but onely for that Crowne which the Lord in the great day of his visitation will give unto all that love his appearing And thus much concerning the Qualitie of that Reward which the Apostle the better to stirre up servants to Obedience propoundeth unto them The next point is the Person from whom the reward is to bee expected and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From the Lord. A sure Pay-master one that hath Will and Power to make good what ere he undertakes Will for hee never useth either delayes or shifts in the peformance of what hee promiseth Twenty yeares was Iacob a Servant unto Laban during which space by false pretexts and forged Cavillatitions ten times did he alter and change the Wages whereon they had agreed And it is the humor of many Masters to bee unmercifull to their servants in this kind Those of the Apostles time thought it enough to use them as they did their Beasts Occon lib. 1 cap. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Philosopher Let them have meate and it is a sufficient meed To comfort therefore such hee shewes that howsoere they may be neglected of their earthly Lord they have yet a heavenly Lord who is liberall and munificent and will not suffer their Labours to passe without requitall so their obedience to their Masters be hearty and such as becommeth religious and Christian men And what greater assurance can bee looked for Hee gives us himselfe the Character of his bounty in Gen. 1.29 Ecce dixi Behold I have said is that of mans but Ecce dedi Behold I have given is that of Gods He openeth his hand and not his mouth hee shewes his workes and not his words Manifold are his works saith the Kingly Prophet Ps 104.24 and the earth is full of his riches Man may sometimes peradventure say Ecce do Behold I give as moved thereto by some precedent merit of the partie to whom he gives But Gods Motto is Ecce dedi Behold I have given Hee provides for us before we are borne Fecit quae fecit omnia pro homine prinsquam dixerat Faciamus hominem He made al that hee made for man before ever hee had said Let us make man He loved us when yet wee had no Beeing His Will therefore is not to bee doubted of much lesse his power And thus much concerning the person from whom the Reward is to bee expected I come now to the third point and that is the certainty of receiving it Yee know yee shall receive Yee know It is a plaine inference that every true Christian whether hee bee bond or free should be sure of his wages so long as hee performes his worke And indeed there is not the poorest Worme that crawls upon the earth but if a Tongue were given it to dispute with man it might maintaine against him that the hope hee hath in Christ Iesus onely set a part hee is of all Creatures the most miserable But that unspeakable comfort which is now lockt up in the Bosomes of those that are marked with the Seale of Gods Spirit and have received the adoption of sonnes is that though their present life be full of misery and vexation and that themselves are oppressed and cast downe on every side they know yet that hee who raised up the Lord Iesus Christ from the dead shall also raise up them at the later day and for all the light and momentany afflictions which they have endured here reward them with an exceeding weight of glory They know it And indeed Faith should be confident By Faith yee stand 2 Cor. 1. saith the Apostle And By Faith wee live saith the Prophet Abac. 2. It is the very soule Spirit of the inward Man If wee beleeve not wee are dead to God-ward and his soule will take no pleasure in us Woe unto him saith the Wise man that hath a double heart and to the wicked lippes and faint hands and to the sinner that goeth two manner of wayes Woe to him that is faint-hearted for hee beleeveth not therefore shall he not be defended It is not the property of faith to waver like a Reed to and fro nor of the faithfull like a Wave of the Sea to be ever rowling We are willed therefore to come to the Throne of Grace with boldnes not to cast away that confidence which hath great recompence of reward but to trust perfectly in that grace which is brought unto us by the Revelation of IESVS CHRIST Qui dubius est infidelis erit saith an eminent Father Doubt quickly turnes into distrust For they which receive not the love of the Truth that they may bee saved the Lord shall send them strong delusions 2 Thess 2. that they shall beleeve lies It an honest and vertuous man saith Saint Cyprian should promise thee any thing thou wouldest give credit unto him And when God doth promise thee immortality wilt thou be so faithlesse as to distrust him this is not to know God at all but as holy Bernard speakes Hoc est in Ecclesia constitutum in domo fidei fidem non habere This is to bee placed in the Church that is in the house of Faith Rev. 2.25 without Faith It was Christs admonition to the Church of Thyatira That which ye have already hold fast till I come Let us apply it to our selves and not suffer the hope consolation which we have in the mercies of God to be taken from us The confidence of of a true Christian is an Anchor which being cast into the lanched bosome of our blessed Saviour may peradventure slipp a little but it will soon take hold againe It is a Sun Tert. de Aanima c. 41. cap. 53. which for a time may bee overcast but on a suddaine the cloud shall bee dispersed and it shall appeare with greater lustre It is a Fire which for a while may lie concealed under the Ashes but at length it breaketh forth into a brighter flame Like the Arke it may be taken by the Philistins but maugre all their malice it shall with joy and triumph bee returned back to Israel The sweet perswasions which the godly have of everlasting happinesse may bee often shaken but can never be shattered they may be bowed by the violence of the Tempest but shall never bee broken They shall come againe to their former vigour And howsoever they end their lives whether by the hand of Tyranny or by the teeth of wilde Beasts they goe away with a sentence of peace in their lipps as Noah Dove when it reverted with an Olive Branch to the Arke Christ is my life and death is my advantage Knowing that is being thorowly assured that they shall receive from the Lord a Reward of Inheritance That servants therefore may bee the better induced freely and fully to tender their obedience to those that are their Masters according to the flesh notwithstanding any cruell usage or unjust neglect the
St. Pauls Threefold Cord VVherewith are severally combined the mutuall OEconomicall Duties Betwixt Husband Wife Parent Childe Master Servant By DANIEL TOVTEVILLE Pr. to the Charterhouse Si post fata venit gloria non propero LONDON Printed by Anne Griffin for Henry Seile and are to bee sold at his Shop at the Tygers-Head in S. Pauls Church-yard 1635. DEO OPT. MAX. ET Vniversis Anglorum Laribus The Ground of the first Booke Wives submit your selves tâ— your owne Husbands as iâ— is fit in the Lord. Col. 3.18 TOM 1. LIB 1. The duty of the Wife towards her Husband PRivate Families are the Seminaries Nurseries both of Church Common-weale for out of these must spring a seed for the propagation of the one and againe it must be so formed by godly education that it may prove a holy seede for the amplification of the other Now because in every family there is as the Philosopher hath very well observed a threefold combination Pol. i. c. 3 One betwixt the Husband and the Wife a second betwixt the Parent and the Child a third and last betwixt the Master and the Servant that nothing may happen to be disjoynted and out of frame in any following the method of St. Paul Col. 3.18 We will prescribe directions here for all and first begin with the nuptiall Bond as being the first For Adam was a husband before he was a father Secondly because from these the rest receive impression And as in a Watch if the spring be out of frame the wheeles can never goe or if they move not one an other the hammer cannot strike so where there is not a fit correspondency betwixt man and wife the rest of the family cannot but miscarry in their Motions Againe it is a thing worthy to be observed that howsoever in this yoke the husband be the more honourable of the twaine the Apostle