domesticall troubles some are more priuate fitting for this or that domesticall trouble In this chapter I will set down those rules that are common to all these troubles And first of all it is a common rule in all these troubles pertaining to the right casting of them vpon God that we arme our soules with patience and quietly beare whatsoeuer God is pleased to lay vpon vs. For shall we be willing only to receiue good things at the handes of God things agreeable to our hearts wish and when he is pleased eyther for our triall or for our correction or for any other holy cause to lay vpon vs euill and hard things vnpleasant to flesh and bloud shall wee then murmure against his worke God forbid Iob iustly reprooueth such a course saying to his wife Shall wee receiue good things at the hands of God and not receiue euill As when good things come it is fitte to acknowledge Gods free mercie and to be thankefull so when euill things come it is fit to acknowledge Gods holy iustice and to be patient And this course of casting our burden vppon the Lord our blessed Sauior the Lord Iesus Christ commends vnto vs and a sure way of finding ease saying vnto vs Take my yoake on you and learne of mee that I am meeke and lowly of heart and you shall find rest vnto your soules that is whatsoeuer burden falles vpon any of you either after my example or for my sake which I account to be my burdens for I labor in him that labors vnder those burdens let him not murmure let him not spurne impatiently against it but let him take it meekely vnto him as I did my death This shal bring ease to his soule for this is to cast his burden vpon God while for Gods sake he is willing to beare his good pleasure This patience a while continued will make thy yoake easie and thy burthen light and whilest others crie and complaine thou shalt reioyce in God therefore haue the Apostles both in their practise and in their doctrine ioyned together patience and reioycing in the times of trouble because continued patience breedeth ioy Of their practise ioyning patience and reioycing together Paul speaketh thus Also we reioyce in tribulations knowing that tribulation bringeth foorth patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed Such was their practise Which while hee reporteth doeth hee not there with all deliuer that troubles patiently borne doe giue experience of Gods fauour giue hope in Gods mercie and breede a confident and vndaunted spirit ◅ and these three experience hope and confidence are the grounds and true supporters of ioy Of their doctrine preached to others Iames the Apostle shewes vs what it was saying My brethren count it exceeding ioy when yee fall into diuers tentations knowing that the trying of your faith bringeth foorth patience and l◅t patience haue her perfect worke that yee may be perfect and intire lacking nothing In their practise could this course be kept in wisedome In their doctrine could this rule bee giuen in soundnesse if the patient bearing of all our troubles were not a readie and very soueraigne way of casting our burdens vpon the Lord for our ease therefore haue care of this in the first place to possesse thy soule in patience And if it seeme to any man a hard thing to bee patient in trouble let him not feare to attempt euen by this course of patience to cast his burden vpon the Lord. For there are many reasons that perswade thereunto First the burden while it continueth is a sure testimonie of Gods loue vnto thee Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews saith My sonne despise not the chastening of the Lord neither faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loueth he chasteneth hee scourgeth euerie sonne whom hee receiueth The chastisement of the Lord by these troubls is an euidēce of his fatherly loue and therfore we ought with the patience of children to beare it Secondly while God out of his loue continueth the burden of this trouble vpon thee he doeth it only for thy good As the same Apostle teacheth vs in the same Epistle saying Hee chasteneth vs for our profit that wee may be partakers of his holiness◅ The effect of those troubles intended of God is our benefit that wee may bee brought to haue neerer fellowship with God in holinesse and therefore they are to bee borne with patience Thirdly though God seem to continue our burden long and in the meane time to shew small kindnesse vnto vs yet sure the end of them will be with a blessing As Moses saith of the worke of God leading the children of Israel for many yeres together through a wearie wildernes that he did it to prooue them that he might doe them good in the latter end And if the cōclusion of our trouble like the wrestling of Iacob shall be with a blessing it is to be born with all patience A fourth reason there is to be regarded aboue all other reasons of force to make a man patient euen in the fire namely that if wee suffer with Christ wee shall raigne with Christ and when we haue indured patiently a while on earth