Old Time the holy women who trusted in God and were in subjection to their own Husbands adorned themselves vers 5. 2. 1 Tim. 2.8 9 10. And good works I will saith Paul that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefastness and sobriety not with broidered hair or gold pearls or costly aray But which become women professing Godliness with good works Both Paul and Peter are to be understood in a Comparative sense that womens adorning should be not so much in outward attire as in inward vertues or rather in the latter then in the former Even Godly women may wear Gold and jewels and precious things and good attire as Rebekah did the earring and bracelets which Abrahams servant put upon her Gen. 24.30 47. with these limitations 1. That these be sutable to their rank place and state and not costly above their ability and as the most wise godly grave women are habited 2 That they be without wantonness wastfulness or curious nicerâ—â—s or new fangledness for fashion God visiâ—eth for strange apparel Zeph. 1.8 3 Without pride Vanity or Excess or thinking better of themselves for them 4 So that they place their chiefest fineness in their inward adornings rather then outward more in their Graces and good works then in their Garments and indeavour by the outward ornament of their bodies to set forth the inward beauty of their soules 2 2 Of behaviour Tit 2 3. Also modesty of behaviour to express the inward holiness of their hearts in sober deportment in countenance gesture and speech to open their mouths with discretion Prov. 31.26 Prov. 7.11 12 and 9.13 and bridle their tongues and not be as the harlot babling and clamorous who is as extravagant in her Tongue as in her feet Good wives should account meekness of spirit their chief ornament and take heed they be not either 1 Proud or imperious in their spirits speeches looks Carriage 2 Or unquiet turbulent impatient alway brawling or chiding Such wives are neither credit nor comfort to their husbands but a continual vexation Thorns in their sides and pricks in their eyes The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping 19. Prov. 13. and 27.15 Like rain that falls into all the rooms of a house which is very tedious and irksome Prov. 21.9.25.21 It is better to Awâ—â—â— in the Corner of a house-top then with a â—rawling woman in a wide house Thus much concerning the particular duties of Husband to wife and of the wife to her Husband 2. Duties common to both 7. 2. Now follow the Duties Common to both husband and wife and to be performed by both or Exercised to or with or for both which are equally reciprocal and of like Obligation These are seven 1 Prayer 1. Prayer to God frequent and fervent both joyntly and severally for all mariage Graces and mariage Comforts Especially 1. For sutablenesse of Disposition that God would fashion your hearts alike 2. For wisdom to carry with most beauty amiableness and swâ—â—tness for the benefit and advantage comfort and encouragement one of another 3 For Gods presence with you in it and for Gods blessing upon it and that God would build you a house Psalm 127. by giving you hopeful children faithful servants blessed goods Let Husband and wife interest God much in their Mariage by prayer Reas 1 Because a Conjugal condition can be no more comfortable or satisfactory to us then God maketh it It will be an empty thing if God do not fill it and bitter if God do not sweeten it It is not the having of a Husband or a Wife but of God in them or with them that giveth content comfort and satisfaction We ought in all our wayes to acknowledge God especially in Mariage which is one of the chief of our wayes and a great Turn of our lives which concerns the future Comfort thereof 2 Because mercies got with prayer are got with a blessing and prove the sweetest mercies of all Prayer sanctifies Mariage 1 Tim 4.3 4. and makes the acts of it holy in manner and happy in end 2. 2 Love Tit. 2.4 Common duty is Conjugal love which is not proper to the Husband alone but should be mutual and reciprocal between them both To this end husband and wife ought to love one another 1 Chiefly for the grace of God the one seeth in the other that being unchangeable their love will be constant When Religion tieth the knot of affection between them it holds fast till death But when they love one another chiefly for other respects as beauty wealth or fulfilling the desires of the flesh c. when these are satisfied or fail love will cool 2. Really at their hearts or in sincerity For to dissemble affections and Counterfeit love and kindness will deprive them of the comfort and sweetnesse of mariage and make it in Time a burden and bitterness to them Sincere love knits their hearts as mâ—n joynes their hands together Else they will not cleave but sit loose and be ready to leave one another 4. Grounds of mutual love But there be four special Grounds of mutual love and deareness between Husband and wife scil Donation Propriety Union and Necessity 1. Donation They are special gifts bestowed by God the one upon the other 1 Donation Prov. 18.22 and 19.14 which should be a precious Endearment of one to other Thus they should look at themselves This is the woman God hath given to me to be a meet help for me above al the women in the world So this is that man God hath fited for me and given to me for a head and Guide above all other men in the world 2. 2 Propriety Propriety or the Mutual Interest they have by matrimony one in another They are one anothers Owne properly and peculiarly so as they are no bodies else and so as no person or thing in the world is their own for they are maried One to another so are they to no body to nothing besides The Apostle asserts this matrimonial interest in the 1. of Cor. 7.2 Let every man have his own wife and every woman have her own husband The wise hath not power of her own body but her husband nor the Husband hath power of his owne body but the wife so as not to account their own bodyes to be at their own disposal The wife is the Husband only one and he is hers They should be mutual darlings one to another because they are mutual Proprietors one of another by self resignation of each to other they give themselves mutual power one over another Now every one loveth his own best non quia pulchrum sed quia Suum his own Children his own goods his own house c. for propriety more then for beauty beause they are his own Shall a man love any thing that is his own but his wife or better then his wife or shall a wife love any thing that is
to him Let me adde Is it not an honour to Mariage that a most sweet choice Piece of Scripture was indited by the Holy Ghost as an Epithalamium or Mariage-song called The Song of Songs that is Cant. 1.1 of all songs the most excellent because it celebrateth the Mystical Mariage between Christ and the Church and poureth forth a Torrent of Spiritual love that is between them The forty and fiâ—th Psalm is of the same subject A Psalm of Love or Mariage-Hymn setting forth Christ the bridegroom in his Glory and the Church his spouse in her beauty Reas 4. 