A GODLY SERmon: Preached at Detford in Kent, on Monday the ix. of june, in Anno. 1572.  
AT LONDON, ❧ Printed for Thomas man.. An. 1586.   

A Godly Sermon, Preached at Detford in Kent.  
The Text.  1. Cor. 7. ver. 1. 
NOw coneerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me. It were good for a man not to touch a woman.  ver. 2. 
2 Nevertheless to avoid fornication let every man have his wife, and let every woman have her own Husband.  
IN the name of the Father, the Son, and the holy Ghost, three persons & one God, let us pray. O gracious God, and most merciful Father, by whose goodness it cometh to pass, that we have been safely preserved from our young & tender years unto this present hour: & are now called together to serve thee, by same of Psalms, with preaching and prayer: we most humbly beseech thee for thy son Christ's sake, that thou wilt not suffer our minds to be negligently wandering about other matters, to make thee more and more displeased against us: but so to order & govern the same, by the inspiration of thy holy spirit, that we may by these virtuous exercises, learn more & more to mortify & kill the lusts of the flesh, to sorrow and lament our sinful wretchedness & misery, and to repent and amend our lives in such sort, as all may redound to the kingdom of Christ, and to the confusion of Antichrist, to the setting up of his glory, and to the pulling down, & clean overthrowing of all superstition, false doctrine, heresy and popery: thorough the same thy son jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.  
IT is written in the seven. Chapter of the first Epistle of S. Paul to the Corinthians, in the beginning of the Chapter in these words: Now concerning the things whereof you wrote unto me, etc. For the better understanding of the Apostles mind, we have to consider, that (after the Apostle had preached thegospell to the Corinthians, and planted a Church amongst them, & was gone abroad to publish the glad tidings of salvation to others also, for he was not then (as Preachers at this present should be) tied to one flock: but by the virtue of his commission he must go thorough all the world) false Apostles entered into the Church, who being puffed up with vain glory, and affectate eloquence, sought to bring into contempt, the simplicity which Paul used in preaching the Gospel.  
Here in the very entrance we have two things to learn. First, that as God is willing, and would have all men saved, and come to the knowledge of his truth, and therefore useth means to accomplish it, namely the preaching of his gospel, which is that power of god to salvation to all that believe. So our common adversary the Devil, goeth about like a roaring lion, not only seeking in himself to devour us, but also using his instruments to deceive us, 
1. Tim. 4.1. 2. Tim. 3.1. 1. Peter. 3.3. jud. 18. Mat. 23.24  & to draw us backward into all error and superstition. Secondly we may here see, what a gap is opened to all inconveniences, when that Minister or Preacher is from among his flock. Paul no sooner gone from Corinthus but by and by false Apostles labour to destroy the which he had planted. 
●. Cor. 1.10.  He was no sooner departed from the churches of Galatia, but there craftily crept in false brethren, that corrupted the pure doctrine of Christ, and taught that the ceremonies of the law must be necessarily observed. 
Exod. 32.2.  Moses no sooner gone up into the mountain from the people of Israel, to receive the law at the Lords hands, but the people fall by and by to idolatry and ungodliness. And Paul seemeth to warn the elders of Ephesus concerning this matter also, 
Act. 20.28.  when he saith: Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock, whereof the holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock, O that our Non residents would but consider this: O that they which give them liberty to sin, would weigh this, than men's consciences should not be so clogged with iniquity & ungodliness as they are. Then gods people should be better instructed fed & looked unto, in respect of their spiritual pasture, than either now they are, or hitherto have been. God in mercy if it be his will and pleasure bring it to pass. But to return, these false Apostles that had thrust in themselves, among the Corinthians after Paul's departure, did not only as before I said, bring into disliking, Paul's plain and simple kind of teaching, but also endeavoured to entangle with vain and foolish questions, the minds and consciences of the Corinthians, and albeit the Corinthians did hearken much unto them: yet it appeareth that they did not utterly shake off that authority and credit which they had of Paul, & therefore they demanded Paul's judgement concerning such matters, as the false Apostles and Preachers went about to persuade them in: & here by the way one thing is taught to you common people, that you receive not as truth every thing that every one speaketh, for all is not gold that glistereth, but try the spirits whether they be of God, yea or no, & again: prove all things, but retain only such things as be good, you have for your instruction in this behalf the commandment of our saviour Christ, search the scriptures: & also that notable example of the men of Thessalonica, who received the word with all readiness, & searched the scriptures daily whether these things were so. The questions which the Corinthians proposed, were (as may plainly be proved by the circumstances of this chapter) concerning single life, the duly of marriage. Besides of discord & dissensions in marriage, of marriage between the faithful & unfaithful, of uncircumcising the circumeised of servitude, of virginity, & second marriage. Of all these at this present it is impossible to speak. Therefore we will deal only with the two first, that is concerning single life, and the duties of married folk, of which two points the Apostle doth largely entreat, in the 9 first verses of this chapter. To deal with any other curious division of the text, I mind not, for that I see it