if you would shewe what masters they should be hereafter After the care of their soules they must care for their bodies for if the labourer is worthie of his hire which laboureth but a day what is the seruant worth which laboureth euerie day Therefore Paule is so earnest with Philemon to make much of Onesimus his seruant that he desireth Philemon to receiue him as he would himself Therefore because cruell greedie Masters should not vse them too hardly God remembred them in his creation and made euerie weeke one day of rest wherein they should be as free as their Masters so God pitieth the poore labourer from heauen and euerie Saboath lookes downe vpon him from heauen as if he should say one day thy labours shall haue an ende and thou shalt rest for euer as thou restest this day By this wee see as Dauid did limit Ioab that hee should not kill Absalom so God hath bound masters that they should not oppresse their seruants Shall God respect thine more than thou Art thou made fresher to thy labour by a little rest and is not thy seruant made stronger by rest to labour for thee How many beasts and sheepe did Laban lose onely for hardly intreating of a good seruant Therfore that is the way to lose but not to thriue He which counteth his seruant his slaue is in an error for there is difference betweene beleeuing seruants and Infidel seruants the Infidels were made slaues to the Iewes because GOD hated them and would humble them but their brethren did serue thē like helpers which should be trained by them It is not a base nor a vile thing to be called a seruant for our Lord is called a seruant which teacheth Christians to vse their seruants well for Christs sake seeing they are seruants too and haue one master Christ. As Dauid speaketh of man saying Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angells so I may say of seruants that God hath made them a little lower thā children not children but the next to children as one would say inferiour children or sonnes in lawe and therefore the householder is called Paterfamilias which signifieth a father of his familie because he shoulde haue a fatherly care ouer his seruants as if they were his children and not vse thē onely for their labour like beasts Beside the name of a seruant doth not signifie suffering but dooing therefore masters must not exercise their hands vppon them but set their hands to worke and yet as God laieth no more vppon his seruants than he makes them able to beare so men should lay no more vppon their seruants than they are able to beare For a good man saith Salomon is mercifull to his beast and therefore he will be more mercifull to his brother That man is not worthie to bee serued which cannot affoord that his seruants should serue God as well as himselfe Giue vnto God that which is Gods and then thou maiest take that which is thine He which careth not for his familie saith Paule is worse than an Infidel because Infidels care for their familie But as Agur praieth Giue me not too much nor too little but feede me with foode conuenient So their care should not be too much nor too little but conuenient or els they are worse than Infidells too because Couetousnes is called Idolatrie which is worse than Infidelitie for it is lesse rebellion not to honour the King than to set vp another King against him as the Idolaters doo against the King of heauen Next vnto seruants instruction and labours must bee considered their corrections As Paule saith Fathers prouoke not your children to wrath So I may say Masters prouoke not your seruants to wrath that is vse such reproofes such corrections that you do not prouoke them but mooue them that you doo not exasperate them but win them for reuiling words and vnreasonable fiercenes doth more hurt than good And therefore the law of God did charge the Master that hee should not inflict aboue fourtie stripes vppon his seruant least hee should seeme despised in his eyes For while a childe or scholler or seruant dooth thinke that hee is reprooued for loue or beaten with reason it makes him think of his fault and be ashamed but when he seeth that he is rebuked with curses and beaten with staues as though hee were hated like a dogge his heart is hardened against the man which correcteth him and the fault for which he is corrected after he becommeth desperate like a horse which turneth vppon the striker and therefore thinke that GOD euen then chides you whēsoeuer you chide in such rage For though there be a fault yet some things must bee winkt at some things forgiuen and some things punished with a looke for he which takes the forfeit of euery offence shall neuer rest but vexe himselfe more than his seruant Further I haue heard Experience say that in these punishments it is most meete and acceptable to the offender that the man should correct his men and the woman her maides for a mans nature skorneth to bee beaten of a woman and a maides nature is corrupted with the stripes of a man Therefore wee reade that Abraham would not meddle with his maide but committed her to his wife and saide Doo with her as it pleaseth thee As if he should say it belongeth not to me but to thee Lastly we put the duetie toward children because they come last to their hands In Latin children are called Pignora that is pledges as if I should say a pledge of the husbands loue to the wife and a pledge of the wiues loue toward the husband for there is nothing which doth so knit loue between the man and the wife as the fruite of the wombe Therefore when Leah began to conceaue she sayd now my husband will loue me as though the husband did loue for children If a woman haue many defects as Leah had yet this is the mends which she makes her husband to bring him childrē which is the right Wedding Ring that sealeth and maketh vp as it were the Marriage When their father and mother fall out they pert vp betweene them like little mediators and with many pretie sportes make truce when other dare not speake to thē Therefore now let vs consider what these little ones may challenge of their parents which stād thē in sted of Lawiers The first duetie is the mothers that is to nurse her childe at her owne breasts as Sara did Isaak therefore Esaiah ioyneth the nurces name and the mothers name both in one and calleth them nurcing mothers shewing that mothers should bee the nurces So whē God chose a nurce for Moses he led the handmaid of Pharaohs daughter to his mother as though GOD would haue none to nurse him but his mother After when the Sonne of God was borne his