〈◊〉 General consent Reas 4. From General Consent and Opinion which as some observe hath setled mariage in Dignity and Honour Regers of Matrimonial Honour and graced it with Priviledges and granted Immunities to it far above single life both in war and peace Vse 1. Slight not Mariage Vse 1. Think not slightly of Mariage as a low contemptible thing but highly as a Solemn Ordinance of God of great consequence and Importance to you wherein the future Comfort of your Lives is bound up Therefore enter not rashly into it but advisedly with due consideration for the choise of a fiâ— yoke-fellow Prov. 20. â— Every purpose saith Solomon is established by Counsel and with good advice make war I may adde with good advice maâ—y because Mariage is not upon liking God hates putting away Mala. 2.16 but for life It is the tying of such a knot as nothing but death can loose it is a businesse of lasting importance An Errour therein may prove dangerous Shall we account that Relation or condition mean or inconsiderable whereof God himself was the Institutor and Minister Adam and Eve the first couple and Paradise the place where and Innocency the state or Time when Mariage was celebrated at first which Christ hath chosen to act into his Church unto Eternity Vse 2. Preserve the Honour of it Vse 2. Then Husbands and Wives should preserve the Honour of Mariage in their Carriage and not blemish or stain the Glory of it Either 1. By being light vain loose frolick in their spirits or demeanour for that is a dishonour to the Gravity of Mariage 2. Or by being froward peevish proud sullen discontented impatient disdainful in their spirits or carriage for that is a dishonour to the Amity Suavity and Society of Mariage 3. Or by unfaithfulnesse and bodily uncleannesse embracing the bosoms of strangers for that is a dishonour to the Unity Purity Chastity of Mariage Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Hebr. 13.4 if Magistrates do not 4 Or by loving any other man or woman in a conjugal way better then his own wife or her own Husband This is a dishonour to Gods Justification of mariage and to the mariage-bond and covenant which tieth Husband and wife to forsake all others in this way and to cleave in love one to another inseparably till death Vse 3. Honour God in mariage Vse 3 Then take Care and indeavour to honour God in your Mariage by marying in the Lord 1 Cor. 7.39 and 11.11 Qu. What is it to marry in the Lord Ans To make God the beginning and end of our Mariage 1 The beginning of it Make God the beginning of Mariage by seeking earnestly to God for councel direction therein for guidance of our Affection to a right object for the choice of a fit yoak-fellow for making the Woman a Comfortable help and the man a sutable Head expecting to receive one another as a special gist and token of favour from the hand of God For who findeth a wise findeth a good thing and obtaineth favour of the Lord saith Solomon Prov. 18.22 Prov. 19.14 And House and riches are the Inheritance of fathers a man may have a woman and a portion from her father but a prudent wife or the Qualifications of a woman to make her a wife is from the Lord the same may be said of the man Also by looking chiefly at or for the grace of God one in another as the load-stone of our love and the inkindler of our affections each to other Look more at inward goodness then at outward goods or beauty especially at sutableness in Religion Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers saith Paul 2 Cor. 6.14 Do not mary with Idolaters or Infidels this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as when beasts of diverse kinds draw together an ox and an asse might not be coupled together in the law Deuâ— 22.10 We should be affraid to yoke our selves with any untamed heifers or bullocks that will not bear Christs yoke We should let Religion have a Negative voice in our choice that is not to mary any who are not really or hopefully religious When persons match themselves to those that are either profane and of no reglion or of false and contrary Religions then their wedding garment as one saith is made of Lincy wolsey Deut. 22.11 and the wedding Ground is plowed with an Ox and an Asse Such mongrel mariages brought destruction upon the old world Gen. 6.2 3. God forbids such ungodly matches Deut. Gen. 26.35 chap. 27.46 7.3 4. Esaus marying the daughter of the Canaanites was a great grief of minde to his father and mother and made Rebekah weary of her life If Moses mary an Ethiopian he cannot change her colour or her Qualities she will be a vexation to him Wo to Sampson if he mary a Philistine though he was the strongest man If Solomon mary Idolatrous wives they will turn away his heart after other Gods though he was the wisest man upon earth Kings 11.1.3 4 To marry unequally as a wise man to a foolish woman or a vertuous woman to a profane wicked man Charron is as one saith to binde the living to the dead which was the cruellest Death invented by Tyrants to make the living languish and die by the company of the dead 2 To make God the end of our Mariage Make God the end of mariage 1 by propounding Gods glory as the principal end of all our Mariage-comforts and enjoyments 2 By ordering our whole Carriage in that Matrimonial state according to the rule of Gods word 3 By depending on God for his presence therein and blessing thereon 4 By improving mariage to promote our serving of God and the saving of our own souls But more of these in the next thing to be confidered in Mariage II. The Duties of Mariage WHich are 1 Special of the one Party to the other 2 Or common to both and to be performed by both joyntly and mutually 1 1 Special duties of husband to wise 6.1 Love The special Duties of husband to wife are these 6. 1 A love to her which should be pure chaste sincere intire constant The Husband should love his wife 1 As Christ loved his Church Eph. 5.25 2 As the man loveth his own body ver 28. 3 As he loveth
himself his whole self ver 33. As Isaac loved Rebekah Gen. 24 67. This duty of Love comprehends all the rest because all whatsoever the Husband saith or doth to his wife should spring from Love and taste of love She should be dear to him as himself and lie as a Lamb in his bosom 2 Sam. 12. Jacob was content to serve a double apprentiship under a Churlish Master for Rachel to be his wife Gen. 29.32 because he loved her more then Leah 2 2. Tenderness Dutie of the Husband is Tenderness and kindness to nourish and cherish her as the more tender part of himself as a man doth his own flesh yea as Christ doth the Church Eph. 5 29. to supply her with Necessaries and Conveniences and suffer her to want nothing that is fit for her and to cover her weaknesses Then Husbands must not be bitter to their wives nor injurious nor vexations not make drudges of them Col. 3.19 Their Authority should savour more of loving respect to them then of rigorous power Husbands should exercise so sweet and amiable a Government over their wives so as not onely their bodies but also their wills and hearts may be subject unto them When Husbands cause their wives to go to God with tears to complain of their unkindness and harshness to them God will regard and receive their offerings no more Mal. 2.13 ver 14. To this end the Husband should consider his wife is his companion and the wife of his Covenant made of a rib taken out of his side not of a bone taken out of his foot therefore he must not trample upon her and she is to be in a state but of Collateral subjection to him She is his yoke-fellow that stands on even ground with him and draws on the left side He should make her yoke as easy as may be and not suffer the heavier end to lie on her Neck because she is the weaker vessel 3 3 Honour 1 Pet. 3.7 Dutie is due Respect and Honour to her Peter gives 3 reasons for it 1. The wife is the weaker vessel therefore she must be carefully and gently handled as a chrystal glass 2. The wife is coheir with her Husband of the grace of life that is of the life of Grace and glory For as one observes souls have no Sexes and as they are in Christ they are both equal male and female are in him all one 3. That their prayers be not hindred A Husbands disrespect to his wife breeds discontent between them distractions in the familie and interruptions in duties and a contempt of them both To which I may adde that of Solomon Pron 12.4 A vertuous woman is a crown to her Husband and if she give him a crown he may afford to give her honour A Husband by debasing and disgracing his wife dishonoureth himself 4. 