condemneth when eyther partie are so much inclyned to one another that they weigh not the loue of God and care of heauenly thinges for the fondenesse ouer themselues and trauaile for earthly commodities but wee must bee married as if wee were vnmarried in this respect we must vse the world as if wee vsed it not reioyce in the company of one another as if wee reioyced not Therfore to conclude mariage is honorable in all instituted by God himselfe obserued by the Fathers before Christ both princes priestes and prophets commaunded by our Sauiour his apostles to bee vndertaken that such persons as haue not the gifte of continencye might marry keepe themselues the vndefiled members of Christes misticall body Let vs then bee exhorted to bee patient in the troubles that accompanye it for although a bitter shell doe compasse the nutte yet how sweet is the kernell that lyeth within although it haue as many miseries as the winter hath colde dayes yet vnspeakeable
alienation of the right from the other kinsman to Boaz in the foure next verses the conference is described by the place that it was at the gate of the City verse 1. secondly by the witnesses that it was before the elders of the City verse 2. The matter being thus prepared Bohaz propoundeth the cause of their meeting in two parts first for the redeeming of the land at the hand of Naomi which was the inheritance of their kinsman Elimelech whereunto he answereth that he will redeeme it verse 4. secondly he propoundeth to him the mariage of Ruth that the case so standeth if he redeeme the inheritance he must also marry with the widdow for otherwise she would not agree and this is in the fift verse Vnto which latter condition the kinsman answereth that he cannot doe it first shewing the reason of it least he destroy his owne inheritance secondly yeelding him power to redeeme his right in his behalfe verse 6. Of these parts let vs briefly speake as the spirit of God shall giue vtterance and the time permit And Boaz went vp to the gate We haue heard in the former Chapter how Boaz after he had dispatched Ruth backe againe to her mother in law himselfe went into the City to finish vp the matter now in this verse we see the place mentioned where Boaz bestowed himselfe after he was come thither which is the gate of the City where he wayted till he could see his kinsman come in or out and seeing him called who came vnto him and sate downe beside him Now the gates of the Cities in those auncient dayes were the publike places of iudgement as appeareth in many places of scripture among other when Hemor and Sichem would perswade their people to be circumcised it is sayd they sate in the gate of the City the like is that of Moses that the obstinate sonne should be brought by his own parēts to the elders of his City and to the gate of the place likewise if any man should accuse his wife not to be a virgin at the day of her mariage then her parents should bring the signes of her virginitie to the elders of the City and the gate thereof But we must also know that the publike iudgements and trials were done so openly for diuers causes first that no truth might be concealed and so wrong iudgemēt pronounced for thither euery one might freely come and speake their minds Secondly that strangers might haue lawe and iustice as well as their naturall and natiue inhabitants and therfore it was at the very entrance of their Cities so we see Abraham a stranger in the iudgemēt place was heard before Hebron Heth whē he bought his burying place Lastly because y e munition strength furniture power and defence of the City lay in the gates as God blesseth Abraham and so also Laban and his mother blesse their sister Ribkah that their seede should possesse the gates of their enemies that is their strongest defenses And our Sauiour Christ shewing his Apostles that he would build his Church vpon the faith which they had confessed saith that the gates of hell should not preuaile against it meaning the whole power of the deuill should neuer ouerturne it And this teacheth vs many things first that in matters of triall equitie and iustice it is an iniury if publike faults be priuately adiudged for Abraham dealing but for a piece of land w t Hebron which was but a priuate matter could not obtaine it till it came to the gate of the City the publike place of iudgemēt and if a matter so honest and lawfull could not be ended without such an open publike assembly much more open offences which are in themselues wicked and dishonest for the Apostle saith that those which sin opēly must be openly rebuked Surely there is none of vs that are ignorant of the great euill which commeth by the priuate handling of offences for thereby guilty persons escape vnpunished vniust matters are by deceipt confirmed publike peace is much abused as if colours were discerned by blind men or gold without the touchstone in the light Yet heerein are we much bound to magnify y e Lord who hath vouchsafed vs open Courts for deciding of controuersies punishing of fellons and maintenance of peace some for waightier and some for lighter contentions for as the waxe melteth before the sunne so the subtiltie of offendours at the examination of the magistrate Secondly by this we note that we must in iudgement haue regard both to the stranger and to the free borne to the poore and to the rich to the widdow and to the maried and finally both alike to women men for thus the Lord commaundeth Peruert not the right of the stranger and infant neither take the garment of a widdow to pledge For we must remember that Abraham Izaac and Iacob the fathers of the faithfull were all their liues strangers in other lands and therefore we which either would or should be their children by doing iniury to harbourles straungers do reuile and oppresse our spirituall fathers when we loue not their persons maintaine not their right receiue not their suites and heare not their supplications though they were against our owne selues if we iustly deserue them but of this matter we haue spoken in the first and second chapters Thirdly by this we learne that publike Iudges Iustices and iudgements should be defended by publike authoritye for as these Iudges fate in the gate where the munitions were that if any should refuse them they had power and strength to compell them euen so if men of wisedome haue not authority who seeth not y t euery disordered person doth contemne them But if they haue authority and do not shew it in punishing offendors without feare or fauor of men they are like to Saul whē God had commanded him to kill the Amalekits spare neither man womā child or beast aliue yet contrary to this cōmandement he saued king Agag but the Lord refused him and cast him out of fauour and Agag was hewen in peeces by the prophet Samuell euen so it is to be feared that there are a great many Saules in euery place whose affections stand for law sparing their friends for fauour and great men for feare who are likewise reprobated of the Lord and rebuked by his ministers And heere we haue good occasion to be thankefull to the Lord which hath giuen our Magistrates this power that all things are done in the name of the Prince and assisted by the countrey for the punishment of offendours and I pray God increase more obedience to their authoritie in others and more courage in themselues to strike asunder with the sword of iustice the indissoluble knots of iniurious and contentious persons and to giue the offendours their deserued reward Then heere we haue Boaz sitting in the iudgement place as one that was not ashamed of his lawfull cause