will be the more profitable for you, the more simply I deal herein: I will therefore take the words as they lie, and expound them, briefly withal: delivering unto you, such observations of doctrine and christian instructions, as God by his spirit shall reveal unto me. In the beginning of my text, are these words. Now concerning the things etc. The Apostle had in some of the Chapters before going, and especially in the latter end of the 6. Chapter, entreated of a certain disease, named fornication: for this sickness he appointeth in this Chapter a double remedy: the one is marriage made in the fear of God: the other is the gift of chastity: or sole life proceeding from God. The Apostle saith that the Corinthians did write unto him about certain matters. By which it may be gathered, that it was a custom in those days, when dark and doubtful causes did arise, by writing to demand the judgement of the disciples & apostles of Christ: who being taken out of this life, afterwards they went for counsel to holy Bishops and learned Fathers, which custom as it was commendable, so being abused, it engendered a certain tyranny. For the Bishop of Rome (whose judgement was sundry times asked) began by that means, to usurp Lordship and rule over the congregations of Christ, as as though nothing aught to be accounted substantial and true without his advise, a very proud and ambitious kind of dealing. But let that pass. It is most sure that the Corinthians did write unto him, and we have the substance and matter of their questions: yet concerning the manner and form thereof, there is much controversy. Lord God what a stir Chrysostom and Jerome do in that behalf keep. It shall be superfluous to rehearse their sayings and reasons, for that they make ado where none needeth, and besides the time may besprent in more necessary and profitable matter. Moreover, to reason of things doubtful, when we have things certain & sure before our eyes, is mere vanity and smacketh somewhat of foolishness. Only in these words we have for our learning to mark: first, the willingness of the people, and the desire that they had to be instructed in matters of truth and religion, & therefore sent to Paul their questions, requesting to have his answers thereto. Secondly, the great care that Paul had to do good to all manner of men by all means possible, who beside that he had taught them in his presence, doth now notwithstanding, as a token of the continuance of his good will towards them, instruct them also in his absence by writing. If we now apply this to our time & age, and compare our ministers & people, with this people and their preacher, we shall find as great odds and as much difference as is betwixt white & black. For (that I may deal first with the people, they had some knowledge of God:) ours altogether want knowledge of God and godliness: they laboured to increase in all knowledge: we remain in all ignorance and darkness: and if any would reach us his hand, to draw us out of the filth and mire of sin, we account him our greatest enemy, There was amongst them, by reason of discipline, severe punishment of sin: and by that means also godliness of life and holiness of conversation: for lack of it among us, the bridle is given to all manner of iniquity, and all kind of ungraciousness and ungodliness, doth without punishment rule & reign amongst us. Now concerning the minister, he preached unto them: ours read to us, and scarce that, according to knowledge: he profiteth them both by preaching and writing: ours neither of those ways do any good: be able to teach, and that which he requireth of others, was in himself, for he was able to stop the mouths of the adversaries: ours are for the most part, blind guides, sleepy watchmen, dumb dogs, and as the Prophet Zacharie rightly calleth them, idle shepherds, nay rather Idols themselves. For they have a mouth and speak not, they have eyes & see not, they have ears and hear not, they have noses and smell not: they have hands & touch not, they have feet and walk not, neither make they a sound with their throat: they that make them are like unto them, and so are all that trust in them. A lamentable case, that they that should guide other, are themselves to be guided, because they be blind: and that they that should lead other, are so lame, that they can not go on their feet: nay I would to God there were not, that to the lack of knowledge in themselves, add innumerable heaps of vices: some ruffians, some whoremongers & drunkards, some blasphemers, & some spotted with this public crime, some with that, whereby they not only purchase unto themselves an evil report and rumour to go of them, but also cause God's name & his Gospel to be evil spoken of. So that you may see how far our mintsters are off from being like Paul, whom they ought in this case, & other points also to follow as far forth as by God's spirit they shall be assessed: but as there is no agreement betwixt light and darkness: so there is not in any respect almost any likeness betwixt him and them: again, ' where as Paul if his judgement were asked, concerning matters of faith and religton, was able to give sound and sincere judgement, according as God's truth, which also is required in every one that taketh upon him the office & name of a mimster, these in such cases are so far off from executing any part of their function, that you were with the Romans as good go to the geese of the Capital of Rome, or else with the Israelites ask counsel at your stocks, and have your staff teach you. Marry in deed if you deal with them for keeping a gelding or a hawk, for dressing a garden, orchard or bowling alley, for tabling or carding, or any such other foolishness and vanity, they will & can behave themselves most cunningly: neither would I have any to gather hereupon, that in a generality I condemn all, For I knowle that in this realm, there are many both godly and learned my meaning is, that the greatest number and common sort are such, as continual experience at this day to the great grief and