yet requireth the duty of the wife and for this we may render a twofold reason 1. Because the tender of subjection comes from us with more difficulty than that of our affections To love is thought a pleasant and delightfull thing but to be subject to an others will is usually counted hatefull and detrected as a burden 2. Because the love of the husband depends for the most part upon the due subjection of the wife For if she vouchsafe him the one he shall be barbarous and brutish if he shall not returne her the other the wife is the person then with whom we must begin The duty whereunto she is exhorted is subjection The persons to whom this duty is to be tendred are their own husbands The motive that should induce them willingly to tender it It is comely The manner or limitation of the render it must be onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Lord. As touching the first Wives If women will but consider the manner and end of their creation they may be the more easily brought to what is heere required For as concerning the manner The woman was not made of earth as Adam was And why Nunquid deerat lutum figulo ut necesse erat pulsare latus Adami Did the Potter sayth St. Gregory want Clay that he was driven to knocke at Adams side Surely no but he would take woman out of man not out of earth that the priority and dignity of man might thereby bee established And this is the Apostles reason 1 Tim. 1.13 Adam was first formed and then Eve and in 1 Cor. 11.8 The man is not of the Woman but the Woman of the Man Againe in respect of the end She was created for mans sake For though God had made him Lord of the whole earth and given him all the creatures for his use he found not yet amongst them all a helpe meete for himselfe and therefore desired a supply He found helpers amongâ—t them but they were mute without conference brutish without reason all looking downewards But man was in honour Psal 49.20 The horse served him to ride the Asse to carry his burden These were yet no meete helpers Fuit in Adamo appetitus socii et similitudinis There was in Adam a desire of his like he would have had a companion with whom he might have discoursed of the love and prayses of his Maker but such a one found hee not Some of the Beasts drew neere to hm in reason as the Fox but none in this Cicero lib. 1. de Legib. et 1. Tuâ—ouquaest Totum hominis scientia Dei Man alone is capable of Religion So that a fit helpe for comfort conference cohabitation procreation equality he had none Every Bird had his mate Esay 34.16 There was Equus and Equa All had what man wanted God therefore out of man for man made a fit helpe Wives The word is indefinite and exempteth none The yonger women and the elder the rich and poore the noble and base are alike made liable to the performance of this duty T is not onely Ruth that must be serviceable to her Booz but even Vashti though a mighty Empresse must know her Lord. Yea though there were never so great a disproportion betwixt them in state and in condition as say the wife were a Princesse the husband but a pesant she must be yet in conjugall respects as a hand-mayd unto him he must not be as a servant unto her The dutifull respect which the glorious Virgin exhibited to Ioseph is observed in Luke 2.48 by the couching of her words in that shee sayth Thy Father and I not I and my father Ego et Rex meus I and my King is unsupportable in the Politicke and no lesse is I and my husband in the Oeconomickes It was Assuerus his edict and it is likewise Gods decree that all women great and small shall give their husbands honour For the husband is the wives head Eph. 5.24 even as Christ is the head of the Church As the Church therefore is subject unto Christ so every wife must be to her husband 1. The subjection of one Creature to an other in generall is nothing else if we consider it with relation unto God but a divine disposing and subordinating of things lesse perfect to such as are more perfect that by this subjection they may receive what they want and be forever guided and preserved in their course Or if wee take it with respect to the creature which is made subject It is inwardly a chearefull inclination outwardly a ready application of the same to that whereunto the wisedome of God himselfe hath ordained and appoynted it And this subjection is so necessary that without it the world could not long subsist yea nature herselfe would suddenly be dissolved Things sublunary and terrestriall are all subject to the power and influence of celesticall bodies and being in their owne nature defective and ignoble they must from them receive their due perfection It is the earths subjecting of her selfe unto the Sunne which first begets her fruites and
said yet nescivit uxorem that he did not respect his wife So that the wife is to be preferred before all The Hebrewes alledge for it a fourfold reason 1. Shee is nearer to him than a child to his Father For shee is actually Bone of his Bones and flesh of his flesh whereas the child is properly neither but in possibility 2. Children are but the fruit of the Loynes and the wombe she is the Rib next the Heart 3. The liker any thing is the more it is loved Man loves his Child tanquam aliquid sui his wife tanquam se And indeed Man and Wife are like those two Branches in the hand of the Prophet so closed together into one Barke Ez. 37.17 that they grow to be one tree and beare both but one fruit So therefore ought men to love their Wives saith the Apostle Eph. 5.28 as their owne bodies He that loveth his wife loveth himselfe 4. Adam say the Iewes was a husband before hee was a father and for these Reasons the Wife is more to be loved than the Child But they speake best who say this Bond is supernaturall and like a miracle For it is a hard matter to part from our parents Ruth 1.16 Rebecca yet leaves all to goe with Isaac and Zipporah though a Midianite did the like for Moses There is a threefold Glue by which Man and Wife are joyned and combined together The one is naturall the other civill but the third divine By the first man cleaveth to his wife as a living creature By the second as a man By the third as a Christian man The naturall marriage is for issue onely the civill as that of the Heathen for strength and helpe in houshold affaires but the Glue which conjoyneth Christians is Vertue and the Feare of God Men by nature like Beasts couple to haue children Civill marriages are true but not perfect Veniunt à dote sagittae T is the great Dowry proves the golden dart or if not so facias non uxor amatur Onely the Feature and not the Creature is beloved Tres rugâ—e subeant se cutis arida laxet Fiant obscuri dentes oculique minores Collige sarcinulas dicet Let him but spie one wrinckle in her brow And he all love shall straightway disavow Let her skin writhle let her eye-sight faile Her Teeth wax yellow or her cheekes looke pale Packe huswife hence this honest man shall say Trusse up thy fardle and use no delay All affection is presently unglued but the marriage of Christians is every way compleat For first It is pleasantly good in regard of issue Secondly profitably good in respect of supply But last of all and which is best of all 3. It is honestly good because it aims at a holy seed ReasoÌ„ hath no hand in it farther than it is sanctified by religion and where this Soder is no fire can dissolve it It is an Axiome among the French Que la femme faict ou des faict la maison That the woman usually is either the marrer or maker of the house A man had need therefore to bee very wary that the setling of his affections may never prove a disparagement to his judgement which cannot but happen when hee shall looke upon the Object with other Spectacles than God allowes of Charles VI. of France being desirous when hee was but sixteene yeares of age to entertaine a Consort into his royall Bed advised with his Vncle the D. of Anion who led with politike respects married him to Isabella daughter of the D. of Bavaria that he might bee the better able to make head against the Emperour Wenceslius who notwithstanding outward shewes did looke upon his estate with no friendly eye And it was a match which in the judgmeÌ„t of men promised a great deale of good both