to redeeme the inheritance and to marrie the widdowe as also that woulde not prouide any substitute to doe it in their behalfe but this kinseman of Naomies got Boaz to redeeme his right as we may see in the 6 verse of this chapter in these words redeeme my right to thee Therefore that ceremony was needeles Secondly I answere that the woman by that lawe was bounde to complaine to the magistrates but neyther Naomi nor Ruth did make any complaint saue onely a priuate petition vnto Boaz for to marrie her in his owne behalfe and therefore the matter being confessed before the complaint as he was willing to release his title vnto Boaz who was ready to receiue it so w t lesse rigour y e law was executed vpō him for a penitent offendor is worthy of most fauor Thirdly neyther Naomi nor Ruth were present whē this matter was in hearing because they were vncertain of their kinsemans minde who if he had granted it had been immodesty for them seeing they neuer asked him before and if hee denyed as hee did by their presence they shoulde seeme to distrust the promise which Boaz made to Ruth But seeing the consent of Naomi and Ruth was yeelded to Bohaz and that being but the first motion they needed not bee present and the matter at the first confessed was at the beginning dispatched Out of the which wee first obserue that it is a pointe of godlinesse and worthy of frendshippe that in our suites wee shoulde at the first confesse our oppressions if wee haue done any I knowe many will commit their vniust dealing to the triall of the law looking for a doubtfull issue of the same and will say if I bee condemned the charge is but the more to my selfe but I reply and say why doest thou not confesse thy folly and the iniury which thou hast done saue y e charges w c thou spēdest in the trial thou dost but ad murther to thy mallice drunkēnes to thy thirst prodigality to thy couetousnes Thou hast already robbed thy neighbor by thy oppressiō now thou wilt spoyle the Lorde of those his goodes whereof hee hath made thee steward by cosuming them in Lawe to defende thy iniuries Follow the counsell of the Lorde agree with thy aduersarie quickely whilest thou art in y e way with him lest he complain of thee to the iudge and the iudge deliuer thee to the taylor and so foorth Let wise men ende your matters at home abide not the verdite of the law it is too costly for as you are accomptable to your neyghbour for the vttermost farthing so you shal bee answerable to the Lorde for euery mite you haue mispent when the very money you haue laide out shall rise in iudgement against you to condemne your contentions Secondly wee note here in Naomi and Ruth an excellent example of a godly minde for if Naomi would she might haue dealt with her kinseman and hee denying shee might haue done him all the disgrace set downe in the lawe to haue pulled of his shooe to haue spit in his face to haue defamed him and his house for euer but she dealeth not so she would not reuenge one iniury by another shee maketh the matter sure before hande that if he refused Ruth might be married and the other not disgraced So deare is the name and credite of ones neighbour to a godly person that they will aduenture their owne losse and hinderaunce to saue the honesty of the other Therefore saith Peter it is the glorie of a man to passe by the infirmities of his brother Ioseph might haue disclosed the lustes of his mistresse and saued his owne imprisonment but hee concealed it which wrought first his misery and then his felicitie But oh howe fewe are there like Ioseph in our dayes which hauing their brethren at uauntages will not to their vttermost accuse them Wee haue many Zibaes which accuse poore Mephibosheth to Dauid with giftes and with bribes pretending simplicitie with wordes sweeter then honye when warre is in their heartes their lippes haue learned their flattering style they are of their father that olde accuser of God his children but as hee is cast downe so they shall bee condemned yea euen then when it is no benefite to them how doeth it reioyce them to see their neyghbours imprisoned their enemies slaundered their possessions remooued their wealth diminished their credite abated and they depriued of frendes and fauour at one time Is this the thing that you woulde haue them doe to you might not the Lorde haue suffered him to stande and cast downe you that he might haue laughed at your destruction Consider your selues beloued in the Lorde and let vs be the schollers of this godly Naomi if wee may get our owne with faire speeches let vs not vse these threatning wordes If wee must hide the truth for the benefite of our neighbours much lesse must wee conceale falsehood that not one worde of disgrace bee vttered to the discreadite of our neighbours Oh that those which contende with their neighbours woulde bee instructed in this doctrine howe much woulde it moderate their malice for the benefite of their aduersaries and bring peace vnto both neuer to bee repented of Wherefore laye aside all maliciousnesse and guile dissimulation enuy and all euill speaking as innocente and newe borne babes and let vs desire the sincere milke of the worde of God that wee may grow to bee perfect men in Iesus Christ that as hee suffred and gaue no aunswere being led as a sheepe before the shearer which openeth not his mouth hauing many causes to alleadge against his aduersaries yet in silence endured both their iudgemente and reproches that wee with the same lenitye and meekenesse shoulde forgiue other euen as hee hath forgiuen vs. Thirdely by this also we obserue that the lawes both of God and men bee they neuer so sharpe yet in some causes they may bee moderated according to the discreation of the magistrate especially when they respect priuate persons In this place the spitting on the face and the disgracing of the name of the man is omitted which the magistrates might haue constrained if they pleased neyther are they to bee blamed for the party which was most grieued by this denyall was best pleased neyther did shee call for extremity And as Christ woulde not in his iudgement condemne or accuse the woman taken in adultery but bidde her sinne no more euen so the rigour of the Lawe is not to bee executed vpon euery offendour but where hope of amendment is there may bee a testistimony of fauour This is worthy doctrine for our dayes wherein men lie in waite as the dragons doe for the Elephants to get their brethren within the compasse of the lawe and though God his worde their owne consciences condemne them yet if the lawe say it depriue men of their liuinges Christians of their liberties seruantes of their freedome in
your acquaintance to be carefull for theyr children as well as themselues first to try and then trust first to prepare somewhat that if sicknes come or charges come or are ouertake thee yet then thou mayest comfort thy selfe with thy owne gotten goods and rather be helpefull then chargeable to any Fourthly by this that Boaz sayeth he taketh Ruth to wife for to stirre vp the name of the dead and that the name of the dead be no more forgotten among his brethren in the gate of his place We note that our mariages must be taken in hand also to this end for the multiplying of the Church of God we haue alreadie shewed how one cause of this brothers mariage was for that vse and purpose and in this place not vnnecessary to confirme For the lawe of this mariage was speciall onely for God his people and therefore for the augmenting of the number of the Lords flocke And as this was among the Iewes that euery family might haue some temporall inheritours euen so is it among the Gentiles that if it be possible eueryone should bring one infant or other to be an inheritour of the Lords kingdome By the which parents are taught to be more carefull for the education and instruction of their children then for their procreation and birth for they are made the fathers and mothers of Christ in his members therefore they must not leaue him to Herod that is they must not giue their children to the power of Sathan by theyr negligence and want of teaching they are accursed that lay stumbling blocks before the blinde and shall not they also that leade them into the sea where is nothing but drowning euen so if godlesse parents doe leâ—de theyr children and innocent babes into damnable ignorance who shall aunswere for their soules shall not the authors of this destruction Had not parents neede then to looke to themselues for if they haue as much golde as Salomon had and as great inheritances as Caleb had and as much possession of Cattell as Iob had yet if they be not able to bring vp their children in the feare of God it were better for parents and children they had neuer beene borne then miserably to liue in wealth and bee euery houre in daunger of damnation But how then will you say must we be carefull for the instruction of our children I aunswere you must be carefull of these two things first that you teach them that which is good secondly that you giue no euill example vnto them Concerning the first for the teaching of them the truth you must first teach them the matter of theyr faith and secondly how to pray The matter of theyr faith is contayned in the twelue articles commonly called our creede or beliefe which euery father and mother is