speaketh yet am not I of that mind because that many otherwise chast in body haue not with standing their minds vnderstanding defiled with vunatural lusts cōcupiscence which before our God is a great a greuous sinne So then Paul addresseth himselfe in this place to speake to such as haue pure hearts and clean bodies which is either hardly or not at all found in any For who can say my hearte is cleane before God and this may playnely appeare vnto vs by that which followeth Neuerthelesse to auoyd fornication let euery man haue his wife and let euery woman haue her own husbād and againe if they can not abstaine let them marrie for it is better to marrie then to burne To make this more plaine by a similitude If one should say after this maner It is good for a man neither to eate to drinke nor to sleepe vnlesse he were well vnderstood he should appeare to speake very absurdely because he seemeth to take away all such necessaries as whereby God hath appointed mans life to be mainteined yet the partie so saying doth not disprayse meat and drinke and sleepe as things noysome and hurtfull but meaneth that we should liue more godly if being freed frō these prouocations we gaue our selues wholy to the consideration of heauēly things For more then the competent and néedfull sufficing of our nature whatsoeuer is giuen vnto these is diminished from the spirit Euen so the Apostle doth not condemne marriage in this saying as euill or wicked but because many lettes and stops are found in fleshly marriages he saith It were good not to be married for that doth hee vnderstand by touching of a woman as the best most learned expositors that I seene take it It followeth Neuertholesse for the auoyding of fornication c. In these words the Apostle cōmandeth such as are vnchast to run to the remedie that God hath appointed for although the sentence seeme to be vniuersall yet it oght to be restrained vnto them who feele themselues by a certaine needfulnes to be pricked forward In this behalfe no law can be prescribed neither can we iudge one of another but euery man should bee a sufficient witnesse to himselfe because in himselfe he feeleth the infirmities and prickes of the flesh and albeit there appeareneuer so many stops lets in marriage yet this must all vnderstand to whom God hath not giuen the gift of chastitie and and so by that meanes not able to withstand the prickes of the flesh that this commandement is by the Lord layde vpon their shoulders as a burden to beare which if it be not performed feeing that God hath appointed this as a remedie against sinne they commit grieuos iniquitie and by that their dealing heape vnto themselues wrath agaynst the day of the Lord. Moreouer the place of the Apostle must not be so vnderstoode as though this were the onely cause why marriages should be made but this is his drift not somuch to shew for what causes marriage was orderned as for what persons it was fit and necessarie for if we haue respect vnto the time of the first institution it could not be a remedie for that dose ase which yet was not I meane sin but it was ordeyned for the procreatiō of children the increase of mankind and the mutuall societie that the one should haue of the other after mans fal the second vse was added To stand vpon the tearmes fornication adulterie the differences betwixt them we shall not neede because it is more curious then necessary this we see that the scripture doth as wel vse that one as the other tearm in many places for all quchast vnsober behauiour of our selues either in bodie or mind This is inough out of this place to be gathered that though the world make little account of cōmitting such wickednes yet it is a great sin before that maiesty of god which euidently appeareth because hee will haue those that are his to shun and flye from the same If this be not sufficient cast but your eies vp to the latter end of the former chapiter and see how haynous a crime the Apostle maketh it there he warneth them to flee fornication the reason whereby he would disswade them from that sinne is taken from the notoriousnes and grieuousnes of the fact For sayth he euery sinne that a man doeth is without the body but be that committteth fornication finnoth against his owne bodie that is to say he more pollineth his owne bodie then he that committeth any other sin If this will not serue haue an eye vnto those punishments which God hath appointed vnto those wicked contemners and breakers of his ordinaunces His punishments are two folde eyther temporall or perpetuall The perpetuall punishment of God is that burning lake of fire and brimstone which is prepared for the diuill his angels where shal be weeping wayling and gnashing of teeth without fayth Iohn in his reuelation shall be dogs and inchaunters and whoremongers and murtherers and idolaters and whosoeuer loueth and maketh lyes and the Apostle Paul saith Know ye not that the vnrighteous shall not inherite the kingdome of God Be not deceiued neither fornicatours nor idolaters nor adulterers nor buggerers nor thieues nor couetous nor drunkards nor-raylers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdome of God which places are to be vnderstood of such maner of men as are the seruants of sin and sold to worke wickednes die in the same wtout harty and vnfaigned repentance His temporall punishments are also of two sortes eyther in those which he layeth vpon the committers of such wickednes of himselfe as war plagues pestilences sickenes pouertie such like which bring