4. Instruction Duty of the Husband to the wife is Instruction Direction and consolation to teach her counsel her lead and comfort her as her head Eph. 5.23 and Guide Prov. 2.17 This is to dwell with her according to knowledg 1 Pet. 3 7. Hence the wife should learn of her Husbands 1. Cor. 14.34 35. 1 Tim. 2.11 12. A Husband may put honour upon his wife by hearkening to her Counsel and not despising the same which is his Dutie when she adviseth and perswades him to good or disswades him from Evil. This may be a great advantage to him For God sometimes gifteth and graceth the wife equally or above the Husband as he did Abigail above Nabal for he was a fool In all that Sarah hath said unto thee hearken unto her voice said God to Abraham Gen. 21.12 So did Elkanah to Hannah 1 Sam. 1 22 23. and David hearkned to Abigails Advice before she was his wife how thankful was he both to God and to her for it 1 Sam. 25.32 to 35. Manoah did the like to his wife Judg. 13.22 23. 5. 5. Adhesion Duty is cleaving to her forsaking father and mother and his dearest friends for her and to be glued to her and to become one with her Eph. 5.31 One flesh to dwell with her not onely one house but one bed should hold them And to rejoyce in her Eccles 9.9 and Prov. 5.18.19 or live joyfully with her make her his Chepthzibah and be ravished alway with her love The wife should be as dear to the Husband as the Hind is to the Hart as the Doe to the Roe-buck This will make him drink waters out of his own Cisterne onely Not the having of a wife but to delight in her and lovingly to comport with her will keep a man chaste from embracing the bosom of a stranger Prov. 5.19 20. A man should count all others strange women in comparison of a wife 6. 6. Protection Duty is protection of his wife from wrongs and dangers to rescue her if in jeopardy as David did his wises 1 Sam. 30.18 and to right her if injured Abraham was to Sarah for a Covering of the Eyes that is Gen. 20.16 her Husband to defend her from injury Booz was to take Ruth into his protection as the hen her chickens under her wings signifyed by spreading his skirt over her Ruth 3.9 and 2.12 that she might be safe under the wings of her husband A man giveth Coverture no action is brought against the wife the man is to answer she goeth Covert baron as is observed Therefore woman was made of a bone from under the Mans Arme that he might be a protection and defence to her The Husband must be as a house side for his wife as the fruitful vine to spread her self on to support and strengthen her Ps 128.3 and a rest to give her a safe and setled abode Ruth 1.9 2. 2. Duties of wife to husband 6. The Duties of the Wife to the Husband are these six 1 Submision First Submission to his Authority and to his just and aequal commands 1 Peter 3.1 1. As unto the Lord Ephes 5.22 as having to deal with God whose Ordinance this is that the wife should live in subjection to her own Husband and that for conscience sake Col. 18. â—3 This is fit in the Lord. 2. As the Church is subject unto Christ Eph. 5.24 that is freely willingly reverently constantly and universally in all things The Apostle giveth four Reasons of the womans subjection to the man or subordination to him and dependance on him 1. Because she was made out of man scil of a rib taken out of his side 1 Cor. 11.8 The man saith Paul is not of the woman he was made at first of the earth but the woman was made of man 2. The woman was made for the man at first not the man for the woman 1 Cor. 11.9 I will make him saith God a help meet for him Gen. 2.18 to serve and obey him as her Superior Hence it is said that the woman is Vir
her own but her husband or better then her husband or shall a man love other mens wives or a woman love other womens husbands better then their own Peculiarity of Interest is a Ground of Speciality of love 3. 3 Union Ground of special love between them is union The Conjunction Husband and wise have one with another They two are in many respects as one person and so one together as they are not or should not be with any one besides in all the world to wit one flesh Gen. 2.24 as it were incarnated one to another Adam acknowledged this when God had made the woman for him and brought or maried her to him he said This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh to shew his Thankfulnes to God and love to his wife Gen. 2.23 as wondering at Gods goodness to him therein Mariage is a moral conjunction of two persons so as Man and wife are in Law one flesh by Gods Ordinance It is the strictest bond of any relation and therfore a fellowship of the dearest amitie nearer then that between Parents and Children Though children have their flesh and bone from their Parents yet they are not one flesh with their Parents Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wise This Gen. 2.24 was the sanction of mariage All Society must be left that this between man and wife may be kept This is Pauls rule Let not the wise depart from her husband 1 Cor. 7.0.11 â—â—â—ach 2 16. and Let not the Husband put away his wife for God hates putting away The wife must be an individual companion of life The saying of the Philosopher that perfect friendship is onely between two is most true in this case between man and wife because they two are by mariage made one 4 Necessity The 4 Ground of spiritual love between them is Necessity of the one for the other even for their being as well as for their walking In both these respects we may understand that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.11 Neither is the man without the woman neither is the woman without the man in the Lord. The man is not without the woman nor can be because man now is conceived and born of a woman The woman is not without the man Job 14.1 because she is now begotten of man so that they are mutual Causes the one of the other The woman hath her Generation froÌ„ the man the man hath his conception and birth from the woman They cannot be much less be well the one without the other The Husband should look at his wife as Causa sine qua non a help he cannot well be without for God said It is not good that man should be alone and the woman should look at her husband under the same notion It is not good for the woman to be alone Therefore the husband should not insult over his wife because oâ— his superiority over her nor the wife be discouraged because of her inferiority or subjection to him because they have need the one of the other as fellowes to bear and draw in one yoke together Now mutual Necessity should breed mutual love between them What is so dear unto the wife as the childe of her Womb Isa 49 15. yet the husband should be dearer to her as Eâ—kanah said to Hannah 1 Sam. 1.8 Am not I better to thee then ten sons 3 3 Common duâ—â— is Communion Common duties between Husband and wife is communion which flowes from the union of their Persons by mariage for union is the ground of Communion or communication of their bodies souls goods and respects 1. 