solemnized it himselfe Then it is honourable for the time for it was the first ordinance which GOD instituted euen the first thing which he did after man and woman were created that in the state of innocencie before either had sinned like the finest flower which will not thriue but in a cleane ground Before man had any other calling he was called to be a Husband therefore it hath the honour of antiquitie aboue all other ordinances because it was ordained first and is the ancientest calling of men Then it is honourable for the place for whereas all other ordinances were instituted out of Paradise Marriage was instituted in Paradise in the happiest place to signifie howe happie they are which marrie in the Lord they doo not only marrie one another but Christ is maried vnto them so Mariage hath the honor of the place aboue all other ordināces to because it was ordained in Paradise As God the Father honored Mariage so did God the Sonne which is called the seede of the woman and therefore Mariage was so honored amongst women because of this seede that when Elizabeth brought foorth a sonne she said that God had taken away her rebuke counting it the honor of women to beare children and by consequence the honour of women to be maried for the children which are borne out of Mariage are the dishonor of women and called by the shamefull name of Bastards As Christ honoured Mariage with his birth so he honoured it with his miracles for the first miracle which Christe did hee wrought at a Mariage in Chanaan where he turned their water into wine so if Christ be at your Mariage that is if you marie in christ your water shall bee turned into wine that is your peace and your rest and your ioy and your happines shal begin with your Mariage but if you marrie not in Christ then your wine shall be turned into water that is you shall liue worse hereafter than you did before As he honoured it with miracles so he honored it with praises for hee compareth the kingdome of God to a Wedding and he compareth holines to a Wedding garment And in the 5. of Canticles he is wedded himselfe We reade in Scripture of three Mariages of Christ. The first was when Christ and our nature met together The second is when Christ and our soule ioyne together The third is the vnion of Christ and his Church These are Christs 3. wiues As Christ honoreth Mariage so doo Christs Disciples for Iohn calleth the Coniunction of Christ and the faithfull a Mariage And in Reuel 21. 9. the Church hath the name of a Bride whereas Heresie is called a Harlot Further for the honour of Mariage Paule sheweth how by it the curse of the woman was turned into a blessing for the womans curse was the paines which she should suffer in her trauaile Now by Mariage this curse is turned into a blessing for children are the first blessing in al the Scripture And therefore Christ saieth that so soone as the mother seeth a man child borne into the world she forgetteth all her sorrowes as though her curse were turned into a blessing And further Paule saith that by bearing of children if she continue in faith and patience she shall bee saued as though one curse were turned into two blessings For first she shall haue children and after she shall haue saluation What a mercifull God haue wee whose curses are blessings Who would haue thought that God had hid a blessing in his curse So hee loued our parents when hee punished them that hee could scarse punish them for loue and therefore a comfort was folded in his iudgement To honour Mariage more it is said that God tooke a rib out of Adams side and thereof built the woman He is not saide to make man a wife but to build him a wife signifying that man wife make as it were one house together that the building was not perfect vntil the womā was made aswell as the man therefore if the building bee not perfect now it must be destroyed againe Before God made the woman it is sayd that he cast the man into a sleepe and in his sleepe he tooke a rib out of his side and as he made the man of earth so he made the woman of bone while Adam was a sleepe This doth teach vs two thinges As the first Adam was a figure of the second Adam so the first Adams sleepe was a figure of the second Adams sleepe the first Adams spouse was a figure of the second Adams spouse That is as in the sleepe of Adam Eue was borne so in the sleepe of Christ the Church was borne as a bone came out of the first Adams side so bloud came out of the second Adams side As Adams spouse receiued life in his sleepe so Christs spouse receiued life in his sleepe that is the death of Christ is the life of the Church for the Apostle calleth Death a sleepe but Christ which dyed is called Life shewing that in his death we liue Secondly this sleep which the mā was cast into while his wife was created dooth teach vs that our affections our lusts our concupicenses should sleepe while wee goe about this action As the man slept while his wife was making so our flesh should sleepe while our wife is choosing least as the loue of Venison wan Isaak to blesse one for another so the loue of gentrie or riches or beautie make vs take one for another To honour Mariage more yet or rather to teach the maried how to honour one another it is saide that the wife was made of the husbands rib not of his head for Paule calleth the husbande the wiues head nor of the foote for he must not set her at his foote the seruant is appoynted to serue and the wife to helpe If she must not match with the head nor stoope at the foote where shall he set her then He must set her at his heart and therefore she which should lie in his bosome was made in his bosome and should bee as close to him as his ribb of which she was fashioned Lastly in all Nations the day of Mariage was reputed the ioyfullest day in all their life and is reputed still of all as though the Sunne of happines began that day to shine vpon vs when a good wife is brought vnto vs. Therfore one saith that Mariage doth signifie Merriage because a playfellow is come to make our age merrie Salomon considering al these excellencies as though wee were more indebted to God for this thā other temporall gifts saith House and riches are the inheritance of the fathers but a prudent wife commeth of the Lord. House and riches are giuen of God and all things els yet hee saith house and riches