sorrow of the godly, too too plainly declareth. The Lord put into the heart of Prince and Magistrates, to remove these, and (if it be his will) to see such placed in his vineyard, as may hasten in his harvest. But to let this pass, and to entreat of those matters, which specially concern the cause for which we are at this present assembled. The Apostle saith, It were good for a man, not to touch a woman. The meaning is not, that marriage by God's institution is evil or wicked: for that were intolerable blasphemy if any should so say: but that marriage, because thorough man's corruptions it bringeth cares & troubles, is not expedient, I judge this word (good) to be taken (not as Jerome against jovinian taketh it, for that which is contrary and against evil, as he too childishly and peevishly, by the leave of so great a father doth take it, and as Tertullian (somewhat before him did take the same also,) but for expedient & profitable, as in other places of the scripture, it is likewise used. And this rule of Paul is to be understood of such, as upon whom the Lord hath bestowed the gift of chastity, not only of body but also of mind. For albeit there are some good interpreters, that apply it generally to those three kind of eunuchs, or chaste persons, whereof our Saviour Christ speaketh, yet am not I of that mind, because that many otherwise chaste in body, have not with standing their minds & understanding defiled with vunatural lusts & concupiscence, which before our God is a great & a grievous sin. So then Paul addresseth himself in this place to speak to such as have pure hearts and clean bodies, which is either hardly or not at all found in any. For who can say, my heart is clean before God, and this may plainly appear unto us by that which followeth. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his wife, and let every woman have her own husband, and again, if they can not abstain, let them marry, for it is better to marry, then to burn. To make this more plain by a similitude, If one should say after this manner: It is good for a man neither to eat, to drink, nor to sleep: unless he were well understood, he should appear to speak very absurdly, because he seemeth to take away all such necessaries, as whereby God hath appointed man's life to be maintained: yet the party so saying, doth not dispraise meat and drink, and sleep, as things noisome and hurtful, but meaneth that we should live more godly, if being freed from these provocations, we gave ourselves wholly to the consideration of heavenvly things. For more than the competent and needful sufficing of our nature, whatsoever is given unto these, is diminished from the spirit. Even so the Apostle doth not condemn marriage in this saying, as evil or wicked, but because many lets and stops are found in fleshly marriages, he saith It were good not to be married, for that doth he understand by touching of a woman, as the best & most learned expositors that I seen take it. It followeth, Nevertholesse, for the avoiding of fornication, etc. In these words the Apostle commandeth such as are unchaste, to run to the remedy that God hath appointed: for although the sentence seem to be universal, yet it ought to be restrained unto them, who feel themselves by a certain needfulness to be pricked forward. In this behalf no law can be prescribed, neither can we judge one of another, but every man should be a sufficient witness to himself, because in himself he feeleth the infirmities and pricks of the flesh. and albeit there appearenever so many stops & lets in marriage, yet this must all understand, to whom God hath not given the gift of chastity (and and so by that means not able to withstand the pricks of the flesh) that this commandment is by the Lord laid upon their shoulders as a burden to bear, which if it be not performed (seeing that God hath appointed this as a remedy against sin) they commit grievos iniquity, and by that their dealing heap unto themselves wrath against the day of the Lord. Moreover the place of the Apostle must not be so understood, as though this were the only cause, why marriages should be made, but this is his drift, not somuch to show for what causes marriage was ordained, as for what persons it was fit and necessary, for if we have respect unto the time of the first institution, it could not be a remedy for that dose ace which yet was not (I mean sin) but it was ordained for the procreation of children, the increase of mankind, and the mutual society that the one should have of the other: & after man's fall the second use was added. To stand upon the terms. fornication & adultery, & the differences betwixt them, we shall not need, because it is more curious than necessary, & this we see, that the scripture doth as well use that one as the other term, in many places, for all quchast & unsober behaviour of ourselves, either in body or mind. This is enough out of this place to be gathered, that though the world make little account of committing such wickedness, yet it is a great sin before that majesty of god, which evidently appeareth, because he will have those that are his, to shun and fly from the same. If this be not sufficient, cast but your eyes up to the latter end of the former chapter, and see how heinous a crime the Apostle maketh it: there he warneth them to flee fornication, the reason whereby he would dissuade them from that sin, is taken from the notoriousness and grievousness of the fact. For saith he, every sin that a man doth, is without the body: but be that committteth fornication, finnoth against his own body, that is to say, he more pollineth his own body, than he that committeth any other sin. If this will not serve, have an eye unto those punishments which God hath appointed unto those wicked contemners and breakers of his ordinances, His punishments are two fold, either temporal or perpetual. The perpetual punishment of God, is that burning lake of fire and brimstone, which is prepared for the devil & his angels, where shallbe weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, without (faith john in his revelation) shall be dogs and enchanters, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh lies: and the Apostle Paul saith, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor buggers, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor-raylers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God: which places are to be understood of such manner of men, as are the servants of sin, and sold to work wickedness, & die in the same without hearty and unfeigned repentance. His temporal punishments are also of two sorts: either in those which he layeth upon the committers of such wickedness, of himself: as war, plagues, pestilences, sickness, poverty & such like, which bring his children to a consideration of their faults, and a beholding of his mercy, but have in the wicked and reprobate a contrary effect and operation. and in the 26. of Genesis we may see that Abimelech king of Gerar, made a law concerning this matter, that whosoever did touch the man or his wife to the breaking of wedlock, should die the death. Verily it may appear to all (unless they be wilfully blind) that we in the clear light of the Gospel, are far worse in this matter, than they which were under the law of nature, before the law of God written was given for the government of his people. But if such as God hath appointed his officers and ministers on earth, to execute such notorious offenders and transgressers of his law, who ought to deal in the punishment of this sin, as God himself appointeth, & not as the Pope's canons pestilently prescribeth: that is to say, to see whoredom & adultery punished with death, as the Lord himself willeth, & not so slightly passed over & looked unto as at this day it is. In the law we have these words repeated twice for failing, The man that committeth adultery with an other man's wife, because he hath committed allulterie with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and adulteress shall die the death. And how diligent executors of this law the magistrates & people of Israel were, it appeareth in that they were so ready to put to death that innocent Susanna: yea in the very law of nature, it hath been after that same manner punished, as appeareth in Genesis, when we read that judah contemneth his daughter in law Thamar, because she was an adulteres, (although he himself giving sentence against her, knew not that he had committed sin with her) to be burned. But I know this judgement will not be liked of some, but it skilleth not, for I come not to please men, for if I should so do, I could not be the servant of God: this I dare speak, & to all, of what sort & condition so ever they be, in the strength of god's spirit I dare utter it, that the lack of discipline is the occasion of this sin, & is in some sort by wicked & ungodly persons even as it were defended, affirming it is but a knack of youth, a piece of good fellowship, or if not defended, yet the punishment diminished, and the faults lessened now as in time heretofore it hath been: for the scribes & Pharisees affirmed that if a man kept his body clean from actual sin, he could not be an adulterer or fornicator: and no marvel though the people were easily induced both to receive and believe this opinion. For besides that it is plausible to flesh and blood, the scribes and pharisees themselves, the authors of it, were in those days men of great countenance and estimation, even as abbots and Cardinals in the Papacy, or (that I may speak more familiarly and plainly) like to our Lord Bishops amongst us, yet notwithstanding their credit, Christ setteth himself against them, not only showing how corruptly they had expounded the law, but also opening the true sense & meaning thereof. So that this is manifest, that though the world account never so little of this wickedness, know you yet the Lord esteemeth both the thought, wishing & the deed doing to be great & grievous sins, and therefore so expressly hath forbidden it, & appointed so grievous punishments for it. Not that I mean that he which sinneth in thought, should by the Magistrate be put to death, as well as he that doth the filthy fact in body: for that were with the Pelagians, jovianists, and Stoics, to make sins equal, which opinion of theirs I utterly dislike and detest. For in respect of circumstance, one sin may be greater than another, and so deserve a sharper punishment, but to teach you according to the truth of god's law, that you should not think those sins small, which Gods spirit accounteth very great (and indeed, without repentance, make a perpetual separation between the Lord and us) and also to declare, that we ought heartily to wish, and earnestly to pray, that God's law, according to his will, with as much speed as might be, and in as strait a manner as he hath commanded, might be put in execution, to the punishing of the wicked, and the comfort of the godly. Neither am I ignorant how some both have and will kick against this doctrine, thinking that though it were so severely punished in the old law among the jews, yet it should not be so among us. To this I could easily yield, if they were able to prove, either God himself the Lawgiver, to be mutable: which is impossible, or else the law not to appertain to us, which I think they are not able to doetor else if they were able to prescribe a better order of politic government, than God himself, the author of all wisdom, hath already set out, which were presumption and blasphemy intolerable, for by that means flesh & blood should be, if not exalted before that majesty of God, yet made equal unto him. But seeing that they are not able to prove any of these points, it remaineth, that unless they will be judged froward & obstinate, they consent to this truth, & acknowledge that same. But they are so far from yielding to it, that they spare not to set themselves against it, For did not Christ say they, say to the woman taken in adultery, God thy way & sin no more, & Paul did not kill with the sword but