1 Of bodies Of their bodies by mutual benevolence performed by the one to the other 1. Gor. 7.3.4 2 By cohabitation 1 Pet. 3.7 or dwelling together unless it be for a time and upon necessary Occasions 3. by conjugal fidelity reserving themselves intirely and peculiarly proper the one for the other as Christ and his Church doth Hosea 3.3 2 2 Of souls Of their souls for the spiritual good of both The heart as well as the body should be common between Husband and wife One saith that both the body and the soul are united together in Mariage Conjugal love will make hearts advance together as well as bodies as amical love doth friends The Soul of Jonathan was knit with the Soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul 1 Sam. 18.1 as lustful love makes the souls of unclean persons to cleave together as well as their bodies as Shechems soul clave to Dinah Jacobs daughter whom he defiled Gen. 34.3 1 Kings 11.3 and Solomon clave unto many strange women in love But I shall speak more of this Soul communion between maried persons in the fourth common duty 3 3. Of Gods Of their Goods and Estates labours and indeavours a joynt fruition thereof for mutual benefit and Comfort 4 4. Of respects to their kindred Also there should be a communion of due respect and loving kindness to the kindred and friends that pertain to either partie The Husband and Wife lie as corner-stones in the wall to joyn several alliances and kindreds together and ought to carry very respectfully to their Affinity contracted by Mariage Esau's wives offended greatly in grieving the hearts of their Husbands parents Gen. 26.35 4. 4. Furtherance of the salvation one of another Common duty is to further the salvation and soul good one of another as given of God to that end Husband and Wife should labour to gain one another to Christ and help one another to Heaven What knowest thou O wife saith Paul but thou mayest be a means to save thy Husband and whâ—t knowest thou O man but thou mayest save thy wife However this ought to be the Serious indeavors of both If thou know not whether thou shalt yet try whether thou canst To this end Extend your desires and labours in three particulars 1 To heal infirmities the one seeth in the other as pride passion discontent folly vanity excess or the like Take the fittest Time when the parties may best be wrought upon it is aptest to take Impressions or is in a tractable ductile frame and chuse the best manner to doe it in a taking efficacious way Beg wisedom of God for it rightly to observe what is amisse in a yoke-fellow to heal it or to cover it Happy is that couple whom God makes Heaven of Spiritual Infirmities or Spiritual Physitians one to another The wife should be a second Conscience to her Husband a bosome Monitor to tell him privately of his faults to amend them 2 To increase Graces mutually and to incourage one another to the Exercise of them as of faith love patience of prudence piety charity sobriety and the like 3 To Excite and Encourage unto duties and to provoke one another unto good works and to quicken and sharpen or edge
judgments Let them pray with their family in the morning because some of them may fall sick and die before night and pray in the Evening also to commit themselves and their house to Gods safe keeping from all peril and danger for they know not what a Night may bring forth or day either and if evils befal them their hearts will smite them for neglect of this necessary duty of prayer in their families Also to Catechize repeat sermons and teach all in their house their duties and to seek the souls good of their servants as well as of their children and as well as to expect the service of their bodies and to charge them all to walk in Gods ways as Abraham did his children and househould after him Gen 18.19 Prov. 4.1 to 5. 1. Chron. 28.9 and as David charged his son Solomon in his life and at his death 1 Kin. 2.1.2 This is the mothers duty also to teach and command her children their duties My son saith Solomen Prov. 1.8 and 6.20 keep thy fathers Commandment and forsake not the Law of thy mother Josh 24.15 The master of the house should resolve with Joshua I and my house will serve the Lord every day together what ever other familes do we will pray and read Gods word that is perform holy duties together for the Glory of God and the good of all our souls as well as eat drink talk and sleep together and with David Ps 101.2 I will walk in the midest of my house with a perfect heart Esther 4.16 The wife also should be a help to her Husband in family duties and no hinderance therein Queen Esther and her Maides will fast and pray For if the wife should draw back from holy duties and be a discouragement to him therein the soul of her husband if he be godly can take no pleasure in her She is in a posture tending to perdition Hebr. 10.38.39 Mr. Abbot I have read a sad story reported by a Reverend Minister upon his own knewledge of an honest Christian that had a wife world ly and distrustful and he being much in Godly Excercise Morning and Evening in his family She would disturb him and goe about ratling her keyes or making some other noise to hinder him pretending that his Time spent that way might be imployed in getting of mony for his family This woman was given over by God to the Devils Temptations so far that she thrust a knife into the pit of her stomack and killed her self yet before she died she confessed thus much to that Minister and craved Gods pardon as well as she could Had it not been better that she had borne her husband company in holy duties and so gone hand in hand to heaven together Further set up Gods word to be the Law of your house to order your family and all the affaires of it according to the Rule of it For Gods word moulds and shapes every person in it for his Imployment and directs and keeps them in their several rankes Places and duties This is the way to have a Church in your house Rom. 16.5 as Aquila and Priscilla had 2. 2 Chuse good servants To chuse good servants such as know and fear God or as appear tractable and hopeful to be instructed and wrought upon Set David before you as a pattern herein Psal 101.6 7. Suffer no disordered swearing ranting persons to come into your house or to tarry in your sight such as will bring sin and a curse along with them Covet earnestly to have a choyce pickt family Acts 10.2 such as Cornelius had who feared God and all his house 3. 3 Exclude sin To shut sin out of doores as excessive drinking gaming swearing lying pride contentions Job 11.14 ch 22.23 vanities Follow the Councel which Jobs friends gave him as Zophar Let not wickednesse dwel in your Tabernacle and Eliphaz Put iniquity far from your Tabernacle then you shall know that your Tabernacle shall be in peace Chap. â— 24 God will keep house for you when you are from home as Bildad Job 8.6 If you be pure and upright God will make the Habitation of your righteousness prosperous Let it be your care to make it righteous and God will make it prosperous 4 Look well to the wayes of your houshold 4 Oversee the family to prevent or supress sin and to stop the beginnings thereof to cherish incourage good in all that live with you to reduce those that go astray in opinion or in conversation This is the duty of the wife as well as of the Husband Prov. 31.27 1 Sam. 3.13 14. The vertuous woman looketh well to the wayes of her houshold Because Elies sonnes made themselves vile and he restrained them not God judged his house for ever 5. 5. To Sanctify the sabbath To keep holy the Sabbath day not onely you but all within your house the charge whereof lyeth mainly on the master of the house and next upon the mistress Exod. 20.9 10. This Godly Covenant of your houshold will draw down Gods protection and blessing upon your habitation relations and upon all your affairs The use hereof is to exhort all Marying and married persons 1 To learn these mariage duties both special and Common Vse 1. Learn these mariage duties For any to mary before they know their dutie or how to carry therein is like setting up before one hath learnt the trade or like answering a Matter before one hears it which is folly and shame unto him Prov. 18.13 2 Vse 2. perform them To perform these duties of mariage carâ—full and constantly I commend unto you four Motives or inducements hereunto 4 Motives 1. 1 Duties of Mariage aâ—e matters of Religion Though Mariage in it self be but a civil matter yâ—t the duties of Mariage are Matters of Religion oâ— conscience and obedience to the gosâ—el â—â—ing fully prescribed and injoyned 〈…〉 And Christ will one day come in slaming â—ire to taâ—â—â—vengeance on them that obâ—â— not the Gospel in the precepts of it 2 Thes 1.8 2 2 To do the dutie This to get the Comfort thereof In the diligent and Conscionable performance of the dutie of mariage you may expect the comforts benefits and blessings of mariage A wife may draw forth the love and kindeness of a husband and a Husband may extract the helpfulness and comfort of a wife by the religious doing of their duties the one to the other For man or woman to expect the Comfort of a Relation and to neglect the duty thereof is to tempt God Math. 25.24 and to act the part of a hard man who looks to reap where he hath not sowen and to gather where he hath not strowed 3. 3 The mariage covenant Motive The solemn league and covenant you enter into mutually at Mariage whereof God himself is a witness Malac. 2.14 both of your making it