his children to a consideration of their faultes and a beholding of his mercie but haue in the wicked and reprobate a contrarie effect and operation and in the 26. of Genesis we may see that Abimelech king of Gerar made a law concerning this mattter that whosoeuer did touch the man or his wife to the breaking of wedlocke should die the death Verily it may appeare to all vnlesse they be wilfully blind that we in the cleare light of the Gospel are far worse in this matter then they which were vnder the law of nature before the law of God written was giuen for the gouernement of his people But if such as God hath appointed his officers and ministers on earth to execute such notorious offenders and transgressers of his law who ought to deal in the punishment of this sin as God himselfe appointeth not as the Popes canons pestilently prescribeth that is to say to sée whoredome adultery punished with death as the Lord himselfe willeth not so slightly passed ouer looked vnto as at this day it is In the law we haue these words repeated twise for fayling The man that committeth adulterie with an other mans wife because he hath committed allulterie with his neighbours wife the
adulterer and adulteresse shall die the death And how diligent executors of this law the magistrates people of Israel were it appeareth in that they were so ready to put to death that innocent Susanna yea in the very law of nature it hath bin after that same maner punished as appeareth in Genesis when we reade that Iudah contemneth his daughter in law Thamar because she was an adulteres although he himselfe giuing sentence against her knew not that he had committed sin with her to be burned But I know this iudgemēt will not be liked of some but it skilleth not for I come not to please men for if I should so do I could not be the seruant of God this I dare speake to all of what sort condition so euer they be in the strength of gods spirit I dare vtter it that the lack of discipline is the occasion of this sin is in some sort by wicked vngodly persons euē as it were defended affirming it is but a knack of youth a piece of good fellowship or if not defended yet the punishment diminished and the faultes lessened now as in time heretofore it hath bene for the scribes pharises affirmed that if a man kept his body cleane from actuall sinne he could not be an adulterer or fornicatour and no maruayle though the people were easily induced both to receyue and beleeue this opinion For besides that it is plausible to flesh and bloud the scribes and pharisees themselues the authors of it were in those dayes men of great countenance and estimation euen as Abbottes and Cardinals in the Papacie or that I may speake more familiarly and playnely like to our Lord Bishops amongst vs yet notwithstanding their credit Christ setteth himself against them not onely shewing howe corruptely they had expounded the lawe but also opening the true sense meaning thereof So that this is manifest that though the worlde account neuer so little of this wickednes know you yet the Lorde esteemeth both the thought wishing the deed doyng to be great grieuous sinnes and there fore so expresly hath forbidden it appointed so greuous punishmēts for it Not that I meane that hee which sinneth in thought shoulde by the Magistrate bee put to death as well as he that doth the filthy fact in body for that were with the Pelagians Iouianists and Stoiks to make sinnes equall which opinion of theirs I vtterly dislike and detest For in respecte of circumstaunce one sinne may be greater then another and so deserue a sharper punishmente but to teach you according to the truth of gods law that you should not think those sins small which Gods spirite accounteth verye great and indéed without repentance make a perpetuall separation betwéene the Lord and vs and also to declare that we ought hartily to wish and earnestly to pray that Gods lawe according to his will with as much speede as might be and in as straight a manner as he hath commaunded might be put in execution to the punishing of the wicked and the comfort of the godly Neyther am I ignorant howe some both haue and will kick againste this doctrine thinking that though it were so seuerely punished in the old law among the Iewes yet it shoulde not bee so among vs. To this I coulde easilye yéeld if they were able to proue eyther God himselfe the Lawgiuer to be mutable which is impossible or else the law not to appertaine to vs whiche I think they are not able to doetor else if they were able to prescribe a better order of politike gouernmēt thē God him self the author of al wisdome hath already set out which were presumptiō and blasphemy intollerable for by that means flesh blood should be if not exalted before that maieste of God yet made equall vnto him But seing that they are not able to proue any of these points it remayneth that vnles they wil be iudged froward obstinate they consente to this truth acknowledge that same But they are so far frō yéelding to it that they spare not to set thēselues against it For did not Christ say they say to the woman taken in adultry God thy way sin no more Paul did not kil with the sword but excōmunicate by the word the incestuous person at Corinth Therfore fornicatiō adultery c. is not so straightly to be punished as you would haue it I will answere bréefely and for breuities sake I wil omit many necessary points in these two examples which otherwise if I might stand long vpon they were worthy of the noting first for