father thought none fit to bee his nurse but the Virgin his mother The fountaines of the earth are made to giue water the breasts of women are made to giue suck Euery beast and euery foule is bred of the same that did beare it onely women loue to be mothers but not nurces Therefore if their children prooue vnnaturall they may say thou followest thy mother for she was vnnaturall first in locking vp her breasts from thee and committing thee foorth like a Cuckowe to bee hatched in the Sparowes nest Hereof it comes that wee say he suckt euill from the dugge that is as the Nurse is affected in her bodie or in her minde commonly the childe draweth the like infirmitie from her as the egges of a Henne are altered vnder a Hawke yet they which haue no milke can giue no milke but whose breasts haue this perpetuall drought Forsooth it is like the Gowte no beggers may haue it but Citizens or Gentlewomen In the 9. of Hosee drie breasts are named for a curse what lamentable hap haue Gentlewomen to light vpon this curse more than other Sure if their breasts bee drie as they say they should fast pray together that this curse might bee remooued from them The next duetie is Catechize child in his youth and he will remember it when he is olde This is the right blessing which fathers and mothers giue to their children when they cause GOD to blesse them too The wrong mother cared not though the child were diuided but the right mother wold not haue it diuided so wicked parents care not though their children be destroyed but godly parents would not haue them destroyed but saued that when they haue dwelt together in earth they may dwell together in heauen As the Midwife frameth the bodie when it is yong and tender so the parēts must frame the mind while it is greene and flexible for youth is the seede time of vertue They which are called fathers are called by the name of God to warne thē that they are in stead of GOD to their children which teacheth all his sonnes What example haue children but their parents And sure the prouidence of God doth ease their charge more than they are aware for a childe will learne better of his father than of any other And therfore we reade of no Schoolemasters in the Scripture but the parents for when Christ saith to the Iewes If ye be the sonnes of Abraham ye will doo the workes of your father Abraham He sheweth that sonnes vse to walke in their fathers steps whether they be good or bad It is a merueilous delight to father mother when people say that their children are like them but if they be like them in goodnes it is as great a delight to other as to the parents or els wee say that they are so like that they are worse for it Well doth Dauid call children arrowes for if they bee well bred they shoote at their parents enemies if they be euill bred they shoote at their parents Therfore many fathers want a staffe to stay them in their age because they prepared none before like olde Eli which was corrected himselfe for not correcting his sonnes Are not children called the fruit of their parēts Therfore as a good tree is knowne by bringing foorth good fruite so parents should shewe their goodnes in the good education of their children which are their fruite For this cause the Iewes were wont to name their children so when they were borne that euer after if they did but thinke vppon their names they would put them in minde of that religion which they should professe for they did signifie somthing that they should learne An admonition to such as call their children at al aduentures sometimes by the names of doggs euen as they prooue after In the 1. King 2. 2. wee haue Dauid instructing his sonnes In Gen. 39. Iaacob correcting his sonnes and in Iob. 1. Iob praying for his sonnes These three put together Instructing Correcting and Praying make good children and happie parents Once Christ tooke a child and set him in the middest of his Disciples and sayd He which will receiue the kingdome of heauen must receiue it as a little child Shewing that our children should bee so innocent so humble and voide of euill that they may bee taken for examples of the children of God Therefore in Psal. 127. 4. children are called the heritage of the Lord to shewe that they should bee trained as though they were not mens children but Gods that they may haue Gods heritage after Thus if you doo your seruants shall bee Gods seruants and your children shall bee Gods children and your house shall be Gods house like a little Church when others are like a den of theeues Now I speake to one which is a mother so soone as she is maried therefore peraduenture you looke that I should shewe the duetie of stepmothers Their name dooth shewe them their duetie too for a stepmother dooth signifie a stedmother that is one mother dyeth another commeth in her stead therfore that your loue may settle to those little ones as it ought you must remember that you are their stedmother that is in sted of their mother therfore to loue them and tender them and cherish them as their mother did Further these children are Orphanes and therefore you must not onely regarde them as children but as Orphane children Now God requireth a greater care ouer Widdowes and Orphanes than ouer any other women or children Lastly you must remember that saying As you measure vnto other so it shall be measured to you againe That is as you intreate these children so an other may come after and intreate your children for he which hath taken away the first mother and sent you can take away the second mother and send a third which shall not bee like a stedmother to yours vnlesse you be like a stedmother to these If these dueties bee performed in Marriage then I need not speak of Diuorcement which is the rod of Marriage and diuideth them which were one flesh as if the bodie and soule were parted a sunder But because all performe not their Wedlocke vowes therfore hee which appoynted Marriage hath appoynted Diuorcement as it were taking our priuiledge frō vs when we abuse it As God hath ordained remedies for euery disease so he hath ordained a remedie for the disease of Marriage The disease of Marriage is Adulterie and the medicine hereof is Diuorcement Moses licenced thē to depart for hardnes of heart but Christ licenseth them to depart for no cause but Adulterie If they might bee separated for discorde some would make a commoditie of strife but now they are not best to bee contentious for this lawe will hold their noses together till wearines make them leaue strugling like two spaniels which are coupled in a