the Creetes and Ephesians Diana the Romaines Mars the Italians Ianus the Arabians Diasares The Germaines Tibilenus the men of Affrique Caelestus and the Moores haue worshipped the gouernours of their Countrie Thus they turned the glorie of the incorruptible God into the similitude of corruptible creatures as birds beasts fishes and Serpentes and wandered without God while they framed to themselues a multitude of goddes and the best they coulde inuent were sinfull and abhominable wretches such as exceeded all others in notorious crimes as I could easily shew if it were to my purpose and moreouer they haue forsaken not onelye the true God but haue blotted the names of their most famous men leauing the worthiest in hell and lifting the worst into heauen For might not they as well made Socrates a God for his wisedome whom Apollo himself honoured with this Oracle Pantoon Androon Socrates sophotatos of all men Socrates was the wisest Aristides excelled them all in iustice Themistocles for warre Alexander in honour Polycrates in felicitie and Demosthenes in eloquence Who was more graue then Cato more valiant then Scipio more affable then Camillus more excellent then Iul. Caesar more happy then Sylla more wealthie then Crassus or more religious then Numa Pompilius truely none among all their Deuils I would say goddes with whom all the nations of the earth haue committed fornication In latter times the Romaines had onely power to consecrate goddes as now the Pope his Cardinals doe challenge the same to Canonize Saints But would not the hearts of the godly breake in sunder to consider that euerie Cittie inuented a new God yea euerie familie had their housholde goddes committed Idolatrie with birdes of the ayre and beastes of the earth men and women Moone and Starres Sunne and Angels euen to the Asses head as commonly as the Serpent liueth on the dust or as greedily as the Lyon raueneth when hee findeth a pray The studie of Astronomie verifieth this for they haue imagined signes from the Eagle to the little birde from the Lyon to the little dogge from the Whale to the litle fish and from reasonable creatures to vnreasonable monsters because they would haue some colour for their impietie they translated their Idols to be signes in heauen But now when the light of the word of life once shined in the world they perceiued their owne follies renounced their olde errours and receiued the wholesome doctrine of the onely true and eternall God for as the Lyons runne at the sight of a fire brand as the Cockatrise flyeth when shee sauoureth the Weasill and the clouds flie away when the Northeren winde bloweth so these subtilties of Sathan being once discouered thorough the simplicitie of the Scriptures they fall againe into the brest of the first Author and I would to God they were for euer buried in his bottomles kingdome Also that which we finde in the word of God concerning the creation the floud the replenishing of the earth the beginning or confusion of tongues the destruction of Sodom and Gomorhe the deliuerie of the Isralites from Egypt the myracles of Moses and Aaron the ouerthrow of the Cananites whome they call Phoenicians the building of Salomons Temple the scattering of the Tribes of Israell the birth of Christ the darkenesse at his death and the preaching of the Apostles they haue corrupted with fond additions wilfull deuises intollerable blasphemies ignorant relations wicked substractions and accursed deprauations which if I should follow I might make a large volume onely thus much I will be bolde to say that all the wisedom of the Gentiles was nothing but the doctrine of Deuils that all the world before the comming of Christ was without the true knowledge of God the Iewes onely excepted The learned haue noted these fower as the generall heads of auncient impietie the first is Barbarisme wherin men liued vnder no guide preserued no peace followed no commendable kinde of life but euerie one did that which pleased him to the disgrace of mankind refusing onely that which was good and altogether embracing that which was accursed Then one satisfied another with bloudy reuenge making no more accompt of the life of a man thē the bloud of a beast then they mingled themselues like brutish creatures in generation brother with sister father with daughter and mother with her sonne then their strength was their lawe their desire was their counsellour their affections pleaded their will gaue iudgement their mallice was the meanes to execute their crueltie The second head or fountaine of falsehoode among the Gentiles is called Schythisme because it was first practised among the Scythians a barbarous and cruell people differing in nothing from the former saue onely because they had one gouernour or ruler to whom they were subiect being at his commandement to execute right or wrong to saue or kil keeping peace with none but manie times setting the children to drinke the bloud of their owne parents and the parents to eate the flesh of their owne children The third kind of falsehoode which raigned among the Gentiles for want of the word of God is called Hellenisme which consisteth in the worship of Idols this began among the Grecians who are called in their owne tongue Hellenes and therefore was the superstition called Hellenisme this detestable canker so preuailed that not onely the Grecians Babilonians Egyptians Sirians Phaenicians Phrygians and manie other nations were infected therewith but the Israelites the people of God were poysoned therewith which in the ende was their vtter subuersion and this hath raigned