Christs example thus I aunswere the execution of the law for punishing adultery with death did belong to the ciuil magistrate now Christ was none as plainly appereth by this saying Man who made me a iudge or a deuider ouer you spoken to one that would haue had him to haue commanded his brother to haue diuided the inheritāce with him and again by that which he spake to Pilate My kingdom is not of this world So then because Christ was not a ciuil Magistrat he would not take vpō him to put that in execution wch he had nothing to do with withal teaching vs to that we be content with our vocation kéepe our selues within the boūds therof this may serue for answere to that example Now concerning Paules dealing wee haue thus much to note that there was thē so far as canne be gathered no Christian ruler that might take vppon him to execute this lawe in his full force and yet rather then sinne shoulde be vnpunished and wickednesse winked at Paule woulde vse the discipline of the Church deliuer the incestuous person ouer to Sathan for a time Would to God that if so bee the Magistrate neglect his duetye in punishing this sinne in such seuere manner as Gods law appointeth yet wee mighte haue some Paules and Elders in euerye Congregation that would vse the force of the word and seuerity of Discipline Ecclesiasticall to the beating down of this and all other like horrible vices But all this notwithstanding it is lamentable to be considered and no godly man can without teares behold the fond and ridiculous punishment of this sinne vsed in these dayes To be pricked in a shéete or pinned in a blanquet and to stand in the Church or in some Market place or carted thorowe the Towne is the most gréeuous censure of all and yet in my iudgemente as good left vndone for it is the best waye that can be to make such as haue little shame in them to bes altogether past shame I will not say altogether past grace And yet this kind of punishment belongeth to the poorer sort If riche ones sinne they are punished by the purse fortie shillinges for committing such an acte is iudged a great punishment If this be not a maintaining of sinne I know not what is For what vicious or sensuall man is there that wil léefe his
daughter to his sonne nor take his daughter vnto thy sonne a reason is added For they will cause thy sonne to turn away from me to serue other Gods Then will the wrath of the Lord wax hote against you destroy thée sodainely wherefore Abraham caused the eldest seruaunt of his houshold to sweare that he shoulde not take a Wife vnto his sonne of the daughters of the Cananits amōg whō he dwelt but that he shoulde goe vnto his countrie to his kindred take a wife vnto his son Isaac The selfe same care we sée to be in Rebecca Isaac for their son Iacob and therefore after that she séemed to feare least he shoulde take one of the Daughters of Heth to wife and had vttered the same gréefe vnto her husband Isaac playnlye commaundeth his sonne not to take a wife of the Daughters of Canaan And in the new Testament it is sayd Be not vnequally yoked with the Infidels O but say some I can reclayme her from vnbeléefe vngodlines to faith vertue Indéede if thou were as strong as Sāpson and as wise as Salomon it might peraduenture sinke into my braine but if the strongest and the wisest were not able to resist how shal the weakest and the simplest be able to stande This is reckoned as one of the greatestreasons of Sampsous ruine for taking a wife of the Daughters of the Philistines And this is accounted as one of the weightiest causes of Salomons fall that hee tooke him many wiues of outlandishe women and strange nations whiche turned away his hart from the seruice of the true God after their false Gods And this is iudged to be one of the sins for which God brought an vniuersall floud vpon the whole earth and the inhabitants therof For that the sonnes of God saw the daughters of men that they were fayre they tooke thē wiues of all that they liked Let vs therefore beware and learne now at the length to deale more warily according to Gods holy councell in this and other matters then heretofore we haue done Furthermore this is to be noted that in that the Apostle will haue euerye man to haue his own wife and euery wife her owne husband that he doth vtterlye take away poligamie or multitude of wiues at one time A doctrine not vunecessary and vnfit to be treated of in this place because as I heare say I do in part beléue it that there bee some in Kent doe defend the same I can not speake of this and other things so largelye as I would because I haue bene hitherto somwhat long I wil say both concerning this and other thinges also that follow my mind bréefely Whosoeuer doth defend this as lawfull and necessary not only striueth agaynst the doctrine of Gods spirit in this place deliuered who sayth singularly euery man must haue his own wife not wiues but also quite clean turneth vpside down the first institution of mariage for god in Paradise in the time of mās innocēcy joining woman vnto man as a helper said For this cause shall a man forsake father mother cleaue to his wife they two shal be one flesh not they three not they foure c. but they two This is also to be considered the the first breach of this ordinance began not in the houshold of the faithfull but in the wicked séed stock of cursed Cain for it is said in Genesis that Lamech who came of Cains kindred tooke ij wiues the name of the one was Adah and the name of the other was Zillah So that it appeareth that all