bound to teach theyr children with the pure vnderstanding thereof and as they be able to shewe them the proofes thereof out of the word of God I meane as the children be able to receiue it Heerein they must instruct them of the miserable estate of mankinde after their fall by the vse and vnderstanding of the morall lawe contayned in the two tables of the tenne Commaundements with the proofes thereof out of the scripture and the deliuerance by the death and bloudsheading of Iesus Christ the eternall and onely begotten sonne of God Againe you must teach them to pray according as the Lord hath taught vs in that forme which we call the Lords prayer with the vnderstanding thereof out of the word of God for except you teach them what they pray for by the vnderstanding of it you were as good to teach them in Greeke or Latine as in English For there are many thousands in England that call God Father in their prayers but I knowe not that there be any which knowe the meaning of the word I my selfe haue reasoned with many both young and olde and of men of good calling in the world about that one word which is the easyest and playnest in all the word of God but some fewe excepted which haue laboured for knowledge in the hearing of Sermons I neuer met with man woman nor childe that coulde giue mee any reasonable aunswere vnto this question beside this that God made them and therefore is theyr Father which euery Iewe and almost euery Pagan knoweth as well as they Therefore as our righteousnesse must exceede the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisies Iewes and Gentiles so must our knowledge also for by our knowledge of Christ wee are iustified to be hys members And although wee repeate the Lordes prayer a thousand times euery day and vnderstand it not we doe but bable before the Lord taking his name in vaine vsing it in our lips when our hearts haue no vnderstanding and therefore our prayers are without fruite Lastly if you your selues doe not walke before them without reproofe in pure and sanctified conuersations whatsoeuer you teach them you presently tread out againe for simple people and young children liue by examples and not by precept If you teach them to worship God you must also before their faces worship the same that they may practise by your example If you bid them that they sweare not you your selfe must be carefull not to sweare or else they will not beleeue you for as the people looke vpon the life of their pastour so the young children beholde the steps of their parents And we see in bruite beasts that examples are much more effectuall then precepts they cannot speake yet how do they traine vp their young ones It is reported of the Harts of Scithia that they teach their young ones to leape from banke to banke from rocke to rocke from one turfe to another by their owne example leaping before them which otherwise they would neuer practise by which meanes when they are hunted no beast can euer take them Euen so if you goe before your children in examples while they are young Sathan the hunter and roaring Lion shall neuer haue them for his pray When they learne to speake they take the words from our owne mouthes euen so when they shall learne to worship feare loue honour and pray vnto the Lord let them take you for their examples as Iacob did Abraham and Izaak Now let vs giue prayse to God The fourteenth Lecture Chap. 4. ver 11.12 11 And all the people that were in the gate and the elders saide we are witnesses The Lorde make the wife that commeth into thy house like Rahel and Leah which twain did build the house of Israel that thou mayest doe worthily in Ephrathah and bee famous in Bethlehem 12 And that thy house be like the house of Pharez whom Thamar bare vnto Iudah of the seede which the Lorde shall giue thee of this young woman AS we haue hitherto heard of Boaz and his kinseman the one in resigning the other in receyuing his right in the place of iudgement and the presence of
be by his blessing increased with his fauour preserued and to his glory bestowed Nay nay if none had no more wealth then that which they had gotten by prayer their glorious shewes would in little space grow as bare as the trees in the winter when they haue neyther fruite nor leaues to couer them This I speake not to the discredit of any wealthy persons but shew them the way to attayne the end of their desire the continuance of their posteritie in godlines and wealth which is by prayer For as Christ prayed for Peter that his faith should not faile him so parents must pray for their posteritie that their names may not decay in them If any thinke when theyr barnes are inlarged their corne gathered they filled health enioyed wealth increased and rest obtained that eyther soules or children shall haue the greater rest like that foole in the Gospell their markes are much amisse for wealth and issue are lost both in an houre looke vpon the example of Iob the death of his children and decay of his wealth Againe none must be hereby emboldened to present their prayers before the face of the almighty for the maintenance of their children in worldly vanitie to make that the onely end of all their desire which is to be more carefull for the shoe then the foote for the rayment then the body and for the body then the soule but this must be their direction as the Lord commaunded the Iewes if they kept his statutes then should their oxen be strong to labour their sheepe bring foorth thousands and ten thousands in their streetes their daughters like the polished corners of the temple and their sonnes as their fruitfull garners which neuer are emptye For vngodly Haman was hanged though he were the prince of the princes but godly Mordecay was aduaunced which was as poore as the basest Shebna was depriued of his office because he was wicked when godly Eliakim was promoted to his place euen so it is not honour but the feare of God that bringeth and sustaineth honour that you must pray for your children Kings for vngodlines were depriued of their seates and thrones of maiesty whereunto they were borne much more will the Lord execute his iudgements of pouertie and slauery vpon those that would be aduaunced and yet are wicked for Salomon sayth that the prosperitie of fooles slay them and the crowne doth not endure from generation to generation yet the feare of the Lord abideth for euer Secondly by this verse we may note when they expressely make mention of Thamar the mother of Pharez and wish the posterity of Boaz to be like his the great blessing of God vpon that incestuous birth for we know the history how that Thamar was y e daughter in law of Iudah the wife widdow of his eldest son dissembling her selfe to be a whore by her apparell and place had the company of her father in law by whome she was conceiued of two sonnes the elder was this Pharez and the yonger Zerach yet wee see how y e Lord doth magnify this Pharez with a glorious and godly posterity By the which he teacheth vs these two profitable lessons that the sinnes of the faithfull are forgiuē though they be neuer so great We see this Iudah an excellent man yet ouercome in this action had not any such plague inflicted on him as Ruben his eldest brother or Simeon Leui but he which couered and omitted that sin of Abraham with Hagar of Iacob with Bilhah and Zilpah of this Iudah with Thamar Lot w t his own daughters and such like wil also forgiue all the defaults of the godly vnto the end of the world By the which we gather exceeding comfort when we come to this persuasion that there is no condemnation to them that are in Iesus Christ that the gates of hell shall not preuaile against the mercies of y e Lord that the victory of our faith shall conquer the world when Noah shall be cleansed from his drunkennes Moses and Aaron frō their doubting Miriam from her murmuring Dauid from his murther Peter from his deniall of Christ and all because the Lord will couer the sins of his Saints be they neuer so great when he punisheth the faults of many thousand wicked persons with eternall damnation although they haue not sinned with the like transgression Secondly by this we learne that the Lord doth not punish the childrē for the parēts faults if they commit not the like themselues for this Pharez begotten in incest was blessed by the Lord not only with temporal glory in himself and his issue but also with this that he was made one of y e fathers of Christ And this teacheth vs that this vpbraiding