and your breaking it or keeping it Hence it is called the Covenant of God this ingageeth and obligeth you strongely to all Matrimonial duties Prov. 2.17 Covenant breakers even in wedlock God will judge 4. 4 This will be a good example The good Carriage of Husband and wife each to other according to the Gospel will be a good example or patern to all other Relations in the family to set them a copy or teach them how to carry therein and to put them in order Without this all would be out of frame the children unruly and disobedient and the servants unfaithful and disorderly So much of the Duties of Mariage Now followes the third thing considerable in mariage III. The Benefits of Mariage WHich may be referred to five heads They are 1. Personal 2. Domestical 3. Political 4. Ecclesiastical 5. Universal 1. 1 Personal Benefits The Personal Benefits of Mariage appertaining to the parties themselves are 4. to wit 1. Society 2. Sanctity 3. Copartnership 4. furtherance of the mystical Mariage between Christ and the soul 1. 1 Society Society God made man a sociable Creature in respect both of the Constitution of his body and disposition of his minde and said Gen. 2.18.19.20 It is not good for man to be alone Though God made Adam lord over all the Creatures and brought them to him to give names to them all as a sign of his soveraignty and authority over them yet for all this man was alone for among all the creatures there was not found a help meet for him or like to him in Nature a fit and sutable Companion that should be alter ego a second self to him God set all the creatures before him ere he gave him a wife that as some think he seeing their sexes might desire to have a help in his kind and nature also God saw it was not good for the irrational living creatures to be alone Gen. 7.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore he created them male and female in Heb. cal'd the man and his wife for the increase of their kind to this end God bid Noah take into the Arke two of every sort of living things to keep them alive they shall be male and female Gen. 6.19 20. and God created them male and female together but he did not so in mankind for Adam was first formed then Eve Though it be said in Gen. 1.27 that God created them that is Adam and Eve male and female yet not together This is an anticipation The 27 28. verses of Gen. 1. chap. are to be made up with the 17 18 19. verses of the 2. chapter together into one Relation This was the Cause of the Creation of the woman because Adam was alone God saw Adam Solitary and defective till he had a wife I will make him saith God a help commodious for him God created the woman by deliberate Councel as before he had done the man Gen. 1.26 27. Let us make man in our Image The creation of the woman was the work of the Trinity as well as of the man When Adam saw no other fit help for him among all the Creatures it might make him the more prize a wife and count it better to lose a rib then to lack a wife to want part of himself then not to have a second self A wise was the Complement of all to Adam and a Recovery of his lost Rib. If Adam in Innocency when he was perfect in body and soul and when the whole world was his own stood in need of a wife even for society to be his Companion and it was not good for him that was so happy to be alone much less for poor sinful sickly miserable man since the fall what need hath he of a wife even for Society Eccles 4.9 10. Two are better then one saith the Preacher that is fully verified in conjugal Society though this onely is not meant here but that society in all sorts of affaires is better than Solitariness 2. Sanctity 2 The Second Benefit of mariage is sanctity to prevent sin and keep us pure from Pollutions of flesh and spirit 1. 1 Cor. 7.2 From outward acts of uncleanness To avoid fornication let every man have his owne wife saith Paul and every woman her own husband 2 From inward Lusts Ver. 9. It is better to mary then to burn Mariage is a meanes to prevent burning in lust Mariage is a preservation of chastity and prvention of heart adultery which our Saviour makes to be to look on a woman and lust after her Math. 5.28 Though mariage was instituted before there was sin and Adam needed it not as a Remedie against Incontinency but upon another account But since the fall it is of necessary and soveraign use to prevent sin and to procure or promote our sanctincation that we may possess our vessels in holines and Honour not in the lost of conpiscence Thes 4.3.4 5. This is the will of God 3. 3 Copartnership Benefit is Copartnership in all conditions better and worse As yoke fellows to take part and share equally together therein 1. To be a solace and comfort one to other in adversity as in sickness poverty disgrace What a great comfort is a loving tender husband to his dear wife in her sickness and she the like to him in his Prov. 17.17 As a brother is born for adversity so many couples finde cause to say that they were maried together for a time of adversity and that God brought them together to be mutual helps and comforts at such a time as this Judg. 13.22 23. as he did Esther to the kingdom Esther 4.14 how did Mancahs wife comfort him when he was plunged deep into fear of death 2. To be companions in joy the delight one of another in prosperity the desire of the eyes as Ezâ—kiels wife was Ezech. 24.16 Eccles 9.9 and the joy of the heart to live joyfully and comfortably together as Abraham and Sarah Gen. 26.8 Isaac and Rebekah did Abâ—melech looking out through a window saw Isaac sporting or laughing and rejoycing with his wife Which implies some pleasing familiarity or sign of love and delight between them Husband and wife are glasses to look one anothers face in and echoes of delight refreshments and reflections or repercussions of pleasure and joy the one to the other and mutual chearings each of other 4 4 Furtherance of the Mystical Mariage Benefit of Mariage is the Furtherance of the Mystical Mariage between Christ and the Soul Both Husband and wife should improve their conjugal Relation and fellowship together to promote the Communion of their souls with Christ as the Spiritual huband thereof To this end we should do three things 1. 1. To look at Christ as our Husband Hoseah 2.19 20. To look at Jesus Christ our Maker and Redeemer as our Husband Isa 54.5 as maried to us Jer. 3.14 and at