that either put in practise to haue many wiues or defend the same are of Cains progeny that is a frowarde adulterous wicked possessiō neither is there any reason why they should to this end obiect the examples of the Patriarks and godly mē of the old law be fore the cōming of our sauiour christ for in thē it was a great sinne infirmity and had not the Lord in mercy and in the death of Iesus who was the lamb killed frō the beginning of the world blotted out their sin they had felt the payne and punishmēt wch is euerlasting death You see then the poligamie or multitude of wiues cannot stand by Gods word Let mans wit suppose what it cā this only is the truth the Lord giue vs grace to imbrace and follow the same It followeth Let the husband giue vnto the wife c. Now the Apostle sheweth how we ought to liue after wee be maried first he laieth out a general doctrine of mutual beneuolēce the is of the dutye of the husband toward the wife the wife toward the husbād wheras some haue vnderstood by due beneuolence the debt of mariage the is the satisfying of lust it liketh me not because it is somwhat to narrow I indéed iudge that this moued thē so to expound the same for that it followeth presently afterwardes the wife hath not power of her owne body c. But it will stande more agréeable with truth if we say that to be inferred necessarily as a particular poynt oute of the former because the Apostle here dealeth generally For his meaning is that the husband should doe to the wife the wife toward the husbād one of thē toward that other al duties pertaining to mariage To intreat of thē all particularly I can not at this present neither if I could would occasiō serue the chiefest of thē is that which Peter speaketh of that there be betwixt thē such a consēt vnity of minds that their prayers be not interrupted by which worde it appeareth that priuate praiers were then shold now be vsed in priuate houses wch how much it is obserued let al iudge I feare me that if housholders should be called to accounts in this poynt they wold come very short For wheras they praied morning euening at the least euerye day it is a great matter with vs if we pray once a wéeke in our houses nay I iudge some of vs neither praye in our houses nor in churches but come thither only for fashiō sake this appeareth because ther foloweth so litle fruit of our prayers for if we prayed hartily God wold here our praiers willingly graunt our peticions effectually But we aske many things and obtayne few things the cause is for that we ask thē not aright It followeth The wife hath not power of her own bodie c. The mening is that God hath so created man for woman and woman for man that they cannot well be one without the other vnlesse it be such as vpon whom he hath bestowed the gift of chastitie that sentence serueth also well agaynst Poligamie or pluralitie of wiues For if the bodie of the man be so tyed to the bodie of the woman that the one is subiect to the other it cannot be that the mā hath authority to take more wiues nor the wife to take
more husbands It followeth Defraud not one another except it be c. In these words Paul sheweth a notable remedie against the feigned shew of holines loue of ourselues For Sathan many times pricketh vs with a shew of weldoyng to thinke our selues to be defiled by the cōpany of our wiues therefore causeth vs to leaue our vocation and thinke of an other estate as we reade that many men and some kinges of this realme haue forsaken their calling left their wiues become religious persōs so many women haue forsaken the duties of marriage closed vp thēselues in vnreligious cloysters Besides this mans nature is such it is so much addicted to the loue of it selfe that at Sathans instigation the man dothnot only neglect his wife but altogether loath her and likewise the wife the husband for these causes doth the Apostle so earnestly diligently reason of the mutual society and loue betwixt man and wife as if he should say if married persons purpose to lead a single life eyther because they suppose it to be more holy or els are pricked thereto with sundry kinds of lust not contenting thēselues with that ordinary meane that God hath appointed let thē consider that they are tyed one to the other by a mutuall band the man is but onely the one halfe of his body so likewise the woman Wherefore they haue not free libertie to part asunder as they lust whē they lust but rather they ought to weigh this we cannot be one wtoutanother we lack one anothers ayde God hath ioyned vs together to helpe one another let vs therfore one ayd anothers need If they go so far that they separate thēselues the Apostle requireth first a mutuall consent wch is necessary because the continency not of one only but of both of thē is hasarded Secōdly that it be but for a time for perperuall chastitie is not in their power but is the gift of God Thirdly that they doe not therfore absteine from keeping company one with another as though that abstmence were of it selfe a good holy worke or a piece of Gods seruice but that we may giue ouer our selues to better exercises to wit fasting and prayer in wch words we haue to consider that the Apostle speaketh not of euery sorte of fasting and euery kind of prayer Sobernes tēperancie are kinds of fasting prayer shold not only be dayly but also continuall He speaketh therfore of such a fast as is a publike and solemne testimonie of repentāce by wch we turn away gods wrath vengeāce or by wch the faithful prepare thēselues to prayer