we shal be rewarded honourably for euer in heauen Hereof the Apostle Paul thus speaketh Our light affliction which is but for a season causeth vnto vs a furre most excellent and an eternall weight of glorie Affliction shall bee rewarded with most excellent glory light affliction with a weight of glory and momentanie affliction with eternall glorie therefore to bee borne with all patience He that considereth these things that if God do send trouble it is of his fatherly loue vnto vs as vnto sonnes that in these troubles he onely intendeth our good to bring vs to haue fellowship with him in holinesse that our troubles shal bring peace and a blessing in the end and lastly that GOD will bring vs from a Crosse to a Kingdome and turne our Crowne of thornes into a crowne of glory He that considereth these things will bend his heart to beare his burthen patiently Whereby hee certainly turneth his burden vpon God for his great ease making a heauy burden to be light which while it is patiently borne melteth and falleth off from the heart like raine falling from the high grounds so that after a while he despiseth the troubles that at the first were fearefull vnto him and they seeme vnto him moale hils that at the first shewed a farre off like mountaines This is the first common rule of casting our burden vpon God alwayes to be obserued By this rule if it be Husband or Wife that causeth vnquietnesse we are taught to suffer their vnquietnesse whome wee can neyther reforme nor remooue and not to make a great flame of a small sparke by prouoking the vnquiet to more vnquietnesse If it bee Parents or Children that
cause vnquietnes Parents must be honoured and Children must be cared for though in some things they grieue vs and God may amend them at the last if wee in the meane while bearing patiently their infirmities continue our duety to them and our prayers for them If it be Masters or Seruants that cause vnquietnesse the Seruants in patience must bee subiect to their Maisters with all feare not only to the good and curteous but also to the froward they can not shake off their Maisters while the dayes of their seruitude continue and the maisters in patience must do vnto their seruants that which is iust not omitting any meanes whereby they may reforme them and in the end the master hath power to ease himselfe of an incurable euill seruāt by dismissing him If it be neighbour against neighbor that causeth vnquietnesse this rule teacheth not to render euill for euill nor rebuke for rebuke but contra◅iwise in patience to blesse and to doe all good offices in neede whereby thou shalt haue peace in thy heart howsoeuer thy neighbour bee disposed to contention And if thy home-trouble be painefull sickenesse either vpon thy selfe or vpon some of thy houshold or some other neare and deare vnto thee this rule teacheth thee whatsoeuer other meanes for recouerie of health be vsed to beare thy visitation meekely humbling thy selfe vnder the mighty hand of God in euery thing If thy trouble bee the death of any whose life thou didst desire this rule will teach thee knowing the death of the righteous to bee vnto them the beginning of true life to giue glorie to God with a quiet mind This patience in all things will giue thee ease of thy burden according to the saying of our Sauiour Take my yoake on you and learne of me that I am meeke and lowly in heart and ye shall finde rest vnto your soules This is one common rule A second common rule in all these troubles pertaining to the right casting of them vpon God is that we pray vnto God crauing his helpe who for ought wee know hath therefore layed these troubles vpon vs because we haue been negligent in prayer that now feeling sensibly in our sorrow our neede of his helpe wee might amend our old negligence and fall to praier And surely whether God did send our troubles for that cause or no yet this is most sure that prayer is a most profitable course for the easing of our trouble which God commandeth with promise of ease saying by the Prophet Call vpon me in the day of trouble so will I deliuer thee and thou shalt glorifie mee And the Saints haue alwayes vsed it with happy successe of ease As the Prophet testifieth saying These called vppon the Lord and hee heard them So did Iacob when returning from his vnckles hee heard that Esau was comming forth against him with foure hundred men hee said thus vnto God I pray thee deliuer me from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau for I feare him lest hee will come and smite mee and the mother vppon the children And according to his desire God deliuered him from his feare for his brother and hee met in peace and departed one from another in peace so did Moses when the Aegiptians pursued the Israelites and the Israelites feared the Aegiptians before the red Sea The Lord fayd vnto Moses Wherefore criest thou vnto mee for Moses in his heart prayed earnestly vnto God and God did deliuer him from his feare opening a passage for the