a long time in the Church of Rome and in all those kingdomes where she could plant her chaire which all the godly doe perceiue will be her euerlasting destruction But this Hellenisme preuailed mightilie for the space of two thousand yeares vnder which time sprang vp all the sects of the Philosophers as the Pythagoreans which taught that men might not sacrifice to the gods that the soules of men departed do go into other men and also into bruite beasts that whatsoeuer was aboue the Moone was immortal◠with such like fantasies and in the ende this Phythagoras would be called a God Next vnto him arose the Platonistes who affirmed that the world was created of the Angels and little goddes that of one God there came many other goddes that all women ought to bee common and that no man ought to haue a wife peculiar to himselfe in a wel ordered common-wealth After these succeeded the Stoickes who affirmed this world to be God that all flesh shall perish and that the soules departed from one into another Then also began the Epicures to growe like Serpents borne onely to destroy other they would haue all things to ende in pleasure that there is no God or prouidence that none are blessed but in this present life And thus your Ho. may perceiue how miserable were those dayes when men ranne headlong into so great extreamities that their profession of wisedome was the
is the comfort of it to them that are equally minded And as our labour in innocencie was nothing but pleasure which now is nothing but sorrow So mariage was then more sweeter though now for sinne it is become more bitter but the hardest labour hath some profite and the poorest mariage hath much comfort But most accursed are they which for to auoide the troubles they haue conceiued of mariage do giue their bodies to most filthy whoredomes and wretched adulteries Of whome Saint Paul saith That God shall iudge them that is vtterly condemne them for they shall neuer bee made the members of Christ which haue incorporated them to bee the members of harlots and heyres of eternall and euerlasting damnation And is not Boaz. As in the former verse wee haue hearde the diligent carefulnesse of Naomi for Ruth to prepare her some rest that is a mariage So nowe wee are to intreate or speake of the meanes whereby this might bee accomplished which Naomi expresseth in this verse to this effect By my dayly studie I haue founde out a meanes whereby thou mayest come to more continuall rest Boaz with whose maydens thou hast gleaned and did so curteously entreat thee hee is our kinsman and defendour by the lawe and euen now he is alone in the floore winnowing his barley to whom if thou wilt go follow my counsell he will shew thee the way that tendeth to thy wealth Out of the which we gather an example of ancient nobilitie how they followed not their dayly pleasure but continuall labour how they honoured the wealth that God hath giuen them with the diligent labour of their of their owne persons that euen this poorest worke of winnowing and threshing as wee reade of Gedeon was not onely committed to their seruantes but performed by themselues Whereby we are taught that it is no such vnseemely thing as many would make it for men of wealth to followe their basest labours This Boaz had a prince to his grandfather and he was the heyre vnto all his possessions yet here we finde him alone winnowing his owne corne We reade of Iudah the son of Iacob a progenitour of this Bohaz that hee went in his owne person to the shearing of his sheepe and so did the sonnes of king Dauid when Ammon was slayne by the seruantes of Absolon because hee defiled his sister Thamar Examples of this are more plentiful thē the time wil suffer me to rehearse which are all left to vs for patterns of thankefulnes in their diligent labours and witnesses of our vnworthinesse in all our possessions Adam could not dwel in paradise except in his owne person hee tilled it but many with vs I thinke would deride him and all their fathers if they sawe them in any thing but the gentlemans trade for being hindered neyther by the magistracy nor by the ministerie they had rather follow hawking or hunting gaming and playing then at any time to foyle their hands with their own labours but wasting their wealth in vnprofitable pleasure while they might increase their substance by godly trauaile Cast away therefore this worshipfull idlenes for men thinke nothing maketh them gentlemen but abstinence from bodily labour whereas that one thing is the greatest blot to our latest nobilitie that they haue cast of the care of their labors to others applying their time to greater libertie opening by idlenesse the passage to all manner of iniquitie Remember the fattest Oxe commeth first to the slaughter when the labouring beaste is merrie in the yoke euen so the idlest bodies are soonest seysed by sicknesse and consumed by death whereas labouring persons haue many daies in somuch as it seemeth a matter of murder by idlenesse to hasten the death of of our bodies Therefore some loathing labour take themselues to licentious riot and sweat out their sicknes in vnlawfull pastimes but bodily exercise profiteth little and will rather in the ende procure the paynes they most of all abhorre like the hayre of Absolon wherein hee most delighted with which was wrought his death But the conclusion of all this is that those which are the cheefest in spending shoulde bee the cheefest in working and the princes of the possessions must bee the principall in the labours Wash thee therefore These wordes contayne the preparation which she counselleth