when they take in hād som earnest matter The same may be sayd of prayer as for exāple whē some calamity or misery is nigh or if some tokē of Gods wrath appeare or when some matter of great weight importance is to be taken in hand as the ordering of ministers c. And surely the Apostle doeth worthily ioine these two together not as though fasting were a piece of Gods seruice but because it is a preparation vnto prayer For the bodie being by fasting subdued the more willingly by the assistance of Gods spirite submitteth it selfe vnto the spirite being both ioyned they poure forth more harti supplications vnto the Lord. And therefore our sauiour Christ ioyneth them together in like sort when he saith This kind of diuils is not cast forth but by fasting and prayer Now thē in these words of the Apostle we haue a plaine ouerthrowe of that popish doctrine of diuorce a thoro mensa that is to saye from bedde boord They teach that for sundry causes and endes a man may be separated from his wife at the table and the bed yet the Apostle sheweth that such separation cannot be made for any ende but for this namely that they may giue ouer themselues to fasting and prayer Their causes are worldly fleshly but the Apostles end is spiritual heauenly No lesse vaynely and fondly do they deale in the whole matter of Diuorce for whereas our sauiour Christ maketh but one cause and that is Fornication they make nyne or ten at the least and wheras by the warrant of Gods word the faultles party may marrie if he haue not the gift of continencie for by the law of God the adulterer and adulteresse should both be put to death as before I shewed in the beginning and the woman is set free the husband being dead from the lawe of the man and the man from the lawe of the wife the wife being dead by the popish canon law yet in this realme mainteined it cōmeth to passe that neither the sin is so grieuously punished as of right it shold neither may the faultles person marrie but as wel the guiltles as the gultie yea though they haue not the gift of chastity enioyned to liue a single sole life nay wold to god it were not a shrewd sinfull life Now it followeth again come together c though the Apowle wil haue christian mē women for godly exercises sake to separate thēselues yet he wil not haue that separatiō to endure ouer long the reason is added that Sathan tempt you not c. As if the Apostle should saye when ye take vpon you to abstein long frō the society one of another and occasion is profered to Sathan to oppresse you because you take that in hand wch you are not able to performe for such is the imbecillitie weakenes of the flesh that the one cannot long be wtout the cōpany of the other and therfore you had need looke to yourselues saith the Apostle for the aduersary wil leaue no corner vnsought nor any stone vnrolled to prouoke you to wickednes incontinency Here we haue to learne that lesson wch I touched in the beginning namely that God requireth pure chast mindes as wel as cleane bodies And also we haue to note the malice of sathan who goeth about like a roring lyon seeking to deuour vs if we consider his force hee is strōg as a lyon if we weigh his subtilty he is called the great olde serpent can translate himselfe into the likenes of an Angel of light he spared not Christ but tempted him immediatly after baptisme therfore he will not cease to assaile vs we had need therfore to be sober watchful and to pray continually with the disciples for the increase of our faith because faith is the mean by wch we must resist though his power be in the scriptures coūted great yet this singular comfort we haue in the same scriptures reuealed vnto vs that he is but a coward playeth the part of a tyrant who when he hath gotten any people vnder him in slauerie and boudage doth miserably torment thē But if we resist him the diuill I meane and set our selues against him he wil flée far frō vs for his tyranie is exercised only vpon the children of vnbeliefe as for the faithfull he is not able to touch thē wtout gods sufferance and appointmēt he cold not enterinto a few sooine til Christ gaue him leaue He could not touch the body and goods of Iob til God suffered him his power is not increased nor the strēgth and arme of our Lord any whit at al abated It remaineth then that we set our selues in conflict skirmish against the diuil we shrinke not for then we lie opē to be wounded The Apostle hath in the Ephesians described Panopleian that is to say complet harnesse of a christiā he appointeth euery one to haue their loynes girded about with veritie hauing on the breastplate of righteousnes their feete shod with the preparation of the gospell of peace that shield of faith that helmet of saluation the sword of the spirite Marke how the Apostle armeth a christiā souldier in the fore parts appointeth him in harnes for his backe to defend that wtall by which the spirtt of God teacheth vs with what valiant courage we should be indued when we come to skirmish with the diuill we may not in any case turne our backs to him for then we lie opē easily receiue his woūds but resist him by faith as I said before he will flee far frō vs. The Lord indue vs with force and strength of his spirit frō aboue to wtstand Sathan all his wicked tēptations imprint these things in our hearts which we haue heard to the amendment of our sinfull liues and conuersation to the glory of his name thorow Iesus Christ to whom with the holy Ghost be al honor and glory for euer and euer Amen Let vs pray FINIS