Israelites thorow the waters of the red Sea and drowning in the floud the Aegiptians that presumed to follow so that Israel sawe the Aegiptians dead vpon the Sea banke Wee neede not stand vpon particular examples hauing a generall rule that neuer fayleth the Prophet saying The Lord is neare vnto all that call vpon him yea to all that call vpon him in trueth hee will fulfill the esire of them that feare him he also will beare their crie and will helpe them Now seeing the saints doe thus in their troubles pray vnto God for ease and do thus at the hands of God obtaine ease when they pray in their troubles it is euident that to pray vnto God in our trouble is a worthy rule of casting our burden vpon God in all domesticall yea in al whatsoeuer troubles And let no man say there is no need in these troubles to trouble God with our praiers because he knoweth both what we suffer and what himselfe hath determined to do for these reasons thou oughtest the more gladly to pray because God doth vnderstand thy want before thou complaine and is determined to succour before thou intreate him thy labour with such a God cannot be in vaine And this know thou hast great imploiment for thy praiers in these and such like troubles First thou hast neede to offer vp praiers vnto God for thy selfe that he will giue thee patience and wisedome to demeane thy selfe aright vnder these troubls that thou maiest neither be a murmurer against God grudging at those troubles nor increase thy troubles by dealing indiscreetly and frowardly with them that are the causers and occasion of thy troubles nor maiest erre and be wanting in vsing good remedies to heale and reforme them that are the causers of thy troubles And if thy domesticall trouble be sicknesse in thine owne body how necessary it is to pray vnto God to giue thee patience to send thee health to forgiue thy sins and to prepare thee for death when Iames the Apostle exhorteth to reioice for temptations and to continue in patience till patience haue her perfect worke because these things require an extraordinary wisedome he further aduiseth vs to pray vnto God for that wisedome saying If any of ◅ou lack wisedome let him aske of God who giueth vnto all men liberally Giuing to vnderstand by that aduise how necessary it is in the time of trouble to vse pra◅er for thy selfe that thou maiest demeane thy selfe patiently and wisely to glorifie God in thy trouble to profit by the same trouble and not to increase the same but safely to grow out of it and to recouer peace and health Secondly thou hast need to offer vp praiers vnto God for them by whose meanes thou art troubled or for whose sake thou art grieued Sometime thou art vnkindly vsed either by thy husband or wife either by thy parents or children or such as haue stept into the roome of parents and children and haue those names by law giuen them not by nature due vnto them or else by thy master or seruant or by some friend or neighbour For these thou hast great cause to pray vnto God that he will giue them better minds and let them see their fault with mislike of it and see what becommeth them to doe and giue them a heart to doe it If they continue in their frowardnesse shall they not continue to be troublers vnto
masterly authoritie and wisedome to draw them back from iniquity In which godly attempt fathers and masters haue alowāce frō God yea they are not only warranted of God to do it but it is a charge laid vpon them children seruants being committed to them not onely to doe them seruice and to be at their cōmandemēt but rather to receiue education instruction from them And when parents and masters faile and become carelesse of the instruction of their children seruants and in the right gouernmēt of them God doth often in his iustice punish the fathers masters neg ligence with the childrens and seruants disorder And when parents masters are carefull to instruct gouerne aright their children seruants then God in his mercy requiteth that care and diligence with the obedience and faithfulnesse of children and seruants Salomon saith in the Prouerbs The rod and correction giue wisedome but a childe set at libertie makes his mother ashamed Here iustice repayeth with disorder in the child the neglect of instruction and gouernement in the parents The same Salomon saith a gaine Correct thy sonne he will giue thee rest and will giue pleasures to thy soule Here mercy repayeth with contenting obedience in the child the wise and careful gouernement of the parents To masters also that their seruants may not breede their vnrest Salomon in the same place giueth these Items by which hee might well suppose that wise men would take warning A seruant wil not be chastened with words though hee vnderstand yet hee will not answer This is plaine enough that for some seruants the right gouernment of them something more then words is sometime necessary And againe he saith Hee that delicately bringeth vp his seruant from his youth at length he wil be euen as