Ruth before shee descend to Bohaz in the floore that she washe her and annoynt her Two vsuall thinges in those countries and the meaning of Naomi is that Ruth prepare her selfe in most comely manner to go down vnto him whom she desired to be her husband For these actions of washing and annointing were are very common in those places washing to scoure of the filth of the bodies and annointing to make them looke cheerefully So wee reade of Dauid after hee had long fasted for his adulterous childe hearing it was dead he washed and annoynted himselfe and as Bathshebah was washing her selfe it happened that hee sawe her whereby his hearte was taken with her loue and drawen from God at one time In somuch as wee see it an vsuall and accustomed thing in those daies the washing of men and women and for annointing our Sauiour speaketh that when wee faste wee annoyte our selues that wee seeme not vnto men to faste Heere then wee see Naomi commaundeth Ruth no vnseemely addressing of her selfe but such as was vsuall and common amonge her owne people and lawfull also for her to put in practise Whereby wee first of all obserue that comely ornamentes and modest addressing of our selues eyther of men or women is a thing required of them that feare God for the outwarde cleansing and washing away of the filth of our bodies being the sauour of sinne raigning in vs insomuch as it is a brutish thing to goe in their bodies as many will without all respect of person or humanitie handes spotted face besmeared countenance disfigured And their naturall complexion defaced in them through their dayly vnciuill and vnnaturall behauiour and negligence who by their cruell labouring to get the worlde loose the comfort of their owne bodies while in swinish attire they wallow in the company of God and men Secondly by this wee gather that the Lorde hath giuen the fruites of the earth as wel for our ornament as for our nourishmente because it is as necessarie in some respects for the comelinesse of the bodie that it bee raysed vp to handsomnesse being nourished as that it shoulde bee nourished being weake Therefore saith Dauid With wine hee refresheth the hearte of man and hee hath giuen oyle to make him haue a cheerefull countenance and in the verse before hee saith He maketh the grasse to grow for the beast the greene hearbe for the vse of man not simply for the meate but for the seruice or vse of man And notable is the historie of a woman that came to annoint our sauiour before his death that powred on him a rich and coastly boxe
in not redeeming the inheritance before this day that his couetousnes was so great that he had forgot the very lawe of God and finally he might haue called vpon the Magistrates for some punishment to be inflicted on him for his disobedience to the lawe of God and neglect of his duetie towarde Naomi But he doeth none of these but soberly in the presence of the elders hee turneth his gentle speech to the partye and hauing propounded the matter requireth a present answere Whereby wee are admonished that with the like charitie wee handle our neighbours if wee haue them at any aduantage for this is that meekenes that causeth to inherit the earth for thereby we follow Christ with whome we shall find rest for our soules for loue dealeth not churlishly it seeketh not his owne it is not bitter it thinketh no euill Therefore as Paule intreated the Ephesians so must I intreate you that we so walke as is worthy our vocation vnto the which we are called in all modestie meekenes and gentlenes of minde bearing with one another through charitie Oh how vngodly are these clamorous accusations among vs for which many lye in wayte that they might haue any cause to draw their bretheren as it were starke naked into the presence of the magistrates that is with most impudent and shamelesse vntruthes to charge and examine them vpon their owne suspitions neuer thinking on the iniuries they offer vnto them or looking for the same measure againe at the hands of other Some there arâ— also which for euery trifling farthing will call their neighbors before the Magistrate delighting in their owne iniuries the troubles of their friends the disquietnes of the Magistrates and the abuse of the lawe whose impatient constitution calleth for vengeance at the hands of the Lord and the curse of the land is gone out against them nothing is wanting but that the braunches of their vnquiet spirits should be pruned by the sword of iustice by them to whome they make their complaints Secondly by this example of Boaz we gather that the onely cause of bringing suites before the elders and magistrates was the peace and quietnes of the people not for the kindling but the quenching of contention before it arose that the dayly brawling rayling chiding and quarrelling might be preuented by the wisedome of the Magistrates for as the Philistines tooke away all the armour from the Israelites to keepe them from rebellion so Magistrates hearing of causes with seueritie and iustice should take away the instruments of oppressions and the weapons of contentious persons from the common wealth Thirdly by this also we gather the diuersitie of proceeding in iudiciall causes in these dayes and the times past Then men in their owne persons did pleade in iudgement their owne causes but now others make gaine of it then suites were not so tedious as now they are then men sought not out such sliding shifts to couer their falsehood but they did as Boaz and his kinseman doeth the one simply propounded his griefe and the other gently answered his question for so should