to the king and kingdome But marke how the Divine Iustice crosseth the designes of those that relie more upon their owne wisedome than upon his Will This hopefull Lady in a little time expressed such an imperious and tumultuous disposition that she became a burden unto both having exposed them to so many forraigne broyles and home-bred partialities that if her selfe had not dyed in a happy time for the Kingdome it must of necessity have expired as did the King He therefore that would love his wife must be carefull in his choice and not either Arâ—thmetick or Geometry Portion or Proportion or any other the like syde-respects to be Agents in the businesse Hee must looke more to her Manners than her meanes and wish her Faithfull rather than Faire Men marry not in love but when they marry in the Lord. Beauty is a good outside and Vertue is more to bee esteemed when it is so set out than when we see it in an ill-favoured creature like a pearle in a dunghill Rachel was preferred even for this by holy Iacob before the bleare-ey'd Leah Tertullian cals it Foelicitatem corporis The happinesse of the body Divinae plasticae accessionem A flourish set upon Gods owne worke Animae vestem urbanam A comely garment for the Soule But without Grace it cannot be counted gracefull Shee that hath only this ornament is at the best but a painted Sepulchre Sepulchrum quasi Semi-pulchrum faire without but full of rottennesse within Woman was made when Adam was a sleepe to shew that in matter of wiving we should bee consopitis sensibus content to have our senses Charmed and not be led herein by any outward Attractives Pro. 19.14 A good wife commeth from the Lord and therefore all sinister affections being lulled a sleepe he should beg her at the hands of GOD onely But say a man have erred in his choice his Folly must not free him from this duty Every Adam must love his Eve 1. In regard of her efficiâ—nt cause which was the Lord himselfe who made her with a great deale of solemnity for the honour and dignity of man and were it not for her society what would hee bee but a companion for the Hedgehogge and the Owle The glory and the grace which dâ—rived upon him from her is most elegantly expressed by divine Du Bartas in the sixt day of the week where hee saith that without her l'homme ça bas n'est homme qu' à demi Ce n'est qu'un Loup-garou du soleil enemi Qu'un animal sauvage ombrageux solitaire Bigarre frenetique a qui rien ne pent plaire Que le seul desplaisir nè pour soy seulement Privè de coeur d'esprit d'amour de sentiment I will not prejudice our worthy Silvester so much as to translate them my selfe but will give you his 2. Hee must love her in respect of the Matter whereof shee is composed Shee was made of a Bone which is a most inward part of the Body and shewes that the love betwixt man and wife must not be superficiall but entire and inward When the Hebrewes would say I my selfe they expresse it by a
of a foolish fancy when her Parents had provided her a match against which lay no exception utterly refused it maketh this his Plee whereby to worke the obstinacy of her Will to a more flexible temper At tu ne pugnes tali cum conjuge Virgo Non aequum est pugnare pater cui tradidit ipse Ipse pater cum matre quibus parere necesse est Virginitas non tota tua est ex parte parentum est Tertia pars patri data pars data tertia matri Tertia sola tua est noli pugnare duobus Qui genero sua jura simul cum dote dederunt Refuse not gentle maide to bee his Bride Whom thy deare Parents did for thee provide By nature thou art bound them to obey Then let not Humour Dutie oversway Nor think thy selfe sole Mistresse of that Gemme In which thou hast no interest but by them The thirds of thy virginitie belong Vnto thy father and without great wrong In other thirds thy mother hath her share Onely the thirds remaining wee declare To be at thy dispose then humbly doe As they would have thee struggle not with two But rest content his loving spouse to be Whom they would make their sonne in law by thee Secondly among the decrees of Euaristus Pope and Martyr who lived about the yeere 110. there is one in which hee plainely pronounceth those marriages to be rather whoredomes and adulteries than marriages which are not concluded by the parents Pope Vrban was of the same opinion Thirdly the Lateran Councill under PP Innoc. third Cano. 51. did peremptorily determine that wedlocke if the person were under yeeres which was otherwise performed The 4th Toletan did the like Ad uxorem lib. 2. cap. 9. Fourthly Tertullian celebrating the praises of Christian Matrimony among other excellencies in it recounts this as a chiefe that they never marry Sine consensu patrum without the consent of parents Non est virginalis pudoris eligere maritum Lib. 1. de Patri Abra. cap. 9. saith St. Ambrose It becomes not the modesty of a Virgin to be the chuser of her own husband Euripides in his Andromacha makes Hermione to answer the importunity of her sutors thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I leave to my father the care of my marriage as a thing not at all belonging to my choyce I could produce a world of other arguments but I thinke this little essay of every severall kind enough to principle ingenious natures to the performance of their duty in this kind And therefore Children obey And so from the rule I come to the reason For this is well pleasing to the Lord. The Apostle alleageth it as a Motive to stirre up children to this duty and sure â—here can not bee a more effectuall inducement to â—eligious minds Hee doth not therefore say this your obsequiousnesse shall redound with great profit advantage to your selves or shall be pleasing to your parents but it shall bee acceptable unto Christ and to please him is everlasting happinesse But how may some object shall it appeare that this observance to our parents is so pleasing and acceptable to God our Father and to Christ our Lord I answer that it appeares two manner of waies First by the temporall reward which is annexed to that Commandement in the Decalogue which concernes the honouring of our parents being the first Commandement with promise and therefore urged by the Apostle to this end Eph. 6. 2. Againe it is evident by the temporall punishment which God himselfe hath appoynted to bee inflicted upon such as wilfully breake and violate this his mandate If a man sayth he have a stubborne and rebellious sonne Deut. 21.18 that will not obey the voyce of his father or the voyce of his mother and when they have chastened him will not hearken unto them he shall be brought unto the Elders of his City and unto the gate of the place and the men of his City shall stone him with stones that he die Yea the very heathen did acknowledge life to bee prolonged unto such as did demeane themselves piously towards their parents were of opinion that the contempt of these was to he expiated with no lesse punishment than that of the Gods Plato de legâ—b lib. 11 pag. 932. Let Children therefore obey their parents in all things for Wel pleasing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not onely pleasing but wel-pleasing and from hence wee may collect these observations First that the faithfull in every good worke ought specially to looke unto the Lord not caring how it be censured by man so it bee pleasing and acceptable unto him Ludam et vilior fiam said David unto Michal I will be yet more vile 2 Sam. 6.22 when she derided him because hee danced before the Arke Secondly that there is a way to please God even by pleasing man and this may serve to hearten up the good in the performance of all family-duties as likewise to reprove the hypocrite who counteth sacrifice more pleasing to the Lord than eyther mercy or obedience For sure he will be served with obedience unto men Thirdly wee may note from hence That even in our childhood we have a meanes to endeare our selves to God For according to Hugo de S. Victore Haec paternitas est nobis Sacramentum et imago divinae paternitatis ut discat cor humanum in eo principio quod videt quid debet illi principio à quo est et non videt God hath appointed a paternity here below to serve us as a Sacrament and faire resemblance of his divine paternity above that