excommunicate by the word, the incestuous person at Corinth. Therefore fornication, adultery etc. is not so straightly to be punished as you would have it. I will answer briefly, and for brevities sake I will omit many necessary points in these two examples, which otherwise if I might stand long upon, they were worthy of the noting, & first for Christ's example, thus I answer, the execution of the law for punishing adultery with death, did belong to the civil magistrate, now Christ was none, as plainly appeareth by this saying: Man who made me a judge or a divider over you, spoken to one that would have had him to have commanded his brother to have divided the inheritance with him: and again by that which he spoke to Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world. So then because Christ was not a civil Magistrate, he would not take upon him to put that in execution which he had nothing to do with, withal teaching us to, that we be content with our vocation, & keep ourselves within the bounds thereof, & this may serve for answer to that example. Now concerning Paul's dealing, we have thus much to note, that there was then, so far as can be gathered, no Christian ruler, that might take upon him to execute this law, in his full force, and yet rather than sin should be unpunished, and wickedness winked at, Paul would use the discipline of the Church, & deliver the incestuous person over to Satan for a time. Would to God, that if so be the Magistrate neglect his duty in punishing this sin, in such severe manner as God's law appointeth, yet we might have some Paul's and Elders in every Congregation, that would use the force of the word, and severity of Discipline Ecclesiastical, to the beating down of this, and all other like horrible vices. But all this notwithstanding, it is lamentable to be considered, and no godly man can without tears behold, the fond and ridiculous punishment of this sin used in these days. To be pricked in a sheet, or pinned in a blanket, and to stand in the Church, or in some Market place, or carted thorough the Town, is the most grievous censure of all: and yet in my judgement, as good left undone, for it is the best way that can be, to make such as have little shame in them, to bes altogether past shame, I will not say altogether past grace. And yet this kind of punishment belongeth to the poorer sort. If rich ones sin, they are punished by the purse, forty shillings for committing such an act is judged a great punishment. If this be not a maintaining of sin, I know not what is. For what vicious or sensual man is there, that will lief his devilish pleasure, if he may achieve it for money. Beside that they which are punished after that manner, for want of the execution of god's law, fall often into one and the self same sin. So that sin aboundeth, and iniquity reigneth so much, that we in this age, are comparable herein in a manner, with all the former ages of the world, which surely in my judgement cometh to pass because that manner of punishing sin, which God hath prescribed is neglected, and an other which man hath devised, set in the place and stead thereof. You see the abuse hereof. Pray heartily that God would redress this, and all other abuses remaining yet amongst us.  
It followeth, Let every man have his own wife, etc. By general doctrine, is in these words delivered unto us, plainly proving the marriage doth belong to alstates, sorts, and kind of men, as well ministers as common people, contrary to that doctrine of Devils, by papists defended, who forbidden marriage to such manner of men. But as this place doth plainly overthrow that their opinion, so do many other both Examples and testimonies in holy scripture, which for annoying of tediousness, I willingly omit. Only one as general as this, I think good to rehearse, in the Epistle to the hebrews we have this saying: Marriage is honourable among all men, and the bed undefiled, as for whoremongers and adulterers God will judge, you see by these words (beloved) that in the Apostles judgement, marriage is honourable among all men, of what condition soever they be, so that to forbid it in some, is great and grievous iniquity, seeing that God hath enjoined all, that have not the gift of chastity or sole life, to use marriage, as a notable remedy to put away the act of Formeation, with the lust or concupiscence thereof. And as out of these words a general lesson is given to all to marry, if it be in the Lord. So a man cannot without grief consider the horrible sin, and without horror speak of the detestable iniquity, that those men (Papists I mean) have fallen into, that have shunned this mean, much less by them done. What whoredom, adultery, fornication, yea sodometry, yea buggery and other filthiness, that ought not to be named in the mouth of Christians) hath been by them committed, their own Chrovographers & history writers plainly declare, & this faing when they are made popish priests is too plain, Si non caste, tamen caute, that is, if thou canst not live chastened, yet take a whore wartly. It shall be best for us all those iniquities being set aside, to embrace God's council, as the only truth, and to shun the other as proceeding from the Devil, the father of all lies and liars. Now though the Apostle doth command every one to have his own wife for avoiding of Fornication, yet is it not his meaning that marriages should be made in such sort, as GOD himself hath forbidden, that is to say, that young Children may marry, without consent of parents. for in such cases, the advise, counsel, & agreement of fathers, is of necessity required. It is wonderful to see, to what kind of ungodliness and disobedience, the world in this behalf is grown, for marriages are made without consent or counsel of parents, which is a plain breach of God's commandment. Honour thy Father and thy mother, & this wickedness is confirmed and increased in an other respect, because young men think themselves in this behalf more at liberty than maidens or Damosels, Indeed if they could prove