his sonne This is plaine enough that a delicate life with liberty and pleasure is not to be allowed to seruants by any rule of good gouernement left to thy griefe he take vppon him to bee more then a seruant Yet these rules for parents to desire and helpe the reformation of disobedient children and for maisters to desire and help the reformation of disordered seruants giues no defence vnto vnnaturall parents that are tyrants to their owne children and to cruel masters that increase the proportion of worke and number of strip◅s but dimin◅sh the due allowance of meate and cloathes and sleepe and are neuer pleased but euer brawling Saint Paul saith vnto parents Fathers prouoke not your childrē to wrath Lenity must be vsed though not cockering and too much sufferance And to masters he saith Masters doe vnto your seruants that which is iust and equall Equity must be vsed toward them thogh not remissenesse To the same purpose may it bee saide for children and se◅uants if while they haue carried themselues duetifully and deserued well their parents or maisters out of their owne vnkindnesse and cruelty doe prooue a heauy burden vnto them because it may please God to ease them of that burden by chaunging the mindes of their parents and maisters it belongeth vnto them as a speciall point of the casting of their burden vppon the Lord to pray vnto God for their parents and maisters that hee will be pleased to open and amend their hearts that they may see their errour and may reforme the same learne to deale more kindly which belongeth to parents and to deale more iustly which belongs to maisters and whereas they haue no authoritie to admonish to teach to correct as their parents and maisters haue yet with due reuerēce they may be bold obseruing opportunitie and vsing decent and humble speeches somtimes to tell them what they think to be fit How reuerently when Saul wronged Dauid and had spoken to Ionathan his sonne and to all his seruants that they should kill Dauid which was Ionathans griefe because he loued Dauid how reuerently did Ionathan labour to make Saul his father see his errour saying vnto him Let not the King sinne against his seruant against Dauid for hee hath not sinned against thee but his workes haue beene to thee verie good for he did put his life in danger and slew the Philistim and the Lord wrought a great saluation for all Israel thou sawest it and thou reioycedst wherefore then wilt thou sinne against innocent bloud and slay Dauid without a cause And when Naamat the Syrian tooke great indignation at the Prophet Elisha because he came not out and laid his hands vpon his leprousie to heale it but commanded him to wash himselfe seauen times in the waters of Iordan which he iudged nothing so vertuous as the waters of Damascus which indignation of Naama◅ the Lord and master grieued all his seruants how reuerently did they say vnto him Father if the Prophet bad commanded thee a great thing wouldest thou not haue done it How much rather then when he saith vnto thee wash and be cleane Such words of mildnesse spoken in fit season and with reseruation of due reuerence may by seruants and children be vsed to their fathers and masters to induce them to see their former errour that it may be a meanes vnder God to change their mindes But this liberty can no way iustify the insolence and vnduetifulnesse of many children seruants that being restrained by the seueritie of their parents and masters grow into discontent speake contemptuously and raylingly without all reuerence and without all regarde either of the authoritie of their parents and masters or of the subiection and duety that they owe vnto them By the same rule is euery one whose domesticall trouble growes by the errour of his neighbour if hee would bee cased which may be the changing of his neighbours minde taught to pray vnto God for the bettering of his neighbour and to put his owne helping hand to so good a woorke by admonishing his neighbour neighbourly And hee hath precepts from GOD to warrant that course Moses saith Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but thou shalt plainely rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer him to sinne So that there wanteth charitie in him that will not louingly tell his neighbor of his errour And God doeth often in his iustice make thy bad neighbour to be a cause of trouble vnto thee because thou knowing his disorders hast not told him of them that he might amend A like commaundement giueth the Lord Iesus saying If thy brother trespasse against thee goe and tell him his fault betweene him and thee alone That is if his faul be bent against thee as the chosen obiect of his malice or directed another way it light vppon thee to the hurt or hazard of thy life thy peace thy profit or thy good name or if his misdeede were neither intended against thee nor did light vpon thee but onely thou art grieued in thine honest soule to behold so vngodly dealing in these cases thou art commāded of the