our selves as betrothed to him in righteousness and loving kindness mercy and faithfulness 2 2 To expect the love of a Husband from him To expect all that love kindness tenderness Comfort nourishings and cherishings from Christ spiritually Eph. 5.29 which the wife looks to receive from her Husband corporally As the spouse doth in the Canticles the kisses of his mouth Cant. 1.2 the Embraces of his arms cap. 2.6 the refreshments of his presence to sit under his shadow with great delights Cant. 2 3. Cordials and Refocillations to support and comfort the Soul in his absence this is to be staid with flagons and comforted with apples verse 5. Also the discovery of Christ to the soul for he hath promised I will manifest my self to you John 14.21 Will not the husband let his wife behold his face and the sence of his love shed abroad in the heart Rom. 5.5 Oh that is better then wine Cant. 1.2 The Communication of the seed of Grace this is the benevolence which Christ as a Husband renders to our souls 1 Cor. 7.3 to make them fruitful in good works We are maried unto Jesus Christ saith Paul that we should bring forth fruit unto God Hence the spouse saith Rom. 7.4 Cant. 1.16 Col. 1.10 Our bed is green This denotes the fruitfulness and flourishing of the soul in every good work by the spiritual Communion or heavenly Conjunction of Christ with the soul 3. 3. To perform our duty to him To express and perform all that duty spiritually to Christ which the wife doth corporally to her husband as subjection obedience love loyalty chastity serviceableness To reserve our hearts wholly solely intirely for him as his bed to lie in his Throne to rule in now the husbands bed and the Kings throne admit no Corrivals to be for him and not for another Hosea 3.3 to tarry many dayes for his gracious Return and manifestation of himself to our souls after his departures and Occultations of himself in our apprehensions from us to embrace and imbosom Christ and lay him between our breasts Micah 7 19 Cant. 1 13. as a bundle of mirrhe or perfumed bags To subject our desires to him and submit our wills to his that his will may be ours and there may be but one will between Christ and our soules to refer our selves wholly to be at his command and dispose To open our hearts unto him inviting and intreating him earnestly to come in and not onely to sup and lodge in them but to make his abode in and with our souls I opened to my beloved saith the spouse Cant. 5.5 To be sick of love for Christ as the spouse was Cant. 5.8 sick with grief for his absence and with desires of his presence and to seek him up and down as the spouse did Cant. 3.1 2 3. by night on our bed in private inquiries breathings and restless desires and pursuits after him and in the streetes and broad wayes of the ordinances and communion of saints and not to give over till we find him and having found him to hold him fast and not let him go to joyn ouâ—selves 1. Christ by faith and love to be one spirit with him he that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit saith Paul 1 Cor. 6 17 as Husband and wife are one flesh To leave father and mother yea wife and children house goods land all we have whatsoever is near or dear to us for Christs sake to follow Christ and to go to Christ which is best of all for us Phil. 1.23 This is the Law of the Churches mariage with Christ Psal 45.10 Hearken O daughter forget thine owne people and thy fathers house He that loveth father or mother son or daughter c. more then me saith Christ is not worthy of me Math 10.37 to have me to be the Husband of his soul Luk. 14.26 Christ requires we should leave all to cleave to him The Apâ—stle in Ephes 5. describes the Union and amity of Christ and the spouse by the sameness of flesh which Mariage causeth between Husband and wife and reacheth maried persons their duties by the communion of Christ and the Church and the souls duty to Christ by the wives duty to her Husband This is to spiritualize mariage and to improve it to a high holy and heavenly use the benefit whereof wâ—â—l extend to the days of Eternity What Expression of Conjugal love is there between man and wife which carieth not a resemblance of some spiritual intercourse between Christ and the soul 2. Benefit of mariage is Domestical the building of families and kindreds 2 Domestical Benefits of Mariage Ruth 4.11 and the multiplication of them Women are Builders hereof as well as men Rachel and Leah did build the house of Israel Indeed mariage is the fountain of all humane societies 3. Benefit is Political 3 Political Mariage laies the foundation of cities countreys nations of Lawes and civil goverment of Common-wealths and Kingdoms all these are superstructures upon Mariage also it furnisheth the same with useful and serviceable instruments That Mariage upholds the fabrick of the republick the continuation and succession thereof Hence it is cald the Seminary of the Common wealth 4. 4 Ecclesiastical Benefit of Mariage is Ecclesiastical the Propagation of the Church of God and of the trâ—e religion to replenish it with members as it furnished Christ the head of it and Saviour of the world with a body on earth for he was conceived and born of a woman that was begotten in wedlock Mariage afforded flesh unto the Messiah and provides materials for Gods Church both stones and pillars and helps to fill heaven with heirs therefore Mariage is called the Seed plot and Nursery of the church 5. Benefit of Mariage is universal 5 Universal the preservation and increase of mankind this was the end of Adam and â—ves creation and Mariage before the fall and this was Gods benediction upon them Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth Gen. 1.28 Were it not for mariage the world would come to an end Hence mariage is called the pillar of the world under God the right hand of providence Vse 1 Thankfulnes to God Vse 1. This should teach us thankfulness to God 1. For providing so comfortable useful and beneficial a Relation or condition for us as mariage is It is a great bundle of Benefits How many both private and publick are bound up together in it as in one volume 2. For all the benefit help and comfort God hath given us particularly in our Mariage in and by our yoake fellowes What shall I render to the Lord may the Husband say for giving me such a meet and sutable help as I think there is None such for me may the wife say for giving me so great a blessing in a wise loving tender Husband may both Husband and wife say for blessing us with the fruit of
the death of husband wife or children for we can contribute nothing by our Tears to their felicity if they die in the Lord or if not we cannot mitigate their pain or misery thereby All our Mourning for them cannot revive or recover them Upon this ground David ceased mourning when his child died Why should I weep any more as if he had said It is to no purpose Can I bring him back again 2 Sam. 12.23 We may say of Immoderate grief in this Case what Solomon said of Mirth what doth it It can doe our deceased friends no good It may do us much hurt by weakening our bodies and sadning our spirits so much as to deprive us of Comfort in our lives and livelyhoods and disable or indispose us for duties It is best for us to do in this as in other cases when God doth things crosse or contrary to our desires or expectations even to resolve our wills into Gods will and submit to it patiently and acquiess in it 7. God can supply the loss The seventh and last particular Considerable to prepare us for parting with a dear vokefellow is this God can supply our loss by death of a loving Husband or of a helpful wiâ—e or of hopeful children either 1. 1 Mediately Mediately by giving us another husband or wife fitted for us and fitted with like gifts and graces to equal if not exceed the former or by raiâ—ing up some friends or others to be very helpful and comfortable to us in our Solitary condition when God by death hath taken away our dearest companion from us and we are left alone 2. 