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
of any mans hand He sayd vnto them againe the Lorde is witnes agaynst you and hys annointed is witnes thys day that ye haue no euill in my handes What chaunced to Rehoboam king Salomons sonne for the vngentle entreating of hys coÌ„mons the holy histories do testifie Read iij. Regum .xij. Chapt. That they ought to care for the commoâ—â— as a father for hys children ☜ The confirmations Mercy and faythfulnes preserue the king and with louing kindnes hys seate is holden vp If thou be made a ruler pride not thy selfe therin but be thou as one of the people Take diligent care for them and looke well therto and when thou hast done all thy dutie set thee down that thou mayest be mery with theÌ„ receaue a crowne of glory With how fatherly a care Moses Samuell Dauid and diuers other noble princes gouerned their people the holy Scriptures doe euidently declare That they ought to defend the good and to correct the euill to aduaunce vertue and to punishe vice ☜ Probations out of the holy Scriptures Learne to doe right apply your selues to equitie deliuer the oppressed helpe the fatherles to his right let the widowes complaint come before you Thus the Lord commaundeth keepe equitie and righteousnes deliuer the oppressed from the power of the violent doe not greeue nor oppresse the straunger the fatherles nor the widow and shed no innocent bloud Execute true iudgement shew mercy and louing kindnes euery maÌ„ to his brother Do the widow the fatherles the strauÌ„ger poore no wrong and let no maÌ„ imagine euil against his brother in his hart Deliuer hym y â— suffereth wrong from the hand of the oppressour and be not faint harted when thou sittest in iudgement Be mercifull vnto the fatherles as a father and be in stede of an husbaÌ„d vnto their mother so shalt thou be as an obedient sonne of the hiest and he shall loue thee more then thy mother doth My song shall bee of mercie and iudgement vnto thee O Lorde will I sing O let me haue vnderstaÌ„ding in the way of godlines when wilt thou come vnto me I will walke in my house with a perfect hart I will take no wicked thing in hand I hate the sinnes of vnfaithfulnes there shall no such cleaue vnto me A froward hart shall depart froÌ„ me I will not know a wicked person Who so priuily slaundreth hys neighbor him will I destroy who so hath also a proud looke an hie stomacke I will not suffer hym Mine eyes loke vnto such as be faithfull in the land that they may dwell with me who so leadeth a godly life he shall be my seruant There shall no deceitefull person dwell in my house he that telleth lies shall not tary in my sight I shall soone destroy all the vngodly that are in the land that I may roote out all wicked doers from the citie of the Lord. Rulers are not fearefull to them that do good but to theÌ„ y â— do euill Wilt thou be without feare of the power Do well then and so shalt thou be praysed of y â— same For he is the minister of God for thy wealth But and if thou doe that which is euill then feare for he beareth not the sworde for nought for he is the minister of God to take vengeance on hym that doth euill ¶ The duteie of Subiectes vnto the high powers THe dutie of Subiectes vnto the hie powers is honourably to speake of them hartily to loue and reuerence them humâ—bly to obey them for conscience sake in all thynges that fight not with Gods worde feruently to pray for them and willingly to pay such charges vnto them as they reasonably require eyther for the mainteinance of their princelike estate or els for the sauegarde of the common wealth ☜ Probations out of the holy Scriptures Thou shalt not raile vppon the Gods that is to say the temporall Magistrates which execute that office of God neyther blaspheme the ruler of thy people Wishe the king no euill in thy thought and speake no hurt of the rich in thy priuie chaÌ„ber for a byrde of the ayre shall betray thy voyce and with her feathers shall she bewray thy wordes Let euery soule submit him selfe vnto the hier powers For there is no power but of God The powers that be are ordayned of God Who soeuer therfore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinaunce of God But they that resiste shall receaue to them selues damnation For rulers are not fearefull to them that doe good but to them that do euill Wilt thou be without feare of the power Do well then and so shalt thou be praysed of the same For he is y e minister of God for thy wealth But if thou do that which is euill then feare for hee beareth not the sworde for nought for he is the minister of God to take vengeance on hym that doth euill Wherefore ye must needes obey not only for feare of punishment but also for conscience sake And for this cause pay ye tribute For they are Gods ministers seruing for the same purpose Geue to euery maÌ„ therfore hys dutie tribute to whoÌ„ tribute belongeth custome to whom custome is due feare to whoÌ„ feare belongeth honour to whoÌ„ honour pertaineth I exhort therfore that aboue all thinges prayers supplications intercessions and geuing of thankes be had for all men for kinges and for all that are in authoritie that we may liue a quiet and peaceable life with all godlines and honestie For that is good and acceptable in the â—â—ght of God our Sauiour Warne the subiectes that they submit theÌ„ selues to rule power that they obey y â— officers that they be ready vnto euery good worke that they speake euill of no maÌ„ that they bee no fighters but gentle shewing meekenes vnto all men Submit your selues vnto all maner ordinance of man for y â— Lordes sake whether it be vnto the king as vnto the chiefe head either vnto rulers as vnto them that are sent of him for y â— punishment of euill doers but for the prayse of theÌ„ that do well c. Feare God Honour the king ¶ The dutie of Bishops and Ministers of Gods worde THe dutie of Bishops Ministers of Gods word is first to feede Christes flocke with y â— sweete bread of Christes Gospell without mingling of the Phariseis leauen Secondly to lead a life agreable to their doctrine y â— they may teach both with word worke Thirdly to relieue y â— poore nedie with such goods as they receaue of y â— Church either by maintaining hospitalitie or els by some other godly meanes ☜ Probations out of the holy Scriptures ¶ Of Doctrine Goe vp vnto y â— hie hill thou that bringest good tidinges lift vp thy voyce with power O thou preacher lift it vp and be not afraide Cry now as loud as y â— canst leaue not of lift