themselves not to be children, and by the commandment not to be tied to obedience, as the other are, I could easily be persuaded therein. But our wickedness in both these cases, is far greater than that of the Gentiles. For in Genesis we read, that Shechem after he had ravished Dinah jacobs' Daughter (which fact was altogether ungodly) did desire his Father to get him that maid to wife. If Infidels and unbelievers did this, how much more ought Christians that profess godliness to accomplish the same? Surely Schechem had as great privileges as any young man can now lay for himself: for besides that he was a young man, he was a lords son, & as it should seem, the only son of his father, and yet would not take marriage in hand (though otherwise he had committed a villainous act) without his Father's consent and advise. Now this is further to be considered in this case on the Father's part. For as the child may not marry without the parents allowing and liking of the same: so can not the fathers or mothers either enforce their children to make ungodly marriages, or to hinder & let marriages begun in God's fear, As many do at this day, that because one of the parties hath not abundance of wealth, or such like, will not give consent to the marriage of their children. But rather they ought to labour that in the Lord, such contracts and marriages, may as much as in them lieth, be furthered. Moreover in these words, Let every man have his own wife, etc. This is to be considered, that the Apostles mind is not to licence any to marry with Infidels, or of corrupt religion, unhonest behaviour, or so forth, but that they should have due consideration of the parties to whom they purpose by God's grace to join themselves, and that they should thoroughly know their religion & conversation because marriage is not a band for a day a week, a month, or a year only, but for term of life also. Surely to speak my mind, I cannot without grief consider the great disorder and confusion used in the world at this day in this behalf, for either the beauty is one cause, & so they satisfy their eye & carnal lust, or else money or goods another cause thinking thereby to content their unsatiable minds. Now adays neither religion nor honesty is in marriages demanded, but rather we ask how fair & beautiful, or let me understand how much money I shall have. Verily for a man to have such considerations in choosing of a wife is not altogether evil, because a man must choose him such a one as with whom alone, he can hold himself content, so long as they shall live together, but to put those things in the first place declareth to such men as we deal with in these cases, that we like beasts rather seek things transitory and vain, I mean beauty, substance, wealth and such like then their daughters and children, and that we more esteem of the one than the other Beside that, when marriages are made in such sort, without consideration of religion & godliness (as if a christian or professor of the gospel, should marry with an infidel, Turk, jew, or Papist) we tread under our feet Gods commandments, & wholly despise the example of godly & faithful men. In the law it is said to the people of Israel, concerning the Gentiles which inhabited the land that they went to possess. Thou shalt make no marriages with them, neither give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter unto thy son: a reason is added. For they will cause thy son to turn away from me, & to serve other Gods. Then will the wrath of the Lord wax hot against you, & destroy thee suddenly, wherefore Abraham caused the eldest servant of his household to swear, that he should not take a Wife unto his son of the daughters of the Cananits, among whom he dwelled, but that he should go unto his country, & to his kindred, & take a wife unto his son Isaac. The self same care we see to be in Rebecca & Isaac, for their son jacob, and therefore after that she seemed to fear, lest he should take one of the Daughters of Heth to wife, and had uttered the same grief unto her husband, Isaac plainly commandeth his son, not to take a wife of the Daughters of Canaan. And in the new Testament it is said: Be not unequally yoked with the Infidels. O but say some, I can reclaim her from unbelief & ungodliness, to faith & virtue. Indeed if thou were as strong as Samson, and as wise as Solomon, it might peradventure sink into my brain, but if the strongest and the wisest were not able to resist, how shall the weakest and the simplest be able to stand. This is reckoned as one of the greatestreasons of Sampsous ruin, for taking a wife of the Daughters of the Philistines. And this is accounted as one of the weightiest causes of salomon's fall, that he took him many wives of outlandish women, and strange nations, which turned away his heart from the service of the true God, after their false Gods. And this is judged to be one of the sins, for which God brought an universal flood upon the whole earth, and the inhabitants thereof, For that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, & they took them wives of all that they liked. Let us therefore beware, and learn now at the length, to deal more warily according to God's holy council in this and other matters then heretofore we have done. Furthermore this is to be noted that in that the Apostle will have every man to have his own wife, and every wife her own husband, that he doth utterly take away polygamy or multitude of wives at one time. A doctrine not vunecessary and unfit to be treated of in this place, because (as I hear say, & I do in part beléue it) that there be some in Kent do defend the same. I can not speak of this and other things so largely as I would, because I have been hitherto somewhat long. I will say both concerning this and other things also that follow, my mind briefly. Whosoever doth defend this as lawful and necessary, not only striveth against the doctrine of God's spirit, in this place delivered, who saith singularly every man must have his own wife, not wives, but also quite & clean turneth upside down the first institution of marriage, for god in Paradise in the time of man's innocency joining woman unto man as a helper, said: For this cause shall a man forsake father & mother & cleave to his wife, & they two shallbe one flesh, not they three, not they four, etc. but they two. This is also to be considered, the the first breach of this ordinance began, not in the household of the faithful, but in the wicked seed & stock of cursed Cain, for it is said in Genesis, that Lamech (who came of cain's kindred) took ij. wives, the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other was Zillah. So that it appeareth that all that either put in practice to have many wives, or defend the same, are of cain's progeny, that is, a froward, adulterous, & wicked possession, neither is there any reason, why they should to this end object the examples of the patriarchs, and godly men of the old law be fore the coming of our saviour christ, for in them it was a great sin & infirmity, and had not the Lord in mercy, and in the death of jesus, who was the lamb, killed from the beginning of the world, blotted out their sin, they had felt the pain and punishment, which is everlasting death. You see then the polygamy or multitude of wives, cannot stand by God's word. Let man's wit suppose what it can, this only is the truth, the Lord give us grace to embrace and follow the same. It followeth, Let the husband give unto the wife, etc. Now the Apostle showeth how we ought to live after we be married, & first he layeth out a general doctrine of mutual benevolence, the is of the duty of the husband toward the wife, & the wife toward the husband, whereas some have understood by due benevolence, the debt of marriage, the is the satisfying of lust, it liketh me not, because it is somewhat to narrow. I indeed judge that this moved them so to expound the same, for that it followeth presently afterwards, the wife hath not power of her own body, etc. But it will stand more agreeable with truth, if we say that to be inferred necessarily, as a particular point out of the former, because the Apostle here dealeth generally. For his meaning is that the husband should do to the wife & the wife toward the husband & one of them toward that other, all duties pertaining to marriage. To entreat of them all particularly, I can not at this present, neither if I could would occasion serve, the chiefest of them is that, which Peter speaketh of, that there be betwixt them such a consent, & unity of minds that their prayers be not interrupted, by which word, it appeareth, that private prayers were then, & should now be used in private houses, which how much it is observed, let all judge. I fear me, that if householders should be called to accounts in this point, they would come very short. For whereas they prayed morning & evening at the lest every day, it is a great matter with us, if we pray once a week in our houses, nay I judge some of us neither pray in our houses, nor in churches, but come thither only for fashion sake, & this appeareth because there followeth so little fruit of our prayers. for if we prayed heartily God would here our prayers willingly & grant our petitions effectually. But we ask many things, and obtain few things, the cause is, for that we ask them not aright. It followeth, The wife hath not power of her own body, etc. The meaning is, that God hath so created man for woman, and woman for man, that they cannot well be one without the other, unless it be such, as upon whom he hath bestowed the gift of chastity: that sentence serveth also well against polygamy, or plurality of wives. For if the body of the man be so tied to the body of the woman, that the one is subject to the other, it cannot be, that the man hath authority to take more wives, nor the wife to take more husbands. It followeth, Defraud not one another, except it be etc. In these words Paul showeth a notable remedy against the feigned show of holiness, & love of ourselves For Satan many times pricketh us with a show of well-doing, to think ourselves to be defiled by the company of our wives, & therefore causeth us to leave our vocation, and think of an other estate: as we read that many men, and some kings of this realm, have forsaken their calling, left their wives & become religious people: so many women have forsaken the duties of marriage, & closed up themselves in unreligious cloisters. Besides this, man's nature is such, & it is so much addicted to the love of itself, that at Satan's instigation, the man dothnot only neglect his wife, but altogether loathe her, and likewise the wife the husband: for these causes doth the Apostle so earnestly & diligently reason of the mutual society and love betwixt man and wife: as if he should say, if married persons purpose to lead a single life, either because they suppose it to be more holy, or else are pricked thereto with sundry kinds of lust, not contenting themselves with that ordinary mean that God hath appointed, let them consider, that they are tied one to the other by a mutual band: the man is but only the one half of his body, & so likewise the woman. Wherefore they have not free liberty, to part asunder as they lust, & when they lust: but rather they ought to weigh this, we cannot be one wtoutanother, we lack one another's aid, God hath joined us together, to help one another, let us therefore one aid another's need. If they go so far that they separate themselves, the Apostle requireth, first a mutual consent, which is necessary, because the continency not of one only, but of both of them is hazarded. Secondly, that it be but for a time, for perpetual chastity is not in their power, but is the gift of God. Thirdly, that they do not therefore abstain from keeping company one with another as though that abstmence were of itself a good & holy work, or a piece of God's service, but that we may give over ourselves to better exercises, to wit, fasting and prayer: in which words we have to consider, that the Apostle speaketh not of every