of men for their birth be they base borne or free borne is no fruit of the word of God but the malice of the deuill which first deceiued the parents and now would discredit the childe Let it not therfore beloued be any speech in our mouths to shoot at them whom the Lord hath wounded by nature any thought of our hearts to enuy their welfare were their parentage neuer so base but pray for them that though they proceede not of a sanctified birth yet they may grow vp to a sanctified and holy life to make a godly a blessed end And finally let vs be encouraged vnto religion by the fauour of God which dealeth thus mercifully with his Saincts neuer suffering any thing to be laid to the charge of his chosen stopping the mouth of the deuill himselfe y t he neuer rise in iudgement against y e faithful or bring any litle sin of theirs into the remembrance of God but washing them all in the lauer of regeneration y e bloud of his sonne and will giue thē white robes clensed frō al filthines y t they may be chast virgins for y e Lords seruice and feed at his own table for euermore this cōsideration made Dauid to cry out and say oh whē shal I come and appeare before the presence of God it made Simeon to say now Lord let thy seruant depart in peace it caused Paule to vtter these words I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ for blessed are the people that are in such a case yea blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. Thus much for this verse Now let vs goe to the verse following In these three verses following the holy Ghost declareth the blessing of God vpon this mariage of Boaz and Ruth The words containe in them two parts the first part is of Boaz ver 13. the second is of the women that were present at the trauaile of Ruth The first part sheweth how Boaz taking Ruth and vsing her as his wife had the blessing of God in conceiuing and bearing him a sonne the other part of the women is their reioysing with Naomi for this fruitfulnesse of Ruth it comprehendeth two partes the first theyr
woman are bounde to see their childrens first instruction that is if it bee possible to haue them in their keeping at their first entraunce into knowledge and when they are first of all capable of any goodnesse So wee reade Isaacke remayned with his father Abraham in the time of infancy when God commaunded Ismaell to bee cast out so Iacob kept little Beniamin with him neyther would he depart from him vnto any til Simeon was bound in Egipt so we read of the king Ioash whom his aunt Iehoshebah hid from y e rage of Athaliah who was brought vp in the house of her husbande Iehoiadah where hee was most worthely instructed in the feare of the Lorde so wee reade our sauiour Christ kept till he was twelue yeares olde with his mother and supposed father and after he had beene at Ierusalem hee was obedient to them till the yeare of his preaching which was when hee came to the age of thirtie yeares Therefore the conclusion af all this is that neyther the nursing nor instruction of our children must be deferred to other at the least so as wee seeme not but to bee many wayes as carefull for them as if they were in our presence to be euermore mindfull for the wealth of their bodyes and health of their soules Fourthly and lastly by these wordes wee may gather how great and excellent is this worke the bringing vp of children for which the Lorde hath expressed in his worde that it is required that many shoulde bee applyed for in this place we see Naomi and Ruth bestow their labours for the education of this new borne babe and we haue heard that Rebecca had a nurse that came with her from her fathers house to the lande where Abraham dwelt which signifieth vnto vs that neyther their infancy can bee vnfedde nor their youth vnruled for this is not so base a worke as many thinke it that one is enough if not too much to take the care of their children for wee knowe they are easily drawne to many inconueniences neyther can the parentes bee present to foresee all but if any bee helpers in this buisines their care is much eased the children lesse endangered theyr welfare better prouided and the parentes dutie better discharged Euery flocke hath a keeper beside the owner euery garden hath a dresser beside the mayster and if it be possible let euery childe haue an ouerseer beside the parentes for alas the silly infante is soone cast into the fire falleth into the water ouerturned with the wind and euery beast is ready to work his destruction all which may bee wisely preuented though not with the presence yet with the counsel and care of the parents by prouiding such carefull persons to be their guides as may also defend them when they are absent And the women her neighbours In this verse is the seconde parte which concerneth the naming of the child where the holy Ghost doeth declare vnto vs the persons that named the childe to be the women of Bethlehem the neyghbours of Naomi which no doubt was then giuen to the childe at the eyght day which was the circumcision according as wee see in the history of Iohn Baptist after the law of the Lorde calling him by the name of Obed which signifieth seruing or a seruant shewing howe hee should serue for the comfort of Naomi Boaz and his mother By this wee first of all note and obserue that it is the duty of the faithfull to be helpers one to another in the seruice of God and admonition of their dutyes for here the childe being circumcised was accompanyed with many godly women whose deuise they vsed and followed in the naming of the childe Indeed we may often read that the parents gaue names to their children sometimes the fathers sometime the mothers sometimes the Lorde himselfe as in many persons wee may perceyue but wee neuer reade that the people were so kinde to helpe in this matter and to further the duty of any godly minded onely this place excepted so that these women are a most godly example for all the faithfull to beholde how they must further and helpe one another in the cause of religion For the naming of children in olde time was very excellent when they were carefull by their earthly and outwarde tytles to admonish them of their inwarde and heauenly duties And that which these did in this one must wee doe also in all other duties to draw more and more to the loue of religion as wee reade the Apostles did one another when they came to the first knowledge of the Messiah for as a little leuen seasoneth a whole lumpe euen so a fewe godly personnes may drawe a great many to religion Therefore this one dutie of all other belongeth to the flocke of Christ that they helpe one another in the workes of Christianity When the ruler of the Temple his daughter was sicke for the little childe hee went to our sauiour by which meanes he recouered her life this was the duetie of a godly father when the sicke man of the palsie coulde not come to Christ foure of his neighbours brought him to his presence and the Lord forgaue him this was charity and the duety of neighbours When Dorcas was deade the women sent for Peter who being come she was restored to life And thus parents must helpe forwarde their children neighbours their fellowes and euery man one another if they want knowledge let vs teach them knowledge out of the pure worde of God if they cannot pray let vs pray with them and for them to the almighty God if they trauayle to heare the word let vs trauaile with them to encourage their carefulnes But of this matter wee haue often spoken Now let vs giue prayse to God The end of the sixteenth Lecture The seuenteenth Lecture Chap. 4. ver 18.19.20.21 22 18 These are the generations of Pharez Pharez begat Chetzron 19 Chetzron begate Ram Ram begate Hamminnadab 20 Hamminadab begate Naschon Naschon begate Salmā 21 Salman begate Bohaz Bohaz begate Hobed 22 Hobed begate Ishai Ishai begate Dauid NOwe by the mercifull kindnes of the Lorde we are come to the last part of this history the conclusion of this Chapter where the holy Ghost describeth vnto vs the kindred of Boaz euen all the generations frō Pharez to king Dauid shewing vnto vs the increase of these Iewes from their dwelling in the land of Canaan before they went into Egipt vntill the time that Dauid was annointed and appointed king in Israell we may for the easier handling of these wordes deuide them into these two partes The first is those persons that were the progenitours auncestors or fathers of Bohaz in the ver 18. 19 20. which are set downe to be Pharez the first Chetzron the second Ram y e third Hamminadab the fourth Naschon the fift and Salman the sixte who was the immediate and naturall father of Bohaz The second parte is the progeny