euery one vtter the truth indifferently both to their benefit and damage then the world was not troubled with writs fees or counsellors but euery man brought his cause and his witnes so the iniury was quickly confessed easily tried and speedily remedied finally we retaine almost nothing of the auncient manners in this point but only the bare and outward names By the which we are admonished of humane misery for as the world groweth the troubles thereof are increased in the first age they had no warres in the second age they had no certaine dwellings in the third age they had no chargeable suits in the fourth age they had no quietnes and euer since warres haue multiplied bloud one countrey caried to another mens lawfull inheritances are taken by violence the Church is spoyled of her libertie the world of her peace our bodies of their health our goods of their continuance our names of their credit our corne of increase our lands of their fruits and all our liues of their naturall benefites Our Sauiour shewed vs that before the end the loue of many should waxe cold but surely it is not onely cold but frozen in our lamentable age the Apostle hath shewed vs that men should be louers of themselues and louers of pleasures more then God when shall these dayes be if they be not now may we not see that euery man raketh for his profite as the Eagle raueneth for her pray if they may get house or land leases or farmes goodes or carrels money or meate apparell or ease they care not though all other lye harborles in the fields naked in the streetes and pining in their weary and dayly labours Doeth not now the Gentleman make more accompt of his worship then the worship of God the Merchant of his profit then of Iesus Christ the husbandman of his fruits then of the feare of the Lord the labourer of his wages then the wealth of his soule the begger of his almes then of vnfained deuotion euery craftesman of his trade more then of true religion when shall the day of vengeance come for the Church of God trauaileth with child of these miseries and euery day is a thousand till she be deliuered surely the day cannot be long before the small remedy appeare But Boaz. said After he had entred with the land and the other had graunted to redeeme it he proceedeth also to the second part of his speech telling him if he redeeme it he must redeeme it at the hand of Ruth the Moabitesse the wife of the dead with whome he must marry to rayse vp the name of the dead vpon his inheritance This law for a man to marry with the widdow of his deceased brother as it is commaunded by the Lord so it had a speciall regard to many things first for the continuance of the first borne in euery family who were the Lords by the law signifying thereby that Christ the first borne of the almightie should remayne with all his Church like the first borne of this world and be the heyres of grace for euer and euer And as he would not suffer any family to want a first borne because it was the Lords so not one of the faithfull can be lost because they are the Lords Secondly because it was an image of the resurrection for as a man being dead without issue his brother taketh his wife begetteth a sonne which shall be called the sonne of the deceased and he which is dead shall liue in him in as much as his name is reuiued euen so the body layd dead in the graue shall be reuiued at the last day by the powerfull working of the almighty for as the first is wonderfull so the second is admirable Thirdly by this lawe of subrogation is signified the great care which the Lord had for the temporall augmenting of euery family among the Israelites
nothing for his paynes euen so all they whatsoeuer they be which haue married of their owne brayne without respect to the law of God can neuer haue or craue any blessing of the Lord vpon themselues or their posterity Oh fearefull consideration worthy to be considered of all them which vnaduisedly go about to marry for a wild tree bringeth foorth sowre fruite and wicked parents which haue no regard of holinesse in their mariages do seldome bring any wholesome fruite to the Lord. But some will say how shall we knowe how or in what sort to behaue our selues that before wee marry wee might ayme at nothing beside the commaundement of God Hearken a little and I will briefely instruct you out of the word of God First of all the care of those that will be maried must be for the onely blessing of God which is the very finall cause of this institution Therefore after the floud the Lord in the restoring all things amongst other confirming marriage Moses sayth And he blessed Noah and his sonnes and sayde Increase and multiplye so that they which looke for any increase or fruite of their marriage must first of all be assured that the Lord hath blessed them But how shall we obtayne this blessing of God I aunswere by diligent reading of his word and by prayer Dauid asking this question wherewithall a young man shall cleanse his way and then he aunswereth himselfe and sayth euen by taking heed vnto thy word And Paule sayth that the vnmaryed care for the things that please the Lord as if he had sayd they must remayne vnmaryed for no other cause but that they might the more freely giue themselues to the seruice of God If a man want faith he may obtayne it by prayer and if he want the blessing of God vpon his mariage which is a lesse thing then faith may hee not obtayne it by prayer Izaac hauing beene maryed twentye yeares yet was without children and then hee prayed for issue and the Lord gaue him two at one time and may not prayer obtayne