sort of fasting, and every kind of prayer. Soberness & temperancy are kinds of fasting & prayer, & should not only be daily but also continual. He speaketh therefore of such a fast as is a public and solemn testimony of repentance, by which we turn away gods wrath & vengeance, or by which the faithful prepare themselves to prayer when they take in hand some earnest matter. The same may be said of prayer, as for example, when some calamity or misery is nigh, or if some token of God's wrath appear, or when some matter of great weight & importance is to be taken in hand, as the ordering of ministers etc. And surely the Apostle doth worthily join these two together, not as though fasting were a piece of God's service, but because it is a preparation unto prayer. For the body being by fasting subdued, the more willingly (by the assistance of God's spirit) submitteth itself unto the spirit, & being both joined, they pour forth more harti supplications unto the Lord. And therefore our saviour Christ joineth them together in like sort, when he saith, This kind of devils is not cast forth but by fasting and prayer, Now then in these words of the Apostle, we have a plain overthrow, of that popish doctrine of divorce, a thoro & mensa, that is to say, from bed & board. They teach that for sundry causes and ends, a man may be separated from his wife, at the table and the bed, & yet the Apostle showeth, that such separation cannot be made, for any end but for this, namely that they may give over themselves to fasting and prayer. Their causes are worldly & fleshly, but the Apostles end is spiritual & heavenly. No less vainly and fond do they deal in the whole matter of Divorce: for whereas our saviour Christ maketh but one cause, and that is Fornication, they make nine or ten at the least: and whereas by the warrant of God's word, the faultless party may marry, if he have not the gift of continency (for by the law of God, the adulterer and adulteress should both be put to death, as before I showed in the beginning, and the woman is set free, the husband being dead, from the law of the man, and the man from the law of the wife, the wife being dead) by the popish canon law yet in this realm maintained, it cometh to pass, that neither the sin is so grievously punished as of right it should, neither may the faultless person marry, but as well the guiltless as the guilty, yea though they have not the gift of chastity, enjoined to live a single & sole life, nay would to god it were not a shrewd & sinful life. Now it followeth, & again come together, etc. though the Apowle will have christian men & women for godly exercises sake, to separate themselves, yet he will not have that separation to endure over long, the reason is added, that Satan tempt you not &c. As if the Apostle should say, when ye take upon you to abstain long from the society one of another, and occasion is proffered to Satan to oppress you, because you take that in hand which you are not able to perform: for such is the imbecility & weakness of the flesh, that the one cannot long be without the company of the other, and therefore you had need look to yourselves saith the Apostle for the adversary will leave no corner unsought, nor any stone unrolled, to provoke you to wickedness & incontinency. Here we have to learn that lesson which I touched in the beginning, namely, that God requireth pure & chaste minds, as well as clean bodies. And also we have to note the malice of sathan, who goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour us: if we consider his force, he is strong as a lion, if we weigh his subtlety he is called the great & old serpent, & can translate himself into the likeness of an Angel of light: he spared not Christ, but tempted him immediately after baptism, & therefore he will not cease to assail us, we had need therefore to be sober & watchful, and to pray continually with the disciples for the increase of our faith, because faith is the mean, by which we must resist, & though his power be in the scriptures counted great, yet this singular comfort we have in the same scriptures revealed unto us, that he is but a coward, & playeth the part of a tyrant, who when he hath gotten any people under him in slavery and bondage, doth miserably torment them. But if we resist him (the devil I mean) and set ourselves against him he will flee far from us, for his tyranny is exercised only upon the children of unbelief: as for the faithful, he is not able to touch them, without gods sufferance and appointment: he could not enter into a few sooine, till Christ gave him leave. He could not touch the body and goods of job, till God suffered him: his power is not increased, nor the strength and arm of our Lord any whit at all abated. It remaineth then that we set ourselves in conflict & skirmish against the devil, we shrink not, for than we lie open to be wounded. The Apostle hath in the Ephesians described Panopleian, that is to say, complete harness of a christian, he appointeth every one to have their loins girded about with verity, having on the breastplate of righteousness, their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, that shield of faith, that helmet of salvation, & the sword of the spirit. Mark how the Apostle armeth a christian soldier in the fore parts, & appointeth him in harness for his back to defend that withal: by which the spirtt of God teacheth us, with what valiant courage we should be endued, when we come to skirmish with the devil: we may not in any case turn our backs to him, for than we lie open, & easily receive his wounds, but resist him by faith, as I said before, & he will flee far from us. The Lord endue us with force and strength of his spirit from above, to withstand Satan, & all his wicked temptations, & imprint these things in our hearts which we have heard, to the amendment of our sinful lives and conversation, to the glory of his name thorough jesus Christ, to whom with the holy Ghost, be all honour and glory for ever and ever, Amen. Let us pray.  
FINIS.