of such impious infidelity What stayeth the Lord from comming to iudgement but the faithfull and elect company what keepeth you in your possessions reuennews and lands but the poore Saincts of God who are hardly admitted to the tables of your seruants who prayeth for the increase of your wealth the prosperitie of your liues the feeding of your bodies and the continuance of your honour but these despised persons who haue entered a couenaunt for your dayly welfare with the king of heauen and earth They are the flocke for whose sake you haue your wooll to clothe you and your milke to feede you they are the bees for whose sake you enioy the hony for your delight and the hony combe for the pleasure of your meate they are the birds which haue builded vp your pallaces and houses of rest for the defense of your weakenesse they are the oxen that bring your corne to your barnes and your store into your garners they are the beasts that beare you out of the daungers in safetye and deliuer your liues from trouble Finally there is not a vsurer but he hath his money for theyr sake there is not a Gentleman but hee hath his landes for theyr sake there is not a Prince but hee hath his Crowne for theyr sake there is not a rich man but hee hath his wealth for theyr sake there is not a Minister but hee preacheth for theyr sake and there shoulde be no peace prosperitye or plentye if it were not for them for the Angels are theyr seruaunts the earth is theyr mayntenaunce and heauen is theyr inheritaunce Be assured therefore beloued if righteous Lot goe out of Sodome or godly Noah into his Arke then fire will fall from heauen and the depthes will open theyr fountaynes of water to burne and destroy the world euen so if the Lord take away the righteous from among vs then euen then presently shall follow the destruction of our countrey the consuming of our kingdome the confusion of the world and the condemning of the reprobate and therefore let vs make much of them in whome we see any hope of religion for they are the right heyres of the world and you that haue their lands are but ouerseers of their fathers testaments and therefore shall giue an accompt of your possessions to them when they come to age and be answerable for euery farthing which you spent not vpon them Secondly another cause of the genealogies or recitall of generations in the Scriptures is for the Chronologies or noting of seuerall times wherein euery worthie thing was done and how the world grewe in yeares and the mercy of God in sparing the wicked liues of so many godlesse men and choosing but one family among all the world with whome hee would establish his couenaunt for this cause in the genealogie of Adam we reade how long he and euerie one of his children liued to shew how long the Lord suffered the wicked before he brought the floud and in what age of the world the same ouerflowed which by the genealogies there set downe appeareth to be in the yeare of the world one thousand sixe hundred fiftie and sixe when Noah was sixe hundred yeares old Againe we reade in the genealogie of Sem by the supputation of the yeares therein mentioned how long after the floud Abraham was called from his countrey and receyued the couenaunt of promise concerning the incarnation of Iesus Christ and the saluation of the world The same may be sayd of the often repetition of the age of Abraham as at his calling at the time of his circumcision at the birth of Izaak and at his death which giueth a great light to euery part of the scripture for thereby the occasions of many excellent histories are taken the darkest places are opened the faithfull are confirmed and the Church of God instructed of her age of her continuance of her members and of her condition which is subiect to many often changes Sometimes her glory is greater as in the first age sometime lesser as in Abrahams time sometime afflicted as the estate of Iacob in Egipt and all his children testifieth sometimes without any knowne and publique ministery or offices as till Aarons dayes sometime without any ciuill or politique gouernement as in the time of all the Patriarks sometime without peace in persecution as in the time of the Iudges wherein these persons heere named liued and sometime in most flourishing estate as vnder Dauid Salomon Asa Iosiah and such like By the which we gather that it neuer standeth in one stay but either increaseth or decreaseth ebbeth or floweth riseth or falleth waxeth or waineth therefore heerein lyeth the great comfort of the godly euen in these troublesome dayes but yet the best that euer are to be looked for in this earth wherein they see the auncient to depart and new men in theyr roome one generation commeth and another goeth iniquitie aduaunced coldnes in religion embraced dissimulation and hipocrisie maintained warres and persecution threatned to the Gospell schismes defended errors inuented the world blinded the truth declined godlines defaced and the Church of God disquieted with a thousand greater calamities this all the fathers suffered before vs and this we their children must also abide onely heerein let vs reioyse that we shall be accompted worthy to suffer for Christ and that our names are written in the kingdome of heauen Thirdly and lastly the especiall cause of this genealogie and of all the fathers and children of Abraham in one kindred was for to shew the naturall discent of Christ from Adam and so foorth vnto the virgin Mary for seeing he was to be incarnated it behoued that his parentage should be described from the beginning of the world for this cause Luke the Euangelist gathered togither the seuerall descriptions of all the genealogies pertaining to Christ throughout all the whole scripture as a necessary ground of the Gospell to declare the kindred of our Sauiour from the beginning of the world whereof these persons mentioned in this place are a part from whence he tooke them into his number Now least any man should thinke that the birth of Christ should be obscure and the taking vpon him the flesh of mankinde should be incertaine as well to conuince all errours that arose about his humanitie as to testifie the nobilitie of his birth and worthines of his parentage the persons of whome he descended are in many bookes of the scripture seuerally named and not without great commendation For this family of Christ had many and speciall blessings which were the armes of the same by which it was distinguished from all other In Adam it had this promise that the seede of the woman should breake the serpents head meaning that Christ which should be borne of a woman should ouercome the force of the deuill In Noah it had this promise that the couenaunt of God should be established with him and his seede meaning
who was promised to these Fathers appeared in their flesh satisfied for our sinnes to whome all the Scriptures giue witnesse that he shall be the iudge of Princes and subiects liuing and dead Vnto whom wee must giue reuerence as to his Maiestie appertaineth for euen now he beholdeth with what feare we heare his word with what loue we receiue it with what hunger we desire it and with what conscience we will practise it Oh come let vs kisse the Sonne least he be angrie let vs wash his feete with the teares of our eyes and wipe them with the heares of our head Let vs sue to him for hee is the Iudge wee are the rebels hee the Sauiour and we the slaues Against him onely haue wee sinned by contemning his Maiestie prophaning his Sabbaothes blaspheming his honour disobeying his Gospell and treading the pardon of our soules vnder the feete of our pleasures therefore while we haue time let vs loue his truth receiue his Gospell belieue his word sanctifie his Sabbaothes magnifie his name reuerence his Ministers and repent vs of our sinnes Pharez begat Cheizron Now after the causes of the Genealogies described and the vse of them gathered out of the word of God and godly writers wee must proceede to the speciall persons heere mentioned for whose sake the former hath beene spoken we shewed you in the beginning that these generations were som of them before Boaz and some after him as his children and this we must put you againe in mind of that here is handled the Genealogie of Christ In the which this