we might learne by this Originall of ours which we see what we owe to that Originall from whence we are and see not Fourthly that even children are bound to make conscience of their waies as farre as they have reason to discerne good from ill and must endeavour to doe that which may be pleasing unto God 'T is sayd of Hieroboams diseased child That there was found some good thing in him towards the Lord God of Israel 1 Kin. 14.15 And sure it is a happy thing when young men see visions as well as old men dreame dreames Parents should begin betimes therefore to inure their children to the paths of righteousnesse and traine them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. For the workemanship of grace and obedience in the hearts and lives of children is like the graving of a Kings pallace and as soone may the character of God as that of Caesar be imprinted in those waxen yeares The children of Bethel might have bin taught as easily to have welcomm'd the Prophet with an Hosanna Blessed is he that coÌ„meth in the name of the Lord as in reproch scorne to call him Bald-pate Bald-pate as he past along And thus much concerning the duties of children toward their parents Now follow those of parents toward their children The Ground of the 2d Booke
Vtamur creatura c. Come let us enjoy the good things that are present Sap. 2.6 let us fill our selves with costly wine and ointments let us crowne our Heads with the Buds of Roses before they bee withered c. Young men lost Rehoboam his kingdome Phaeton was young when through his rash and unadvised managing of the Sunnes bright Chariot hee set this whole frame of Nature on a fire Hee was of the same haire whom that married wife in the Proverbs allured to her house Cap. 7. v. 13 there to take their fill of love during the absence of her husband This considered Parents should not when they see their children any way extravagant slacke their endeavours to reforme them for want of Hope nor yet forgoe their Hope because they faile in their endeavours Peregrinari poterit tantummodo illorum animus in nequitia non habitare Vice may peradventure have some kinde of Tenure in their Bosomes but no Freehold and who knowes how sâ—one the Lord may grant an Ejectio firmae to cast it out And therefore Fathers forbeare with too much rigour to provoke your children 5. And lastly The improvidence of Parents in the education of their Issue during their minoritie may prove a great provocative both of griefe and anger to them in their riper yeares For what can more distract a man than when he is left at his owne dispose to see himselfe unfurnished of all such meanes as should support his Being in the world We have the experience of it daily while some pine away to death in the contemplation of their necessities others to redresse them venture upon lawlesse courses and bring their lives at length to a sad and tragicall Catastrophe Cursing at their departure the very Vrnes in which the Authors of their miseries doe lie entombed It behoves a Father therefore if he cannot leave his posterity a sufficient inheritance to traine them up to some profession which is indeed the surest fence to keepe them out of the iron clutches of an unsufferable want The other is onely an Aegyptian Reed And how can wee relie upon it for security when according to the Poët Nunc ager Vmbreni sub nomine nuper Ofelli Hor. Sat. 2. lib. 2. Dictus erit nulli proprius sed cedit in usum Nunc mihi nunc alii That land which now doth bear Vmbrenus name Ofellus lately did possesse the same None shall enjoy it long one while in mee The right shall rest another while in thee Fortune is Mistris over the greatest Patrimonies and infinite are the chances whereunto they are liable He that is as rich as Croesus at the rising of the Sun may bee as poore as Irus before his going downe Iob was the wealthiest man in all the East and yet upon a suddaine no roome was left him for the entertainment of his friends but the lothsome dunghill A Thiefe a Storme a Fire is enough to bring to naught the labours of many yeares But knowledge is a thing exempted from all miscarrying and a sure revenue to him that hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Menander calls it a possession out of the checke of all disastrous Accidents Claudius Nero when the Mathematicians had informed him Sueton. that hee should one day bee deprived of his Soveraignty chear'd up himselfe with this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there was no Climate under heaven so barbarous but would afford an Artist sufficient maintenance Many therefore did excuse his serious practising of Musick and blanch it from asspersion as being a Science which afforded him pleasure while he was a Prince and might procure him profit when hee should bee a private person Solon made a Law that the Father which had not bred up his son to some one trade or other in his youth should not bee relieved by him in his age The carelesnesse of those of Megara in this kinde gave Diogenes occasion to say that hee had rather be their sheepe than their sonne Aelian l. 12. cap. 56. intimating their Providence to bee greater for the breeding up of their Cattle than their children And it is a fault too frequent in this our age A Gentleman is usually more sollicitous for his Horse or his estate than either for Sonnes or daughters Hee will bee sure at any rate to provide a faithfull Steward for the one and to enquire out a skilfull Rider for the other one that shall looke to the feeding dressing of him with all diâ—igence when the weakest Tutor so he be the cheapest shall be thought fit enough for the fashioning informing of his Children And hence it is that for the greatest part they degenerate from Vertue and prove altogether distorted in their lives and conversations Iulians Apostasie is ascribed mainly to his Governour who being seasoned with bad leaven himselfe did likewise sowre him I finde it in the Rolles of Aâ—tiquitie recorded of one of no meane quality that comming to a Philosopher and having asked him what stipend he should give him to traine up his sonne in the knowledge of Letters a pretty round summe was demanded whereupon the Father replyed that hee could with lesse charge purchase a Slave and have him taught at homâ— I said the Philosopher and so for one Slave thy house in a little space may bee furnished with twaine Young Natures are in this like Looking-glasses bend them toward the earth and they will shew you nothing but what is earthly turne them up to heaven-wards and whatsoever Objects they represent will bee heavenly Trees grow not either streight or crooked but as they are ordered by the hand which doth first plant them Cloth stained in the Wooll will hardly bee brought to any other hewe Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu New Vessels will savour long of that liquor wherewith they were first seasoned Wee are all naturally prone to corrupâ—ion Now when unsetled youth as the Comick speakes Magistrum cepit ad eam rem improbum ipsum animum aegrotum ad deteriorem partem plerumque applicat lights upon a Guide addicted to vicious practises the craggy minde is commonly swaid to the worser part Parents therefore should be very wary to whom they doe commit the Education of their children A good Tutor is to bee preferred before much Treasure Blessed bee our Ancestors saith the Satyrist and may their Ashes never be molested Iuven. Sat. 7 Qui praeceptorem sancti voluere parentis Esse loco Who held a learned and judicious Schoole-master worthy the utmost reverence that the best Fathers or Mothers could by nature challenge to themselves And indeed according to Plato the benefit which we receive from these our Parents and the gods is farre beyond the limits of requitall Philip of Macedon Patric Serâ—â— Lib. 2. Tit. 7. de Repub. did not so much rejoyce that a sonne was borne unto him as that hee hapned to bee borne when hee might have Aristotle for his