2. Or Immediately Or Immediately by himself He is the fountain of all goodness and hath all that Love kindness delight comfort help in him self that is or can be in a husband or wife or in any other Relation yea and infinitely more more then is in all the husbands and wives in the world more then they can possibly contain because God is Infinite as in his essence so in all goodness and they are finite and shallow vessels but of a smal quantity and hold but little When God takes away my wife or my husband or my childe from me I may boldly seek to him trust in him and expect from him not onely inward support but the Comfort and help of my yoke fellow or child that is dead The Lord can and I hope will be better to me then ten Husbands or wifes or then a hundred children The Lord is able out of his wisdome and goodness and by the comforts of his presence to make an abundant supply and reparation of the loss we sustain by the death of our dear yoke-fell wes or any friend with this Addition that the Lord liveth and shall doe for ever though Husband or wife or friends dye What are our Relations but pitchers or Conduit-pipes to convey comfort and help from God unto us when the Pitcher is broken we should go to the fountain Dulcius Ex ipso fonte Waters drink sweetest there God gave us all the comfort of our Relations at first and if he take them from us he is able abundantly to make a supply either by other creatures or out of himself Nihil dat quod non habet When a Husband dies leaves his poor wife and children to the wide world and hath nothing in the world to leave them then God saith to him Leave thy fatherlesse children I will preserve them alive and Let thy widow trust in me q. d. I will take the charge and care of them I will provide for them I will be a Husband to the widow and a father to the fatherless God hath given many precepts and made many promises concerning widowes and orphans provisional protectional and consolational Let me adde this by way of caution we should take heed our affections be not inordinately set upon any of our Relations be it a wife or a husband or a childe that we do not love them too well or delight in them too much or dote on them or make Idols of them for this may justly provoke God to take them from us or to try us sadly in them Whereas the way to keep them is to be willing to part with them out of submission to God who gave them to us and whose they still are and who is worthy to be served with his own Because Abraham was willing to part with his onely Son Isaac in obedience to a difficult command of God therefore he injoyed him with a special blessing Gen. 22.16 17. Mr. Burroughes in his exposition on Hosea 2.9 relates a remarkable storie from his owne knowledge that a Godly man desiring his friends to meet to blesse God for his blessings in a plentiful harvest after dinner was done a little Childe comes in who was indeed very lovely oh saith the father I am afraid I shall make a God of this Childe by and by the Childe was missing and presently they went to look him and he was found sprawling drowned in a Pond Consider this ye Parents saith Mr. Burroughes who have your hearts inordinately set on your children QUAERE Whether is it lawful for a man to mary his wives own sister Answer IT is Unlawful which I prove by six Arguments First Argument A man may not marry one that is near of kin to him A mans wives sister is near of kin to him Ergo A man may not mrary his wives sister First A man may not marry one that is near of kin to him for that is Gods precept or Rule for Mariage Levit. 18.6 None of you shall approach to wit in a Conjugal way unto any that is near of kin to him or to any kindred of his flesh or to any of his flesh or to any flesh of his flesh as 〈◊〉 Hebrew word may be rendered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it signifieth both flesh and kindred This law commands that a just and due Distance be observed and preserved in respect of blood and alliance by persons that would contract Matrimony that neither of them do come near the kindred of thier flesh Nâ—w kindred as appears by the Catalogue of Particulars instanced Levit. 18. from the 7. verse to 19. is not onely Consanguinity whereby Persons are of a blood but Affinity also whereby they that are not of blood are allyed by Mariage each to other Houshold government cap. 5. Yet Affinity or Alliance growes as Mr. Perkins saith by Mixtion or Participation of blood in the coupling of man and wife together in lawful mariage 2. But a mans wives Sister is near of kin to him because 1. Brother and Sister whether by Consanguinitie or Affinity are next of kin in a Collateral Line therefore Mariages bettween them are unlawful and incestuous 2. She relates to him in the first degree of Affinity Doctor Halls cases Out of our Civilians and Canonists a Learned Author that writes of this subject gathers 2 Kinds
a wife so as if he had none but a wife neither a God to serve nor a soul to save as if a wife was summum benum the chief good But he that hath a wife as if he had none will say though I have maried a wife that shall be no impediment to me but I will come to Jesus Christ in his Ordinances and endeavour to bring my wife with me to Christ However I will come though she hang back and will not come with me 3. 3 That wee will go to heaven alone heaven-ward That if our Mariage do not help us God-ward and Christ-ward it shall not hinder us and that we will goe to Heaven alone if our yoak-fellowes will not goe along with us rather then to Hell with company When these and the like are our resolves and endeavours then we have Husbands or wives as if we had none 2. We that have wives may be as if we had none by not suffering our Mariage to be a means of sin unto us either Immediately or Mediately 1. Inmediately in our selves by breeding in our hearts 1 Either distrust by reason of the greatness of our charge and smalness of our means 2 Or discontent because of the mani old troubles we meet with therein When we indeavour to overcome distrust and suppress discontent and to â—rust God for our families to provide for them as well as for our single selves if we were alone and to be as patient in bearing our mariage Crosses as our own personal trials when we are content to take the better with the worse together therein and both as from the hand of God as Job answered his wife Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shal we not receive evil then we that have wives are as if we had none 2 Let not Mariage be a means of sin to us 2. When we suffer not our mariage to be a means of sin to us Mediately by our yoak-fellowes being Instruments of Tentations to us unto sin to draw us from God and good 1. To idolatry superstition or will 1 Of Idolatry 1 Kings 11.4 Deut. 13 6 8 9. worship as Solomons wives turned away his heart after other Gods Under the law an Enticer to Idolatry though she were the wise of their bosom was to be put to death 2. Apostacy Job 2.9 2 To Apostacy from God or blasphemy against God to fall from integrity or sted fastness and to think or speak ill of God Jobes wife tempted him thereunto doest thou still retain thy integrity curse God and die Such like are the designes some wives have upon their Hutbands to draw them from the Truths wayes and ordinances of God into errours heresies by-wayes c or licentiousness Or to discourage their hearts from pious duties and courses as Michal sought by her mocking to do unto David from dancing before the ark 3. 