seemeth doubtful that he beginneth with Pharez what should moue him thereunto seeing as alreadye wee shewed you that this Pharez was an incestuous birth and therefore to common reason it seemeth much more commendable that hee should haue beene vtterly blot out of the note of these Fathers or else the Genealogie should haue beene farther repeated as from Abraham to Noah that so the consideration of his birth might haue bene hindered thorough the companie of other godly Fathers Vnto which I briefely answere that for this cause he beginneth at Pharez for the better vnderstanding of the Prayers of the Elders in the 12. verse which desired that the house of Boaz might be like the house of Pharez whome Thamer beare vnto Iudah wherefore at the end of this Historie the Author annexeth the description of the house of Pharez and of Boaz for whom they prayed vnto the third generation So that in those daies most commendable was the posteritie of Pharez for they were y e chief of the tribe of Iudah because this Pharez was by nature the heire of the birth right of Iudah because he was the Son of Thamar the widdow of Iudah his eldest Son Againe the scripture is not wont to couer the faults of the dearest children of God neither doth the holy Ghost euer conceale the sinnes of the godly It telleth vs of the drunkennesse of Noah the incest of Lot the vnlawfull oath that Ioseph swore to his brethren by the life of Pharao the adulterie of Dauid the distrust of king Asa the fellowship that good king Iehosaphat had with wicked Ahab and Peters deniall At all these the spirit of God neuer standeth but indicteth them of their sinnes though hee giue them their pardon by Christ But wee must know farther that the spirite of God so ruled the pen-writers of the Scriptures that he suffered them not to omit the grieuous sinnes of themselues their fathers and children as for example Leui was the great graund-father of Moses which was the first writer of the Scripture yet he setteth downe the curse that the Lorde pronounced by Iacob against him for the slaughter of the Sichemites Likewise it is held of euerie one that Iob was the writer of his owne Historie yet how doth he lay open his owne corruptions cursing his birth accusing God of iniustice and desiring to pleade with him Moreouer Samuel wrote his owne Historie especially the greatest parte of the first booke yet he layeth out the corruptions of his Sonnes in the gouernment of the people and how wicked they were for whose sake the people were driuen to desire a King the like may bee said of many other whose cursed sinnes are by themselues detected being not ashamed to confesse them as they were not to commit them but thus the godly are their owne iudges to condemne their owne sinnes for they know if they condemne themselues they shall not bee condemned of God They saye with the prodigall Sonne that they haue sinned against heauen against earth and are no more worthy to be called the sonnes of God they say with Paule that they are the greatest of all sinners and therefore haue receiued the greater mercie they say with the man in the Gospell I am not worthy that thou shouldest come into my house and euermore they lay the worst side of their garmentes outward that they might be more vile in their owne eyes more fearefull to sinne more louing to God his mercies more humble in the world and more hunger for righteousnesse Cast away therefore if you be the children of God this shame to acknowledge the infirmities where withall you are infected for he that confesseth not his sinnes euen to his brethren can neuer confesse the mercies of God to himselfe He that commendeth a Physitian telleth what dangerous sicknesse he deliuered him out and hee that will commend Christ the Physitian of our soules must tell what sinnes his soule was sicke of and how his Sauiour hath deliuered him but yet alway remember that no man is bound vpon necessitie to declare his particular sinnes except when his conscience is grieued for them that he 〈◊〉 receiue comfort or when he must satisfie the iniuâ—â—â— he hath done to his neighbours But wee must learn not once to despise any penitent sinners but rather embrace them or lay them in our owne bosomes they are the sheepe which wandered but now is found the groate which was lost but now is recouered and the braunches which were dead and now are greene for the Angels reioyce for them Christ dyed for them heauen is prepared for them and wee must praye for them We haue heard already that this Pharez was the incestuous Sonne of Iudah now if any aske why the Lord would take any part of such vngodly beginnings I answere with Paul that Christ came to saue sinners that is he was incarnated of incestuous progenitours to shew vnto vs that he could saue such of adulterous birthes to shew vnto vs that he could saue the children of adultery of Gentiles such as Ruth Rahab and Bathshebah was that hee might shewe vnto vs hee was the appointed Sauiour of the Gentiles because hee vouchsafed to take his nature from them for thus it be commeth him to fulfill all righteousnesse to destroye the gates of Hell to deliuer his members from the thraldome of Sathan to gather together in one from the
ample manner confesse the benefites they haue receiued of other but by all meanes extenuate them which maketh men vnwilling to doo any good because they can haue no thankes for their labour And this it is that caused couetousnes and bribery extortion and vsury to enter vppon their bodies and wealth that woulde not gratifye with kinde and deserued reportes So that nowe men will please themselues with money and rewards that would haue beene satisfied with thankefull wordes which is a iust iudgment vpon the world that woulde not bee contented to recompence kindenes for kindnes are now plagued with couetousnes for kindnes Wherefore Naomi This is the last parte of this conference or dialogue wherein Naomi counselleth Ruth to follow and take the proffer of Boaz and abide with his maidens to auoyde all dangers if the reapers denye her in another field Where wee first of all note that if wee acquainte our parents and friendes with our actions and enterprises it might goe farre better with vs in the things of this life for their aged counsell which they haue bought with much experience may stay our vnsteddie mindes with their approued aduise Ruth in this place declaring the curtesie of Boaz hath it confirrmed with the counsell of Naomi and grounded vppon a reason which shee knewe not nor feared not For shee thought that in euerye place shee shoulde haue found the like entertainemente and the reapers that then were shoulde so continue to the ende of haruest but Naomi knewe they were often changed and so in the ende it might fall out otherwise then Boaz appointed or Ruth expected And this me thinketh doth shewe vnto vs what manner persons parentes ought to bee for if children wante counsell they shoulde bee aduised by their parents if comfort it should bee ministred by parents if necessaries they should be prouided by parents if instruction they should be guided by parents and finally if correction they should be orderred by parentes which is not onely to bee wished but is required by the Lorde that they bring them vp in the feare and nurture of the Lord. And if this were duelye weyghed and reuerently considered as Eliahas cloake parted the waters of Iordan so this woulde parte asunder and breake of many thousand mariages in our dayes where parents are not able to counsell nor willing to bee counselled which if they woulde they had not beene married This I speake not to the discredite of marriage but onely I exhorte as from the Lord that those which eyther are or intend to be married would looke and trauaile first for wisedome and then for wiues first for vertue and then for husbands wherein if they followe my aduise I assure them their marriages will be much merrier and their posterity much happier Secondly by this wee gather that it is a daungerous or indecent thing for women to trauaile or worke alone without any company for the weakest are soonest oppressed and women are quickely conquered We knowe Dinah trauailing alone was taken rauished by Sichem and Abigail when she went to pacific the wrath of Dauid tooke seruantes with hit as in this place Naomi counselleth Ruth to abide in the companye of the seruants of Boaz accounting it an indecent and vnseemelye thing for women and maidens to bee seene alone And truely