Teacher And it was afterwards Alexanders owne ingenuous acknowledgment that he was no lesse beholding to Aristotle for his breeding than to Phillip for his birth The one gave him his Being but the other shewed him how to use it with glory to himselfe and good to others Diogenes the Cynik in his passage to Aegina was taken by Pirates who brought him into the Market at Corinth to bee sold where Xeniades bought him out of their hands gave him not only the regiment of his Children but likewise of his whole house A trust which hee so faithfully discharged that Xeniades himselfe was often heard to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laâ—r Fortune I give thee thankes that by thy meanes a good Angell is entred into my house I could enlarge my selfe in this discourse but it shall suffice only to give you a taste and away I passe therefore now from the Act prohibited and come to the Persons in whose behalfe it is prohibited Children Father provoke not your Children The name is generall as in the former Verse and denotes unto us even Sonnes and Daughters in law as well as naturall Children for even these may likewise bee provoked 1. By suspecting without just cause the soundnesse and sinceritie of their affections in secretly listening and enviously enquiring after every thing they eyther savor doe 2. By suffering even our meanest servants to molest them and to exercise a kind of insulting mastry and dominion over them 3. By branding their carriage and conversation with undeserved markes of infancy 4. And lastly by giving evill Counsell or carrying of Tales whereby to exasperate the sonne against his wife or the daughter against her husband a practise hatefull in any but utterly to bee abhorred in Parents whose care should rather bee to tack the Vine to the sides of the house that it might grow there with pleasure and delight than with a most unnaturall and felonious hand to teare it it from that which should support it and therefore parents provoke not your children Your Children Hee doth not say this or that Childe but universally and without any limitation Your Children Some are all for the Elder and make no more account of the yonger bee they never so many than if they were not the fruit of their owne bodies but the spurious issue of some unlawfull copulation a fault too general in this our land and it ariseth from too great an ambition of perpetuating their name which transports them indeed so farre that they grow forgetfull of Nature Others on the contrary are all for the younger Quo serior eo dulcior they make the Dilling their Darling And this in a manner is incident to all Isaac was the Sonne whom Abraham as Iosephus writes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loved above measure with surpassing and more than ordinary love The like was Ioseph unto Iacob Gen. 45. v. ult I have enough said hee when after a long misse of him he understood of his safety in the Land of Egypt Ioseph my son is yet alive And I deny not but affection may lawfully be extended upon particular respects more to one childe than an other provided alwayes that none may bee provoked The Prohibition is generall Fathers provoke not your children Children The very word hath in it an Argument whereby Parents may bee easily incited to forbeare that which is here forbidden For it is no other than if the Apostle should have said Bee not injurious to your owne flesh wring not out your owne blood wound not your own Bowels bee not cruell to your owne selves For according to Aquinas Filius est aliquid Patris The Sonne is a peece of his Father as the Philosopher tels us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I wil render it in the Apostles phrase No man ever hated his own flesh It is said in the Canticles That Love is strong as death And by this is intimated unto us that of al the affections in man Love is the strongest and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love unto children is most passionate of all Multa volumus patriae debere multa parentibus saith the Prince of Orators multa demum multis sed filiorum causâ omnia volumus We joy to doe much for the good and safety of our Countrey for our Parents much and much for many upon manifold occasions but what is it we will not doe for our Children These are our very Bowels and in these our joy our love our life and all our Affections live 1. In regard of Nature For Bonum est sui diffusivum The Lord in the beginning said Encrease and multiply So that it is the Ordinance of God and the instinct of Nature for every Creature to cherish and save his owne 2. Reason will enforce the like For who should be more dear unto us thaÌ„ they who have proceeded out of our owne loynes with whom wee are to live and to whom at length we must leave the honour of our Name the reputation of our Vertues and all the Wealth and Substance which wee have These Gen. 49.3 as Iacob said of Reuben are the joy of our youth the beginning of our strength how should wee looke upon them with a murderous or malicious Eye 3. And lastly Religion above all perswades a tender respect unto our Children In Ephes 6.4 we have the same Precept which is here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fathers provoke not your Children to wrath And in the Gospell Mar. 9.36 our Saviour embraced Children with an extraordinary love as knowing that the Dead could not but the living should praise him and therefore hee requireth a godly Seed and would have Parents cherish their Children that they may live to glorifie his Name If wee desire joy is there any joy like the joy of Children There is joy at every Birth Joh. 16.21 said our Saviour yea the very heathen were wont with great solemnitie to celebrate the nativity of their Children If we stand upon honour Childrens children are the Crowne of their Fathers Pro. 17.6 Psal 127.4 They are like Arrowes in the hand of a mighty Gyant they that have their Quivers full of these will not bee ashamed to talke with their Enemies when they meâ—t them in the Gates The Lord Luke 1.25 said Elizabeth as soone as shee had brought forth a childe hath taken away my rebuke from amongst men counting it the greatest honour that ever could have hapned to her selfe and her husband to be the Parents of a blessed sonne In secular Story wee reade of one Dercyllidas Plut. Apoph Lacon a brave Commander who comming to a publike meeting and expecting as it was the manner of the Lacedaemonians that some of the yonger should arise give him place not one amongst them all would stirre and the reason which they alleaged was that himselfe had begotten none who in their age might doe the like to them Last of all in regard of Wealth Riches are no
deceived by his oâ—ly glossings did yet afford a credulous Eare to his new enchantments and to assure himself of his friendship did faithfully promise to surrender it up into his hands to which effect he wrote severall times to the Lord of Flavy whom himselfe had entrusted with the charge and government thereof that hee should deliver it up unto him But he considering the importance of the place delayed the Duke till hee had wrought the King to a revocation of his Grant by letting him know the dangerous consequences that might have ensued thereupon regarding more the loyalty he ought unto his Soveraigne than the profit which might have accrâ—ed unto himselfe from the Duke had hee beene forward in the Action And indeed as the Historian saith C'est un bon service de desdire le Maistre quand il commande à son dommage It is a speciall piece of service to put off the Master when he commands to his owne detriment 6. And lastly it is seene in avoyding all lying and dissembling whether for his Masters his owne or other mens advantage Now that servants may bee the better incited to this faithfulnesse let them consider 1. The promise which is annexed thereunto The faithfull person shall abound with blessing Pro. 28.20 2. The punishment which attends the contrary God often payes the unjust Person with his owne Coyne hee scourgeth him with his own rod bringing upon such as have bin unfaithfull servants povertie want or other worse calamities that by the means of unfaithfull servants that their sinne may returne upon them with more bitternesse 3. Let them know that the onely way to learne how wee should rightly use our own portion of Goods is by the carefull use of other mens as they shall happen to come into our haÌ„ds For he that wretchedly rioteth and consumeth his masters Goods Luk. 16.12 is for the