in the worde minister vnto him that teacheth him in all good thinges Be not deceaued God is not mocked ¶ The duetie of husbandes vnto their wiues THe dutie of a faithfull husband vnto hys wife is to forsake all other for her sake to cleaue onely to his wife to loue her as Christ loued the congregation to cherish her as he would cherishe hys owne body to prouide for her to teach her the lawe of God to dwell with her according to knowledge and to geue honour vnto her although y â— weaker vessell as to one that is fellowe heyre with him of the grace of life ☞ Probations out of the holy Scriptures This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my fleshe She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man For this cause shall a maÌ„ leaue his father and mother and shall be ioyned with hys wife and they shall become one fleshe Be glad with the wife of thy youth Let her brestes alway satisfie thee and holde thee euer coÌ„tent with her loue My sonne why wilt thou haue pleasure in an harlotte and embrace the bosome of an other woman Ye husbandes loue your wiues euen as Christ also loued the congregation gaue him self for it to sanctifie it clensed it in the fountaine of water through y â— worde to make it vnto him self a glorious coÌ„gregatioÌ„ without spot or wrinkle or any thing but y t it should be holy and without blame So ought meÌ„ to loue their wiues as their owne bodyes He that loueth his wife loueth him selfe For no maÌ„ euer yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it euen as the Lord doth the congregation c. Ye husbandes loue your wiues and be not bitter to them Ye meÌ„ dwell with your wiues according to knowledge geuing honour vnto the wife as vnto the weaker vessell as vnto them that are heyres also of the grace of life ¶ The dutie of wiues vnto their husbandes THe dutie of an honest faythfull woman vnto her husband is to knowledge her husband to bee her head to bee subiecte vnto hym to reuerence hym to obey hym quietly to learne of hym to lead a blameles life to vse much silence peaceably circumspectly to looke vnto her housholde and to tier her self with such apparell as becommeth a sober Christian woman ☞ Probations out of the holy Scriptures Ye women submit your selues vnto your own husbandes as vnto the Lord. For y â— husband is y â— wiues head euen as Christ is the head of the congregation the same is he y t ministreth saluation to the body Therefore as the congregation is in subiection to Christ euen so let the wiues be in subiection to their husbandes in all thinges Ye wiues submit your selues vnto your owne husbandes as it is comely in the Lord. I will that women aray them selues in comely apparell with shamefastnes discrete behauour not with broydered heare eyther golde or pearles or costly aray but as it becommeth women y t professe godlines through good works Let the womaÌ„ learne in silence with all subiectioÌ„ But I suffer not a womaÌ„ to teach neither to vsurpe authoritie ouer y â— man but to be in silence Ye wiues be in subiectioÌ„ to your husbandes y t euen they which obey not y â— worde may without y â— worde bee wonne by y â— conuersation of the wiues while they beholde your â—hast conuersation coupled with feare Whoâ—e apparell shall not bee outward with broydered heare hanging on of golde eyther in putting on of gorgious apparell but let the hid man which is in y â— hart be without all corruption so that the spirite be at rest quiet which spirite before God is a thing much set by For after this maner in the olde time did y â— holy women which trusted in God tier theÌ„ selues and were obedient to their husbandes euen as Sara obeyed AbrahaÌ„ and called hym Lord whose daughters ye are so long as ye do well ¶ The dutie of fathers and mothers vnto their children THe dutie of fathers mothers vnto their children is to traine them vp in the law of God to teach theÌ„ to know God his holy word euen froÌ„ their cradles to bring theÌ„ vp in good learning and necessary artes to bridle them from the folishe and noysome lustes of youth and to garnishe their life with sober and graue maners ☞ Probations out of the holy Scriptures Set your hartes vnto all the wordes which I testifie vnto you this day ye shall coÌ„maund them vnto your children y t they may obserue do all y â— wordes of this law If thou haue sonnes bring them vp in nurture and learning holde them in awe from their youth vp If thou haue daughters kepe their body and shew not thy face cheerefull toward theÌ„ Mary thy daughter and so shalt thou perfourme a waightie matter but geue her to a man of vnderstanding He y â— teacheth his soÌ„ne shall haue ioy in him and nede not to be ashamed of him amoÌ„g his aquaintance He that spareth the rod hateth the sonne but who so loueth hym chasteneth hym betimes Ye fathers moue not your children to wrath but bring them vp through the doctrine and information of the Lord. How godly Salomon