this for the vnmaried as well as for the maryed yes verily if eyther woulde take the paynes to vse it But oh who are they that euer in their liues once offred of theyr prayers to God to blesse them with wiues or husbands that is that they might be so marryed as the name of God might be glorifyed by them Nay what young man or woman among a thousand in these dayes that is delighted with eyther prayer or preaching but rather affect nothing but libertie pleasure and pastime they neuer thinke of any neede they stand of these thinges but rather imagine that theyr youthfull dayes and yeares must bee consumed in riotous sports and wanton wandrings so that most men and maydens come by their wiues and husbands at feastings and dauncing by dallying and playing chosen by outward apparell not inward and secret vertues which are wonne with vanitie kept with pride and forsakē to the destruction of wiues and husbands therefore first seeke the kingdome of God and the righteousnes thereof and all other things shall be cast vpon you Secondly the intention of them that marry for the commaundement of God is that thereby they might liue more soberly in their seuerall vocations for as the wanton oxe is brideled in the yoke so vnruled youth is gouerned by mariage for if we regard the minde of them that marry it is stayed vpon one if the company of the body it is bound to one if life it can not be solitary if wealth it must not be possessed alone Therefore Peter said husbands dwell with your wiues like men of knowledge as if he had sayd in your vnmaried time you were wanderers but now you are maried you are dwellers in your vnmaried age you were inconstant but now you are maried you are as vnmoueable as a house when you were single you were ignorant but now you be married be men of knowledge and finally when you were young you were troubled with the desire of many but now you are maried you are comforted with the loue of one and as a man without a dwelling place so is the vnmaried without a companion Such is the commoditie of mariage if it be duely considered and each party rightly instructed that it is as sleepe to a weary man as wine to the thirstie as a house to the harbourlesse and as a garment against winter and therefore is it compared to the felowship of Christ with his Church How then commeth it to passe that men liue more riotously being maried then when they are vnmaried for they amend nothing but thinke all things as lawfull for them then as it was before their houses without their presence their wiues without their company their families without their gouernment so that you shall see married persons wandring abroad as if they were vnmaried disporting themselues as shamefully and as loosely as any in the world not liuing in sobriety and modesty like the turtle doue but in gaming and daunsing like the wanton goate these partyes neuer marryed for the commaundement of God but some rash desire possessed theyr mindes and a little youthfull lust tickled theyr fancies much like the sauour of iuniper which continueth but a little while Other are so farre from this point to marry that they might liue more soberly that they make their mariages the couer of their dishonesty making the world beleeue they liue in perfect chastity because they are maried but priuily they giue themselues to most filthy adulteryes but the Apostle sayth mariage is honourable but adulterers God will iudge that is will vtterly condemne and if their behauiours were well examined you should finde this the cause that their houses cannot hold them the filthinesse of these partyes is condemned by the very bruite beasts and shall be punished by the seueare iudgement of God for they which make the members of Christ the members of harlots shall be with harlots the members of the deuill therefore marry for modesty not for filthinesse that your vngouerned age may be brideled with the consideration of your present estate your wearyed dayes may be quieted in the bed of godly holy and honourable mariage Thirdly they which marry for obedience vnto God must onely minde godly and not wealthy matches they must looke on the heart not on the face they must waigh the disposition and not the riches they must not say as the deuill said to Christ all this will I giue but they must say as Iacobs sonnes sayd to Shechem and Hemor if you will be circumcised you shall haue our sister that is if you feare God and receiue his true knowledge if you loue his word and honour his sacraments if you can benefit the soules as well as the bodies But a man may weary himselfe many dayes before he finde any of this inclination for parents will denye their consents if they see
in the Hebrewe is gather wealth in Ephrathah For it is more generall in the english then in the originall for to gather wealth by honest meanes is to doe worthely because it is the blessing of God Therefore wee wil take the surest and the safest interpretation by y e which this collection is confirmed and their meaning is that Boaz which in his mariage respected not riches should by his godly choise enioy a vertuous wife to bring vp faithfull children increase his substance by the blessing of God that he might aduance the honour of their countrey and Cittie Neyther is this vnknowne that after children the growing in wealth is the next blessing of the Lorde as Abrahams seruant telleth Laban the Lorde hath blessed my maister exceedingly and made him very great for he hath giuen him flockes and heardes siluer and gold seruants and maidens cammels and Asses all this did the Lord blesse Abraham with after his