most part given over by Gods just judgement to bee a waster of his owne Let every servant of man therefore if he desire to bee the true servant of God labour in all his courses to shew a single heart For better is the poore in the uprightnesse of his heart than hee that abuseth his lipps and is a foole Yea let us all take heed that Sathan beguile us not from the simplicitie that is in Christ Iesus And thus much concerning the first thing required to the fashioning of a servants Obedience according to the true modell Singlenesse of heart The second followes and that is the Feare of God The onely thing indeed which will make all our wayes words and workes to savour of simplicity and sincerity As the cause therefore with the effect the Apostle hath placed it with Singlenesse of heart and that right well For he that feareth and regardeth onely man in the performance of any duty will prove wavering unconstant as being guided and directed by an unconstant rule For the Feare of man takes no impression longer than hee is present but the Feare of God stands firme in the brests of the godly because they have him ever before their eyes and hee neither ought nor can at any time bee imagined as absent The very Stoick could affirme that there is a God within Epictetus a good Angel evermore about us that they need no light to looke into the nature of our actions What was that which preserved Ioseph froÌ„ the Siren incaÌ„tations of an adulterous lustful Mistris but the fear of the Lord How can I doe said he this great wickednesse and so sinne against my God Had he been a meere man-pleaser he might and would no doubt have satisfied her lewd demands but because he reverenced his Celestiall Master he could not doe that injury to his terrestriall It is the feare of God which must restraine servants from whoring drinking stealing gaming and other the like prodigious and enormous courses It is the feare of God which must make them diligent and faithfull in their businesse as knowing that though the eye of their Master bee away yet that of their Maker is upon them who will not winke at their errour but will severely punish their offence In a word it is the feare of God which will move them with Abrahams servant daily to powre forth their prayers to heaven in the behalfe of their Master and the rest of the family for the good successe of his owne endeavours Servants then must learne from hence so to labour in their severall places and functions as to feare God even that God 1. Who set them in that Calling 2. Whose eyes are evermore upon them watching and observing with what diligence they discharge their duties in those Callings Againe Masters must also learne if they would have painfull and trusty servants to chuse such as are religious and frame to religion such as they have chosen that knowing what it is to bee subject to their Master in heaven conscience may compell them to bee subject to their earthly Master also Wouldst thou have thy servant to please thee in all things worke him first to please God in all things Wouldst thou finde him faithfull see then hee bee a Ioseph that will not sinne and bee unfaithfull to the Lord. Wouldst thou have him profitable see hee bee an Onesimus and then howsoever in times past he were never so unprofitable he will bee profitable to thee and others Commonly all that if stood upon in the choice os servants is onely skill an abilitie for those services wherein we purpose to imploy them So it is said of Salomon Hee saw Hieroboam was a man fit for the worke But as for Religion no great matter is made of that and yet it is all in all For I avouch the ungodly servant how fit so ever hee may seeme for our turnes to bee unprofitable and that a servant fearing God though comming farre short of the other in wit knowledge and dexterity for the well managing of businesses ought yet to bee preferred before him as farre more profitable For first the evill servant drawes the curse of GOD upon all his indeavours so that many times the wisedome of such a one like that of Achitophel doth vanish into foolishnesse whereas on the contrary by vertue of Gods blessing prospering what ever the righteous man takes in hand Psal 1.3 even his foolishnesse and simplicity in respect of the deepe policies of the wicked man is turned into wisedome and sorteth to a very good and happy effect When Ioseph had the ordering of Putiphars affaires and Iacob of Labans all things were well The little of the just man Pf. 37.16 saith David is more than great riches of the wicked It is spoken there of his wealth but it is true likewise of his wit of the inward gifts of his minde as of the outward Goods of this life A little wit a little skill and a little knowledge in a godly servant shall goe farther and prove more advantagious to
his Master than twice as much in an evill servant 2. The wicked servant doth not onely bring the curse of God upon himselfe and his endevours but upon the whole family wherin he lives So Achan endangered the whole Army Ionas the whole ship in which they were whereas on the contrary for a godly servants sake other in the house have fared the better Such a one is like the Arke of God under the Roofe of Obed-Edom 2 Sam. 6 1â— Hee brings with him a blessing upon his Master and the whole houshold Neither are ungodly servants unprofitable onely to the body but also to the soule infecting all that are about them with the contagion of their corrupt example whereas the other by their good and vertuous lives adorne the Gospell of Christ and cause it to appeare beautifull in the eyes even of profane and irreligious Masters gaining them often times to the love and liking thereof even as the beleeving wife doth the unbeleeving husband Masters therefore must either chuse such servants as are religiâ—us or seeke to maâ—e them such when hee hath chosen them But what shall Masters doe that their servants may bee such 1. They must cause them to pray and reade the Scriptures in their private houses 2. They must bring them to the publike hearing of them in the Church 3. They should be a light and a Lanthorne to them themselves Pessima defluxio quae provenit à capite A sicke head distempers all the other parts and a darke eye makes a darke body 4. And lastly they must restraine them from profane company and allow them libertie at convenient times to converse with such as feare God While Saul was amongst the Prophets himselfe did likewise prophecie Let it be a fragrant flower or a stinking weed which we handle our Fingers will bee sure to retaine the smell Iudas was honest while hee conversed with Christ 't was after hee had conferred with the Priests and Elders that out of a greedy desire of the wages of unrighteousnesse hee plotted the death of his innocent and harmlesse Master And thus much concerning the second thing required to the fashioning of a Servants obedience to the true modell it is the feare of God I come now to the third Whatsoever they doe they must doe it heartily And here we will 1. Consider the Duty 2. The Inducement thereunto As concerning the Duty Whatsoever they doe they must doe it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a heart and a soule The word implies two things 1. That they should doe what their Masters enjoyne them chearefully and as it were for their life without any murmuring or repining And it is very likely that some Christian servants in the time of the Apostles obeied their masters more for the necessity of their condition than any willingnesse they had unto it S. Paul therefore seekes to cure this evill when hee commands them to doe whatsoever they doe freely from their heart and without any enforcement Now then may wee bee said to doe a thing with our heart when the heart not onely desires to doe it but withall rejoyceth and is much delighted in the doing of it On the contrary when the heart holds off and is a verse and refractary though the outward work be done it is done yet onely by the hand and not with the heart For as Prosper well Si quid invitus feceris fit de te magis quà m facis If wee doe any thing unwillingly it may rightly be said to be done by us but it cannot be said to be done of us and in this our master hath no more from us than hee