if seruantes in our dayes had many times more companye there woulde bee lesse dishonestye among them for wee knowe and see to our griefe that the daylye and vsuall familiaritye of a fewe hath bredde some disease in our church and distemper in our common wealth This I speake that euen in these dayes of peace men woulde bee more carefull ouer daughters and seruauntes and not to employe them so commonlye as they doo in iourneyes and trauaile and solitarye busines but for more assurance keepe them with company which may bee their defense against all dangers if any happen and the auoyding of dishonesty if any be so lightly disposed Thirdly by this we note what companie were beste for both kinde of youthes either young men or maidens when Naomi saith it is good for thee to go foorth with his maidens that is thou art a woman and abide among his women and maidens for all companions are neither fit nor lawefull maidens among men and men among maidens is for many causes disalowed First because there is no such equality in the sexe that they might keepe together for if they labour it is not alike and if they sporte their pleasures are contrary and if they dallye it is flat iniquitye In consideration whereof in olde time the wiues had one tent to dwell in and the husbandes another as wee maye see in Abraham in Sara in Iacob and his wiues and like this it is that Miriam and the women of Israell praysed God by themselues after their deliuerance out of Egipt and Moses and Aaron her bretheren with all the men of Israel by themselues And also wee knowe howe the virgins of Israel went vp euery yeere in to the wildernes to lament and talke with the daughter of Iephthah Whereby we are taught that not onely for feare of daunger but also for modestye and conscience sake wee must auoyde this mingled companyes of men and women excepte in necessarie occasions as prayer priuatelye and publiquelye communication of godlye pretended marriages and such like businesse Whereby also wee see at once condemned the feasting dancing meeting playing and running of men and maidens together without all respect of honesty or modesty And that which is worst parents and maisters will beholde their pastime and delight in the vanitye of their wanton children trayning them vp in a dissolute life and commending their indecent and vnseemely behauiour Amend this neglygence in the shell of infancye and your children will growe vp to your greater comfort and prosper to their more happye welfare and the occasion of many sinnes will be cut of if we follow the counsell of the spirite of God And so she abode This is the conclusion of this chapter second part of this history shewing vnto vs that Ruth followed y e counsel of her mother abiding with y e maidens of Boaz to the end of barly and wheat haruest aferward dwelleth w t her mother again Where wee obserue another example of obedience in Ruth that hearkened to the voice of her mother and went forth with the maidens of Boaz. And surely it is commonly seene that such as the mother is such is the daughter for more Naomies would make mo Ruthes and mo good mothers would make more good daughters And in these dayes all the faults of children may iustly bee imputed to the folly of parents as the olde crabbe goeth so goeth the young and as the old cocke croweth so croweth the young a serpent hatcheth a serpent not an eele so euill parents bring foorth euill and vngodly chilren but good fathers by diligent instruction and tender admonition by praying with and for their
children as Iob did shal liue to see their generations as blessed as his was Secondly by this wee learne an excellent example of godly liberalitie in that Boaz suffered Ruth to gather wheate as well as barley the beste as well as the meaner In like manner must wee as willingly departe with for Christes sake our wine as our water our drinke as our draffe and as wee commonly speake our white bread as our browne and truely in this many good men offend not because they giue it not but because they thinke it too much to giue as if our beste giftes were not beste accepted in the presence of God Hee which fed the Israelites with Angels food would also that we should feede him in the godlye poore with our worshipfull and daintiest fare This I speake not that those which aske shoulde bee discontented with the meanest and fittest for them for the prouerbe is beggars must not bee choosers as it is couetousnesse not to vouchsafe the best wee haue if need require to the poore so it is scornefulnes for the poore like the Israelites which loathed Manna and desired flesh to be discontented with their necessarie and present foode and to lust for that which is aboue their vocation But the vse of this pointe is to perswade to bee like minded vnto Boaz in this to the godly poore that wee euery one without partialitie or grudging when necessitie requireth giue our gold as well as our siluer and distribute our deerest almes to our poorest breethren Thirdely haruest being doone Ruth abideth with her mother in lawe for none of the godly will make a dayly and continuall trade of asking almes or forsake their owne parentes or poore habitations for worldly respects as appeareth by this example of Ruth For it is no doubt she fared well euery day with the seruantes of Boaz and much better then her poore mother could prouide for her at home but shee is not drawen away therwith but it as contented to eat the hungry morsels with her mother at home as the plentifull abroad And it is great pittie that any shoulde be succoured which are not contented to liue hardely at home and then to aske when there is no other honest meanes left to liue And this condemneth the common walking mates which neyther haue houses nor honestie and it is greatest pittie that they eyther should be succoured or suffered so to doe for they are drones which neuer come in hiues but to the hurt of other they waste all but get nothing neither haue they any other care but to charge the godly and charitable people Vnto such giue not as wee haue often said for they which will not liue of the sweate of their browes let them not eate of the bread of our labours Now let vs give prayse to God The end of the seuenth Lecture The eyght Lecture Chap. 3. ver 1.2.3.4.5.6 1. Afterward Naomi her mother in law said vnto her shall I not seeke rest for thee my daughter that thou maiest prosper 2. And now is not Boaz our kinsman with whose maide thou was beholde hee winnoweth barley in the floore this night 3. Wash thee therefore and annoint thee and put on thy clothes and goe downe into the floore and let not the man knowe thee vntill hee haue made an ende to eate and drinke 4. But when hee lieth downe marke the place where he lyeth then come thou and vncouer the place of his feete and lie downe and he shall tell thee what thou shalt do 5. And she said vnto her whatsoeuer thou hast commanded me that will I doe 6. And so she went downe into the floore and did altogether as her mother in lawe had commanded her THis thirde Chapter is the seconde occasion of this mariage wherein Naomi especially dealeth with Ruth howe shee shoulde make knowne her sute to Boaz. The whole Chapter hath these two partes first the counsell of Naomi to Ruth secondly the effect of that counsell The counsell is contained in these sixe verses now read consisting also of two partes first her care for Ruth verse 1. that her desire is to procure her prosperity secondly the meanes whereby Ruth might performe that which she aduiseth first because Boaz was then alone in the floore winnowing of barley secondly she must prepare herselfe to go to him first in her body by washing and annointing it secondly in her ornament that shee put on her best clothes and so goe downe to the floore after she was come thether she instructeth her howe to behaue her selfe first by keeping out of his sight and knowledge till he had supped secondly by marking the place of his bed and lying downe at his feet and declaring her sute vnto him and he would tell her what she should doe After all this Ruth promiseth obedience vers 5.6 and accomplisheth her mothers desire Of these partes let vs briefly speake as the spirite of God shall assist vs and the time permit Afterwarde Naomi In these wordes is declared vnto vs the great care that Naomi had of her daughter in law Ruth for they are thus much in effect Nowe both of vs are in quiet and peaceable rest at home yet I see that our welfare cannot