3 Injury To Injury to doe our neighbour wrong in taking by unjust wayes their house land or goods from them as Jezebel did Naboths vineyard from him for her Husband Ahab to chear him up when he was sick with grief and indignation upon Naboths denial of his vineyard to him Ahab desired it upon a valuable consideration but Jezebel his wife took the vineyard violently from Naboth 4 Any breach of Gods command by taking away his life 4. Or to a breach of any even the least of Gods commandments Eve tempted her husband Adam to eat forbidden fruit which was the transgressing of a law of Trial hereby she brought sin and death upon herself and her Husband and upon all their posterity Let this by the way be a caution to women to beware Satan do not abuse them in making them his instruments or Agents to entice or tempt their Husbands to any sin as pride malice revenge vanity covetousness or the like Now when we are alway watchful and careful lest Satan should surprize us by coming to tempt us unto sin in or by a conjugal Companion Math. 16.22.23 one so dear and near to us lying in our bosomes as he thinks we will suspect no evil from nor serpent in as Satan came to tempt Christ in Peter therefore we ponder well what counsel intreaties our proposals are made to us by our yoak-fellowes as well as by strangers which both Ahab and Solomon neglected to do Or when they do perswade or intice us to any evil whatsoever either of Omission or Commission against God or man we strive strenuously to resist all their suggestions tentations and solicitations and set our selves as a wall of brass to repel them all that they cannot prevail no nor enter or peirce us As Job not onely rejected his wifes perswasion but gave her a sharp reprehension for it Thou speakest as one of the foolish women as David resolutely replied his wife Michals discouraging scoff Then we that have wives are as if we had none and ye that have husbands are as if ye had none 3. 3 Honor christ for your Husband We that have wives or Husbands may be as if we had none by having Christ for the Husband of our souls and by having holy fellowship with him and by delighting our selves in him in the embraces and solaces of his love and in the cherishing comsorts of his presence When Christ is dear to ours souls above all our relations yea above all the world and we are willing to leave father and mother wife and children house and lands and all for Christ that is 1. To follow Christ in the Regeneration as his disciples to follow the Lamb whither-soever he goeth Revelat. 14.4 2. To be willing to suffer the losse of all for Christ as Paul did 3. Phil. 3.8 To learn them all to go to Christ as best of all for us then we have wives as if we had none This Christ requires of all that would be his Disciples or be accounted worthy of him Luc. 14.26 even to hate father and mother wife and children that is to love them lesse then him and to be willing to leave them all for him Hereto Christ makes a large promise of a hundred fold now in this time and in the world to come eternal life Mark 10.29.30 Galeatius Caracciolus that Noble Marquess of Italy or rather the most Excelent Theophilus did forsake parents and wife and children and all his friends and renounnced all his wealth and Dignitie because as he said he could not injoy both Christ and them He was a rare example of leaving all a very great all of Relations Possessions Honours and pleasures for Christ rather then to injoy all without Christ Notwithstanding the strongest workings and wrestlings of natural affections within him and the powerfullest and most heart breaking Solicitations of his friends by prayer Tears and Arguments to the Contrary and the deep and sore Agonies and Conflicts he had in himself about it yet through the Grace of Christ he overcame them all for
between families that were remote and dis-joyned That is a good note and to purpose which our Divines have in their Annotations on Levit. 18.14 What in this Law viz. against Incestuous Mariages is forbidden to the Jews is much more forbidden to Christians who having more latitude and liberty of choice then they had who were to marry not onely within their own Nation but within their own Tribe and sometimes as hath been said two Brothers must successively be Husbands to one wife are less capable of excuse if in carnal concupiscence they transgresse these prohibitions And in the general since the Gospel is the Law of love and charity not to one Nation onely but all the world over as far as consanguinity or affinity will work in affection without a new tye of Matrimony so far reacheth matrimonial prohibition and should there first begin where the Relations are so remote that they have little or no operations of love that so charity might be more diffusive and not so contracted to ones kindred as it was among the Jews The Sixth Argument May be drawn from humane Testimonies which challenge a place after Scripture and Reason that passe their condemnatory sontence upon this Mariage viz. of a man with his wives sister as 1. Laws made against it Zanchy Thes 5. circa incepta conjugia inter Affines in his book de Sponsalibus saith This is Moses his sense and therefore the Law of Nature that it is as filthy and dishonest a thing for one man to mary two sisters one after another as for one woman to marry 2. brothers one after another And this saith he is confirmed by those Laws of the Romanes which are by all judged to be taken from the honesty of Nature and bypious and Christian Emperors who do as well condemn the Incest that a man should mary his wives sister as that he should marry his brothers wife And though some of the Romanes did marry so as Lucius Tarquinius Superbus did his Brothers wife and Honorius the Emperour did two sisters Yet Dionâ—sius calls the former mariage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an impious mariage a thing abominable among the Graecians and Barbarians And the latter was condemned and the unhappy end of both the sisters as he relates declared that those Mariâ—ges vis of two sisters were not allowed of God That Table of forbidden degrees in the Church of England set forth by Authority names this expressly the wives sister And the laws of the Land prohibit this mariage See Sr. Edward Cooks second part of the Institutes of the Laws of England page 683. See the Statute of the twenty and fifth year of Henry the eighth chap. 22. and of his twenty and eighth year c. 9. and of his thirty and second year c. 38. 2. As for the ancient Fathers Patres omnes hasce nuptias damnarunt saith Zanchius All the fathers condemned these mariages 3. So do our moderne Divines generally make the Sister of a mans wife to be an affinity hindring mariage as Junius in his notes and table of degrees upon Levit. 18. and the Geneva Divines in their notes and table upon the same chapter Beza de Repudâ—is et Divortiis is full and express against it Vol. 2. p. 63. Polanus in his Syntagma l. 10. c. 53. Butanus de Conjugio Loc. 12. Willets Comment on Levit. 18. Quaest 17. Yea learned Zanchie affirmes that Nostri feculi doctissimus quisque ejusdem est sententiae lsc. cit all the most learned of his time were of the same opinion and that his position viz. For a man to marry his wives Sister is in cest is confirmed by the consent of all Graeciaus and Barbarians and Nations I will conclude with the grave advice some Divines have given about the mariage of Couzen Germanes which holds more strongely in the case proposed One saith Let single persons who have the world before them look further of and fasten their affections at a more unquestionable distance Another saith It is safe to forbear what is doubtful and to keep aloof from what is unlawful especially the choice of lawful marlages being large enough without the hazzard of so great a sinne as Incest It was wont to be Mr. Perkins his expression to this purpose Let those who must walk close to the brim of a steep precipice look well to their feet and tread sure but if a man be to chuse his way let him so cast it as that he may not approach near the brink of danger The Lord give us understanding in all things and guide our feet in his wayes FINIS