hath from his Asse or from his Oxe a meere extorted labour and what reward can wee expect for this Animus est qui parva extollit sordida illustrat magna in pretio habita dehonestat It is onely the condition of the minde saith the Morallist which gives the forme to ever thing and makes it either respected or disrespected both of God and man It was the heartinesse of the poore Widdow in the Gospell which made her two Mites be so applauded by our Saviour when the large offerings of the Pharisees were not a jot regarded The Souldier that brought a little water in his Helmet to his Soveraigne was more regarded of him than the greatest of those Peeres that courted him with costly presents It is in service as it is in sacrifice if the heart be wanting it can never be acceptable 2. In that hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee sheweth that servants should not onely expresse life in their actions â—ut likewise Love in their Affections and no lesse approve of the Commander than they doe of his commands And indeed these are things for the most part combined one to the other For no maÌ„ can go chearefully about a businesse unlesse hee love and respect the person that enjoyneth it And therefore in Eph. 6.7 It is expresly set downe that they should serve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with good will And indeed according to S. Ambrose Nemo melius obtemperat quà m qui ex charitate obsequitur None serve like those that serve because they love And thus much concerning the Duty the Inducement followes As to the Lord and not to men that is as they who rather and more principally serve the Lord than men even in the peformance of those offices which are exhibited unto men For though the use and benefit of the worke bee to redound to man the minde of the worker yet is to look specially unto God And here wee must note that the Negative particle doth not inferre it an unlawfull thing to serve men or in serving to regard them It only shews that in the performance of all Duties wee should not look so much to our earthly Lord as to Christ our heavenly Lord. It is a knowne rule in the exposition of holy Writ In comparationibus saepe negari illud quod non est excludendum sed tantum alteri postponendum that in comparisons a thing many times is denyed which must not yet bee utterly excluded but onely postposed to another as in Marke 9.37 Whosoever receiveth me saith our Saviour Christ receiveth not mee but him that sent me .i. hee receiveth the Father that sends more than me that am sent for hee receiveth mee for his sake And so in this place Whatsoever ye doe doe it heartily as to the Lord and not to meâ— .i. to Christ your Lord rather than to meÌ„ because it is for his sake that ye serve them And indeed there is great reason why even in vile and externall duties they should bee said rather to obey God than men though they doe them wholly at their command and onely for their profit For first they which obey are Christs by right more than their earthly Lords They bought them to be their servants with gold and Silver but Christ bought them to be his with no lâ—sse price than with the effusion of
his owne most precious blood they redeemed oneâ—y the body that no farther than out of one servitude into another but Christ hath ransomed both soule and body into a glorious liberty that shall last for ever and therfore Christ is to bee served before them 2. Our earthly Masters are to bee obeyed no otherwise than Christ prescribes they are to him as a steward to a Noble man hee hath the command of all the inferiour Servants but if he command any thing that is contrary to the will of the Lord they are to suspend their obedience 3. Christ himselfe hath declared it to bee his will and pleasure that Servants should obey their Masters and in his wisedome and power he hath ordeyned some for soveraignty and some for subjection All which considered Christian servants may be rightly said even in the performance of any office to their Master to serve the Lord and not men And it is a great motive to doe whatsoever wee doe heartily considering that the eye of Christ can scrue it selfe into our inmost retreates and that in every Action hee more regards the heart than the hand The defects of men towards men in their observance arise from a want of feare and reverence toward God We have it from the mouth of a Heathen That he who behaves himselfe impiously and perfidiously towards him can never bee Single-hearted towards Man In all the works therefore of our vocation wee must studie rather to keepe a good Conscience than to gaine the applause of men For how laudible so ever our outward Obedience may seeme it is but hypocriticall and adulterate if referred to an ill end A Christian servant must not think it enough to please his earthly Lord unlesse withal hee please Christ who is his heavenly one To conclude this is the manner of Christian obedience that every faithfull man should so doe the workes of his Calling as if there were none in the world besides God and himselfe For then hee will not dare to doe those offices for men which he knowes are hatefull unto him but will shew himselfe so farre serviceable to the one as that he may bee truely serviceable to the other And thus much concerning the Precept imposed upon servants as likewise of the Obedience required at their hands Now follow the Inducements which must stirre them up to the tender of this Obedience these are drawne from those things which usually make the greatest impression in the mindes of men Reward and Punishment In handling of the former we will consider 1. The qualitie of the Reward proposed It is a Reward of inheritance 2. The Person from whom it is to bee expected and that is the Lord Yee shall receive from the Lord. 3. The certainty of receiving it Yee know that hee shall receive 4. And lastly the Reason of this certainty For Yee serve the Lord Christ As touching the quality of the Reward It is the Reward of Inheritance But in this may some say lyes a contradiction For a Reward is commonly that which wee give unto servants an inheritance which wee bequeath to sonnes Whereunto I answere that the Apostle speakes not of any temporall Reward which might in worth bee correspondent to their labour but of that eternall beatitude which God conferreth upon his Saints and which farre surmounteth the worth and excellency of all humane obsequiousnesse whatsoever and he cals it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Retribution not that men are able any way to interest themselves therein by the dignity of their workes but because in regard of some circumstances it obtaines the similitude of a recompence For first as Wages are not given but to them that worke no more is the Kingdome of heaven conferred on any that are idle They that would have it must not lie snoring in the lappe of worldly pleasure but diligently labour in the workes of their Vocation 2. As wages are not given till our worke be ended no more is life eternall till our course be finished after the Race the runner must looke for his reward 2 Tim. 4.8 and after the combate the Souldier expect his Crowne Now as this heavenly reward is for two respects in which it resembleth wages entituled by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Retribution so for two other respects in which it differeth from wages it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Inheritance For 1. Wages are given as a due to him that worketh but this heavenly reward proceedeth wholly from the grace and liberality of him that doth conferre it For when we have done all that is commanded us wee are yet unprofitable servants â—ukâ— 17 10 and what have wee done which was not our duty to doe We are all of us Filii divini beneficii The Children of divine kindnesse as S. Augustine termes us by grace saved through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God 2. Wages have usually a proportion with the worke for which they are paid but this heavenly reward hath no proportion with our services For what proportion can there be betwixt that which is finite and that which is infinite It is called therefore an Inheritance to exclude it wholly from being a Desart For Children