alway endure for I am olde and the graue gapeth after mee thou art young and a good mariage tarieth for thee it is my dutie to looke for thy welfare and to prouide for thy continual rest if I be taken away and being carefull of it I haue now inuented the meanes c. Out of the which wee note these two profitable doctrines First that it is the duetie of parents to prouide for their children when themselues shall be taken away yea though they haue no certaine assurance whether they shall neede it or not This wee may see here practised by Naomi for she was neuer in better case since her arriuall at Bethlehem then she was at this present Haruest was ended prouision obtayned houshold furnished these two poor widows liuing louingly together yet then we see in her best estate she is most carefull for the mariage of Ruth And truely this is required of all them that haue any children to prouide for them that they should not care onely for their present maintenaunce but also for their future commoditie And this maketh many godly persons to maruaile why men doe trouble their houses with their children when they are able honestly to prouide for them abroade Why doe many permitte and suffer their their sonnes and daughters to spend the best of their youth in single estate when it is rather required that while they are young they shoulde bee bestowed Truely this maketh many so mariages against y e parents mindes when they are negligent to looke to their children then the children prouide for themselues Men looke for offers as the mariner looketh for wind and when the wind serueth the tide falleth so many would prouide for their children when it is too late This iniury
of spring and children of Bohaz which succeeded him first Hobed secondly Ishai and thirdely Dauid the king Of these parts and persons let vs briefly speake so much as serueth for the exposition of the Scripture and the satisfying of the tyme through the assistaunce and help of the spirite of God These are the generations Now that the holy Ghost had declared vnto vs this history of Ruth though briefly and in a fewe words yet in ample and large circumstances for the vnderstanding of his minde at the ende hereof hee annexeth the kindred of the personnes whome it chiefly concerneth that he might shew vnto vs that they were no meane or base persons for whom this history was compiled but such as descended of the noblest family in all y e world who were the appointed fathers of many kinges and that which is most of all the persons of whose seede our sauiour Iesus Christ tooke the beginning and substaunce of his humane nature And therefore in this place wee must declare the causes that moued the holy Ghost to be so careful in the rehearsing of the genealogies of the fathers for we must not imagine◠that hee mustereth not the names of those auncient persons to worke any wonder in our mindes at the recitall of them or that the scripture coulde haue beene perfecte without the seuerall generations therein described but wee must knowe that there were dyuers necessary and waighty causes by the iudgement of the auncientest and most approued wryters which moued the Spirite of God to intersert these genealogies First therefore according to the condition of all mankinde there is equally described the generations both of the godly and vngodly in the scriptures for this cause to shewe the multiplycation of mankinde of this sort are the generations of Adam Seth and Cain reported by Moses that hearing the number of mankinde so quickely multiplyed wee might the more earnestly giue prayse vnto God Agayne the genealogies of the sonnes of Noah are described vnto vs to shewe the replenishing of the earth the destruction of countryes and the restoring of the worlde But to come neerer vnto the matter wee must take this for a generall rule that the genealogies of the wicked are reported in the scripture for to shewe the blessing and loue of God vpon the godly and righteous men as for example the Lorde reckoneth vp the posterity of Ismaell the sonne of the bonde woman shewing vs howe great a people hee became and howe many Dukes or princes proceeded out of his loynes to shewe vnto vs the promise and couenant which hee made to his father Abraham that hee shoulde bee a great people was fulfilled and this serued to magnify and exalt the name of godly Abraham We read that the Lorde bestoweth a great genealogie vppon wicked Esau or Edom numbring or reckoning vp his sonnes and his sonnes sonnes his kingdome and the kinges of his seede that raigned after him for no other ende but to report and to manifest the blessing vppon godly Isaacke and Rebecca his parentes according to the oracle that hee gaue to his mother when shee demaunded and enquired the cause of the strugling or striuing in her wombe The like may bee saide of godlesse Cham for Noah his fathers sake of the sonnes of Iacob for Israels sake of Ephraim and Manasses for Iosephes sake By the which we gather and note this excellent doctrine that if the wicked haue any good it is for the sake of their godly and righteous parentes or frendes Wee see they should not haue so much as a name in the booke of God were it not for the cause of the righteous and godly we reade that when the Sodomites were ouercome in warre their people lead captiues and their goods spoyled by the company of Cedorlahomer then for Lots sake the Lord stirred vp Abraham and armed him with men and courage who wonne the victory recouered the spoyle brought backe the prisoners restored their goods and gaue them all libertie for godly Lots sake who was shortly after despised by them but they for their wickednes were burned in brimstone when righteous Lot was deliuered from them If Ioseph had not beene they had had no corne in Egipt If Moses had not beene the Lord had often destroyed the Israelites while they wandered and wauered in the wildernes For Iacobs sake the Lord increased the flocks of Laban For Iosephs sake he blessed the affaires of Potiphar for Paules sake he saued all them that suffered shipwracke at Myletum Euen so also he blessed the house of Obed-edomi because the arke was kept therein and at this day giueth greatest peace to those Countreys where his Gospell is promoted Let the atheists thinke if there were none that feared God they should quickly be condemned let the drunkards know if there were not some temperate persons their bodies should be quickly consumed let the couetous wretches assure themselues if there were not some liberall men their owne goods would turne to their death let the profaners of sabbaoths remember that if there were not some sanctifiers thereof their delightfull vanities would long agoe haue wrought their sorrowfull destinies let the contentious plaintifes be certified that if there were not some peaceable Christians among them their wealth had long agoe beene wasted for the prayers of the faithfull are like the walled Cities against the rage of enemies to keepe the vengeance of the Lord from falling vpon vs as the bloud of the Lamb spotted vpon the posts of the Israelites houses caused the angell to passe by them when all the first bornè in Egipt were slaine euen so the bloud of the lambe of God which is shead in the hearts of the godly maketh his messengers of death to depart from our countrey and kingdome If there were not a remnaunt among vs that are in league with the Lord that dayly are the hearers of his word the beseechers for his mercy and as the ambassadours of peace to disswade him from punishing our contempt of his word with condemnation our abuse of his creatures into pining famine our wantonnes in peace into lamentable warres our riotous liues into forraine captiuitye and our pampered bodyes to the slaughter of the sword You euen you that blaspheme the name of God if there were not a number that reprooue your abhominations the heauens would raigne downe stones to reuenge your accursed tongues you euen you that spend the Sabbaoths in dauncing and playing if there were not a company that refraine your pollutions you had beene cut off from your pleasure with some fearefull death before you had passed thus many dayes of securitie you euen you that thinke the preaching of the Gospell like the voyce of one that singeth whereunto you owe no more obedience then eare-seruice if there were not a remnant that heard the word of power which they beleeue is able to saue their soules you had beene many yeares since suffering the reward