youÌ„g Toby SusaÌ„na Philip y â— Euangelistes daughters Timothe and such lyke were brought vp of their parentes the holy scriptures beare witnes ¶ The dutie of children toward their fathers and mothers THe dutie of childreÌ„ toward their parentes is in their minde to loue them outwardly to reuerence and honour them to obey them in all thynges that are agreable to Gods will and if they chaunce to fall into pouertie to helpe theÌ„ and to geue them wherof to liue ☞ Probations out of the holy Scriptures Honour thy father froÌ„ thy whole hart and forget not the sorrowfull trauell y t thy mother had with thee Remember that thou wast borne through them and how canst thou recompence them the thinges that they haue done for thee Children obey your fathers and mothers in the Lord for y t is right Honour thy father and mother the same is the first coÌ„maundement in the promise that thou mayest prosper and liue long on earth Read the confirmations of the fift commaundement ¶ The dutie of Maisters to their Seruauntes THe dutie of Maisters to their Seruauntes is to entreate theÌ„ gently to geue them their couenauntes and to helpe theÌ„ that they may afterward be able to liue ☞ Probations out of the holy Scriptures Where as thy seruaÌ„t worketh truly entreate him not euil nor y t hireling y â— is faythfull vnto thee Loue a discrete seruaunt as thine owne soule defraude him not of his libertie neither leaue him a poore man Ye maisters doe vnto your seruauntes that which is iust and equall putting away threatninges knowing
The Principles of Christian Religion necessary to be knowen of all the faythfull set forth to the great profite in trayning vp of all youth by Tho. Becon Iohn xiij If ye know these thinges blessed are ye if ye doe them Imprinted at London by Iohn Daye dwelling ouer Aldersgate AN. 1569. ¶ Cum Priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis per Decennium THOMAS BECONVS SACROSAC TAE THEOLOGIAE PROFESSOR Ora expressa vides viuos imitantia vultus Quod potuit calimo pictor arte vides Mentis quā nullus potuit tibi reddere pictor Effigiem scriptis 〈◊〉 ipse suis. ¶ The Contentes of this Booke Of fayth WHat fayth is What benefites we receiue of God through◠fayth The Articles of the Christian fayth with confirmations of the same out of the holy Scriptures Of prayer What prayer is What benefites we receiue of God by prayer The Lordes Prayer called the Pater noster with confirmations of euery peticion out of the holy Scripture Of the law What the law is To what vse the law was geuen The x. commaundementes of God with confirmations of euery commaundemēt out of the holy Scripture Of Repentaunce What repentaunce is Of the fruites of repētaunce declared by the word of God Of Baptisme What Baptisme is For what vse Baptisme was ordained Of the Lordes Supper What the Lordes Supper is To what vse Christ did institute it The duty of all estates and degrees accordyng to the doctrine of Gods holy word The dutie of the hye powers and of the other temporall Magistrates The dutie of Subiectes toward the hi◠powers The dutie of Byshops and Ministers of Gods worde The duetie of Parishioners vnto the Ministers of Gods word The dutie of Husbandes vnto their wiues The duetie of Wiues vnto their Husbandes The duetie of Fathers and Mothers vnto their children The duetie of Children towardes their Fathers and Mothers The duetie of Maisters to their Seruauntes The duetie of Seruauntes to their Maisters The duetie of Widowes The duetie of Olde men The duetie of Olde women The duetie of Young folke The duetie of all degrees and estates generally both toward God and their neighbour FINIS To the most gentle and godly disposed childe M. Thomas Cecill sonne to the right honourable Syr Williā Cecill Knight and Secretary to the Kings Maiestie Thomas Becon wisheth the fauour of God with the encrease of vertue and learning II of holy letters we be not sleepie nor vaine readers but diligētly marke what we read we shall easilie perceaue that among other commaundementes of God this is not the last nor the least which he geueth cōcerning the bringing vp of youth in y ◠knowledge of his blessed will For y ◠godly wisedome knoweth right well that except the younglinges of a common weale be vertuously brought vp and faithfully framed according to the right rule of Gods holy appointment it can not come to passe but that his glory the good parentes being once deceased must needes bee obscured in thys world the inuocation of his name cease and all godly religion decay yea the men them selues if they bee worthy that name must needes become brutelike and be caryed about with euery straunge doctrine cōtemne all laudable lawes breake all good orders follow their fleshly appetites lyke vnreasonable beastes so at last bring both thēselues their realmes vnto vtter destruction Therfore as God in his holy law requireth of parentes nothing more earnestly thē to bring vp their children