come not to inherite their Fathers lands by vertue of any merit because most an end the land is purchased before the Childe is borne much lesse can we by any such title lay claime to heaven who can not pretend so much as this that wee came out of the Loynes of our Coelestiall Father For wee are his Children onely by grace not by any priviledge of Nature So speaks the Apostle Ye have received the spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.15 by which ye cry Abba Father Now Adoption admits no Merit For if Civilians define it rightly Adoptio est gratuita assumptio personae non habentis jus in haereditate ad participationem haereditatis Adoption is the free assumption of a person that hath no right in the inheritance to a full participation of the same The right which wee have to eternall life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Hesychius speakes is not a guerdon but a gift We have it Propter promissum according to S. Gregory yet not propter commissum It is not factuâ— but pactum saith S. Aug. the Mercy of the Giver not the Merit of the Worker which deriveth it upon us The possession of this life yet is as the Apostle termes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Reward or Retribution And the Lord so stileth it not to puffe us up thereby with any vaine conceit of our own sufficiency but only to cheare and hearten up with some kinde of solace the debility of our Nature And therefore when the Scripture saith that God the righteous Iudge will one day render the Crowne of righteousnesse to those that are his 1. I except with S. Augustine where should this righteous Iudge bestow his glory but where the mercy of a loving
when wee shall fall into his 2. That earthly Lords how great soever they may be in power are no way priviledged or permitted to make litter for their ambitious feet of those that are under their authoritie For even they themselves are under God And as the Trigaedian speakes Omne sub regno majore regnum est No power so great but it is subject to a greater All must be countable to God 3. That those men of all others are the most miserable that count it their happinesse to tyrannize over others as Sylla did for they shall receive the wrong they doe 4. And lastly Eye-servers and Men-pleasers such as by a deceitfull shewe of industrie gaine the good opinion of their Masters are here taught that they lie still exposed to the wrath of God For hee who is their heavenly Lord discernes their fraud and their hypocrisie Quaecunque facio ante te facio saith S. Augustine illud quicquid est quod facio melius tu vides quam ego qui facio Whatsoever O Lord I doe I doe it before thee and it is more apparent to thy eyes than to mine that doe it It behoves every one therefore to have a care that what hee doth be well done And thus much of the Commination The Anticipation followeth And there is no respect of persons Masters might object and say Who shall call us into judgement for the ill usage of a slave The very Law affirmes that no injurie can bee done to them But say we should be questioned about them we will evade either by favour out of the hands of Iustice or by force or if not so a Bribe shal charme the uprightnes of the Iudge The Apostle meets with these conceits and shewes that it is otherwise with divine judgement than with humane Earthly Tribunals are like spiders webbs the harmelesse Flie sticks fast while the hurtfull Hornet breaketh through But this great judge of heaven and earth will not be terrified by any power of the wicked nor yet made flexible by favor Hee accepteth not Iob 34.19 as Elihu speakes the persons of Princes neither regardeth hee the rich more than the poore for they bee all the workes of his hands And sutable to this is that of S. Ambrose Iustus Index est dominus causas discernit In Eph. 6. non personas The Lord is a righteous Iudge and regardeth not the Person but the Plee Hee heares the complaints of the prisoners and hath a listening eare to the cries of those that are appointed unto death nor shall the wrong they suffer scape the fury of his vengeance I reade in profane Story of one Autronius Maximus Macrob. l. 1. Saturn who having first of all most inhumanely whipped one of his slaves did afterwards fasten him to a Gibbet and on a solemne Festivall before the beginning of their shewes did cause him in that miserable plight to bee carried up and downe the place as if hee had intended him like an Antick to a Maske the Comicall praeludium to their ensuing sports A cruelty so barbarous and void of all humanity that Iupiter offended with the spectacle appeared in the night to one Annio willing him to let the Senate understand that hee did much abhorre it and without some speedy expiation of the crime would visit them and their state with extraordinary judgement which hee neglecting the one and onely Son he had was taken from him by sodaine death afterwards being warned hereof againe for the like carelesnesse himselfe was strucken with a weaknesse throughout his whole body so that in the end by the advise of his friends he was carried in a Litter to the Senate-house where he had no sooner related what had beene discovered unto him but his health was presently restored and hee went on foote out of the Court backe to his owne home out of which he came not but by the helpe of other It is attributed to Iupiter but was the Act of the true God whose eyes and ears are alwayes open to the afflicted the remembrance of it may serve as a Bridle to curbe the arrogance of masters and to keepe them from all insolent oppression Againe servants might likewise object and say What though we obey not our earthly Masters heartily And what though wee deceive them sometimes as occasion shall bee offered will GOD take vengeance for it upon us poore silly soules Great is the burthen of our sorrowes and many be the miseries which wee endure by reason of their imperious haughtinesse God will not therefore surely adde unto our griefe by any exercise of his severity but will rather make us taste of his mercy The Apostle therefore to cut off this vaine hope likewise even in them shewes that God is just and will not be moved out of pity to favour the poore nor out of envy to detract from the rich Hee hath expresly prohibited this respect of Persons in others and cannot therefore practise it himselfe In Exod. 23.3 Thou shalt not esteeme saith he the poore man in his cause And in Levit. 19.15 Ye shall not doe uniustly in iudgement Thou shalt not favour the person of the poore nor honour the person of the mighty but thou shalt iudge thy neighbor iustly So that with him there is no respect of Persons From hence then wee may learne 1. That not onely the wrongs and iniuries which are done to Kings and men of high preheminence but likewise those which are offered to subiects I to the basest slaves have God for their revenger It behoves therfore the king the subiect the master and the slave to demean themselves â—prightly one toward the other considering that both are equally lyable to Gods divine examination 2. Magistrates such as are Gods Vicegerents upon earth have here a patterne for their imitation teaching them all respect of persons being laid aside to give unto every one his due Astrea whom the Poets feigned to be the Goddesse of Iustice being forced by the iniquity of men to forsake the earth did fly immediately to heaven and there tooke up her seat inter Leonem Libram betwixt those two of the twelve Signes which are called the LYON and the Ballance where shee sits as the EgyptiaÌ„s painted her with her head hidden amongst the Starres to shew that Magistrates in the administration of Iustice should like the Areopagites have their eyes canopied up froÌ„ all such obiects as might sway their iudgment beyond the rule and line of equity a Iudge and an Altar said Architas are both one Men flie to both in case of danger and necessitie That hee may be therefore both he must know it is his duty to protect the Pesant as wel as the Peere the slave as well as the superiour And thus I here breake off the thred of this discourse in which if any chance to taxe mee for the length I must unburden my selfe upon the Apostles method which gave mee the occasion It was my