marriage with Sara Againe the holy Ghost describing Iob after his children which were seuen sons three daughters he reckoneth his wealth faith His possession was seuen thousand cattel three thousand camels fiue hundred yoke of oxē and fiue hundred she asses with a great houshold For wealth in marriage is the best seruant that can be entertained I might speake of many moe but few perswasions will suffice in this point because wealth was wont to be the maide and godlines the mistresse but nowe riches is become the mistresse and religion the maide For wealth men rise early and go late to bed labour diligently and fare hardely trauaile earnestly sweat painefully and I can finde no fault but with too much following this wealthy trade For first of all I must complaine with Salomon that there is but one and not a seconde who hath neyther brother nor sonne yet there is no end of his labour neyther is his eye satisfied with riches for this olde canker infecteth euery age whereby it is a pleasure to certaine couetous wretches to toyle theyr bodies with vntimely labours to clogge their mindes with golden cares and to weary their sences in numbring their wealth what is y e end hereof surely this the gatherer is like an asse which carryeth the treasure but cannot vse it being laide on his backe it must be taken of agayne the heyres like the drones spend all but gather none for as they sweat not for it as it was in getting so they spare not as long as it lasteth lauishing out that in riotous company which was gathered in couetous encroching Others that they may thriue count all thinges lawfull for they saye God hath giuen the earth to the children of men therefore they spende the sabbaothes in buying and selling in bargayning and labouring they get by right wrong forgery and deceite play and worke neyther lands not cattels come amisse to them so they may haue them But we must alway remember that wee neyther go to the right hand nor to the left that is if thou haue many children thou must vse no vnlawfull meanes to keep them if thou haue none thou must not hoarde vppe thy wealth as if thou haddest some but remember the day of aduersitie and deale somewhat for thy present neede and not altogether for thy owne commodity But you will say shewe vs some briefe rules by which wee may practise the truth by your fauourable audience I will giue you these three rules the first is in getting the second in keeping and the thirde in departing from it Concerning the first which is getting of wealth first our onely care must bee for the blessing of God to encrease vs We haue an excellent example in Iacob hauing nothing in the worlde beside his wiues and children yet woulde receyue no wages of Laban but promisde his seruice for the spotted lambes choosing rather to depend vpon the blessing of God then the pollicy of his owne wit to testify his vprightnes in the presence of Laban to teach vs all that thriuing commeth more by y e fauour of y e Lord then the wisedome of the world For Laban thought he had made a good bargain for himself w c indeed proued to his great hinderance euen so when men think they haue compassed the world to increase theyr profit sodainly the Lorde sendeth a crosse to disapoint their purpose y t they might know y t to be true w c Moses saith that it is the Lorde w c giueth power to get wealth against this those offende w c encrease their wealth liue vpon vsury for they depend not vpon the blessing of God but bind their debtors in bands win or loose they wil haue both principal increase Againe others are so greedily bent vpon their profits that their only desire is to wax rich of whō Paul speaketh They which wil wax rich fal into many temptations snares many foolish damnable lustes w c drown men in euerlasting destruction for y e loue of money is the root of all euil which while some desired they erred from the faith pearced themselues w t many sorrowes This striketh to the earth false measures naughty wares breaking of promises detaining of heirs raysing of rentes oppressing the poore deceytful bargaynes vnlawful trades for none of these depende vpon the Lord but giue their soules to the Deuil for encreasing their wealth Secondly you must know how to vse your wealth according to the word of God w c is thus according to the coūsel of th'Apostle if thou haue little be contented for godlines is great gaine if a man be contented with that he hath for we brought nothing into the worlde neyther shall wee carry any thing out of the worlde this is the reason of contentation but some will say howe much shal wee haue before we be contented the Apostle answereth in the nexte verse if we haue meat clothing we are there w t all contented Againe if they be rich the same Apostle sheweth how they shall beare their wealth in these words Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded neither trust in their vncertaine riches but in the liuing God which giueth vs all things to enioy aboundantly That they distribute to other that they be rich in good workes that they be willing to giue and easy to be intreated Laying vp for themselues a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternall life Out of the which words we must obserue these things First that riches must not make men proude for they are the gift of God but our rich men scorne and disdaine their poore bretheren of Christ commaunding and oppressing them both by word and deede in most odious and shamefull manner Secondly they must not put any confidence in their wealth but repose their trust in the liuing God who gaue it to them and to whome they