vertuously and according to his word so likewise all godly fathers and mothers haue euer from the beginning done their vttermost endeuour to traine vp their younglinges euen from the very cradells in the nurture feare and doctrine of the Lord supposing them selues then best to please God and most to doe the true office of godly and naturall parentes when they studie how to garnish not theyr childrens bodies with gay and sumptuous vestures but their mindes with noble and precious vertues not bow to lift them vp to transitory dignities worldly honours which as dayly experiēce teacheth are more brittle then glasse and fade away lyke the grasse but how to make them honourable and prayse worthy in the sight of good mē and profitable to the cōmon weale through vertue learning wisedome and counsell And the more the parentes them selues did excell other in knowledge wisedome and learning the greater desire had they to bring their children vnto the lyke perfection bearing heauily that theirs shoulde in any poynt degenerate from their fathers vertues and not orderly aunswere to the godly qualities of their noble parentes Histories both godly and Ethnicke doe minister vnto vs examples aboundantly in this behalfe which I would here gladly recite if I had not attempted the lyke enterprise already in my preface to the Gouernance of Vertue Againe if I were not fully perswaded that you haue heretofore both red and also heard of your teacher the same or els the like histories Your right honourable and most worthy father knowing the good pleasure of God in thys behalfe hath also after the example of all other noble godly parentes painfully trauailed both by him self and by learned teachers to bring you vp euen frō your cradell in the knowledge of Gods will and of good letters that you might as in age so likewise in vertue and learning grow and encrease vnto hys comfort vnto your owne commendation vnto the profite of the common weale hereafter And as your father is learned and hath a brest stuffed with all godly vertues so is hys desire to haue you both learned vertuous that when he shall geue ouer to nature God so disposing hee may leaue behinde hym hys owne image yea as I may so speake hym selfe not onely in lineamentes of body but also in vertue in godlines in wisedome in knowledge and by thys meanes bee counted of hys posteritie a worthy member of the common weale both in him selfe and 〈◊〉 hys sonne It is your dutie therfore to satisfie the good desire of so naturall a father and to aunswere the expectation of many which looke to finde in you hereafter that vertue learning wisedome and grauitie that is euidently perceaued in your most worthy father Thys shall bee brought to passe if according to your beginning ye goe forth diligently to call on the name of God to applie your mind to good letters to giue eare to the wholsome admonicions of your most deare father and to take heede to the daily exhortations of your teacher euer framyng your life according to your knowledge And that ye may do this the more cōueniently I geue you thys little treatise which shall aboundauntly instructe you in those pointes of Christian Religion which at thys present do most of all become your age In it are cōtained the principles of our profession which I haue so opened with the conference of the other scriptures that they may worthily seeme to striue with large Cōmentaries I haue also set forth the duties
that ye also haue a maister in heauen Neither is there any respect of persons with God ¶ The dutie of Seruauntes to their Maisters THe dutie of seruauntes to their maisters is willingly with a free courage to serue theÌ„ for conscience sake not with y â— eye but with the hart to obey theÌ„ to honour theÌ„ gently to answere theÌ„ not to picke or steale away their goods but to be faythfull vnto theÌ„ in all thinges ☞ Probations out of the holy Scriptures Ye seruantes obey theÌ„ y t are your bodily maisters with feare trembling eueÌ„ with y â— singlenes of your hart as vnto Christ not doing seruice vnto the eie as they y t go about to please men but as the seruantes of Christ doing the will of God froÌ„ the hart with good wil seruing the Lord not meÌ„ Knowing this that what soeuer good deede any man doth y â— same shall he receaue againe of God whether he be bond or free Let as many seruauntes as are vnder the yoke count their masters worthy of all honour that y â— name of God and his doctrine be not euill spoken of Exhort seruantes to be obedient vnto their owne maisters and to please them in all thinges not aunswering againe neither to be pickers but that they shewe all good faithfulnes that they may do worship to the doctrine of God our Sauiour in all thinges ¶ The dutie of Widowes THe dutie of true auncient widowes besides the looking to their own houshold prouisioÌ„ making for their liuing is to put their trust in God to geue theÌ„ selues to the exercise of y â— spirite to frequent the teÌ„ple to be present at y â— sermons to visite the sicke to relieue y â— nedy to be rich in good workes to coÌ„tinue in â—upplications praiers both day and night But as touching the youÌ„ger widowes least they should waxe wanton against Christ follow Sathan breakyng their fyrst fayth promise that they made to God at their baptisme which is to abstaine from all vncleannes both of body minde and to lead a pure and honest life so cast theÌ„ selues into dauÌ„ger of euerlasting damnation it is conuenient that they mary again bryng forth childreÌ„ guide their house vertuously and so liue in the holy estate of matrimonie that no man may haue occasion to speake euill of them ☞ Probations out of the holy Scriptures She that is a true widow and frendles putteth her trust in God and continueth in supplications and prayers day and night Iudith y t vertuous widow in the hier partes of her house made her self a priuie chaÌ„ber where she dwelt being closed in with her maides She ware a smocke of heare and fasted all y â— dayes of her life except the Sabbaothes new Moones and the solemne dayes y t the people of Israell kept She was a womaÌ„ of a very good report with euery one for she feared y â— Lorde greatly and there was no body that spake an euill worde of her The godly auncient widow Anna departed not from the temple but serued God with fastings and prayers night and day ¶ Of the younger widowes THe younger widowes refuse For wheÌ„ they haue begun to waxe waÌ„ton against Christ they wil mary hauing damnation because they haue cast away their fyrst fayth And also they learne to go froÌ„ house to house idle yea not idle only but also tatlers and busie bodies speaking things which are not comely I will therfore y t the younger women mary to beare children to guide the house geue none occasion to the aduersary to speake euill ¶ The dutie of olde men THe dutie of olde meÌ„ is to auoide all lightnes both in word dede couÌ„tenance to talke of wisedome graue matters to be sober sage discrete to lead a pure vndefiled life y t they may be an ensample of true godlines to y â— youÌ„ger folke ☞ Probations out of the holy Scriptures God hateth an olde body that doteth and is vnchaste Age is an honourable thyng neuertheles it standeth not onely in the length of time nor in the multitude of yeares but a mans wisedome is the gray heare and an vndefiled life is the olde age Exhort the elder men to be sober sage discrete sound in the fayth in loue in pacience ¶ The dutie of olde women THe dutie of olde womeÌ„ is as in age so in maners to be sober sage auncient to weare no light apparell but such rayment as become their age profession to be no tatlers but to order their tounges discretely to be no tauerne huÌ„ters nor geuen to drunckennes but to lead a sober life to prouoke no youÌ„g women vnto leâ—udnes and dishonestie but rather to shew theÌ„ selues liuely glasses naturall myrrours of all godlines and honestie ☞ Probations out of the holy Scriptures Exhort y â— elder women that they be in such raymeÌ„t as becoÌ„meth holines not being false accusers not geuen to much wine but that they teach honest thinges to make the younge women sober minded to loue their husbandes to loue theyr children to be discrete chaste huswifely good obedient to their husbandes that the worde of God bee not euill spoken of ¶ The dutie of younge folke THe dutie of younge folke is not to be proud but humble lowly and gentle gladly to heare the discrete talke of their elders and to be ordered by them not to be rash but sober minded in all their doinges ☞ Probations out of the holy Scriptures Ye youÌ„ger folke submit your selues vnto y â— elders submit your selues euery maÌ„ one to an other knit your selues together in lowlines of minde For God resisteth y e proude and geueth grace to the humble Thou young man keepe coÌ„pany with the multitude of such elders as haue vnderstanding consent vnto their wisedome with thine hart that thou mayest heare all godly sermons and that the worthy sentences escape thee not If y u be among meÌ„ of higher authoritie desire not to coÌ„pare thy self vnto theÌ„ and when an elder speaketh make not thou many wordes Exhort the younge meÌ„ that they be sober minded ¶ The dutie of all degrees and estates generally both toward God and their neighbour THe dutie of all degrees estates generally both toward God their neighbor is to beleue in God to feare God to kepe his coÌ„mauÌ„demeÌ„tes to loue god aboue al thinges our neighbor as our self to do none otherwise vnto other then we wish to be done vnto our selues ☞ Probations out of the holy He beleâ—â—â— God beleue also in me sayth Christ Fears God and keepe his commaundementes for that be loÌ„geth vnto all meâ—â— Thou shalt loue the Lorde thy God with â—ll thy hart with all thy soule and 〈◊〉 all thy mind Thys is the first 〈…〉 est commanndement And the second is like vnto it Thou shâ—â—