St. Paul's Threefold Cord: Wherewith are severally combined, the mutual Economical Duties, Betwixt 

Husband.  
Wife.   

Parent.  
Child.   

Master.  
Servant.    
By DANIEL TOUTEVILLE Pr. to the Charterhouse.  Si post fata venit gloria, non propero. 
LONDON, Printed by Anne Griffin for Henry Seile, and are to be sold at his Shop at the Tiger's-head in S. Paul's Churchyard 1635.   

DEO OPT. MAX. ET Vniversis Anglorum Laribus.   


The Ground of the first Book.  Wives, submit yourselves t● your own Husbands, as i● is fit, in the Lord. Col. 3.18 
TOM. 1. LIB. 1.  

The duty of the Wife towards her Husband.  
PRivate Families are the Seminaries, & Nurseries both of Church & Commonweal, for out of these must spring a seed for the propagation of the one; and again it must be so form by godly education, that it may prove a holy seed for the amplification of the other. Now because in every family, there is as the Philosopher hath very well observed, a threefold combination. 
Pol. i c. 3,  One betwixt the Husband and the Wife; a second betwixt the Parent, and the Child; a third, and last, betwixt the Master, and the Servant; that nothing may happen to be disjointed, and out of frame in any, following the method of St. Paul. Col. 3.18. We will prescribe directions here for all; and first begin with the nuptial Bond, as being the first. For Adam was a husband before he was a father. Secondly, because from these the rest receive impression. And as in a Watch, if the spring be out of frame, the wheels can never go, or if they move not one an other, the hammer cannot strike, so where there is not a fit correspondency betwixt man and wife, the rest of the family cannot but miscarry in their Motions. Again it is a thing worthy to be observed, that howsoever in this yoke, the husband be the more honourable of the twain, the Apostle yet requireth the duty of the wife; and for this we may render a twofold reason.  
1. Because the tender of subjection comes from us with more difficulty, than that of our affections. To love is thought a pleasant and delightful thing; but to be subject to an others will is usually counted hateful, and detrected as a burden.  
2. Because the love of the husband depends for the most part upon the due subjection of the wife. For if she vouchsafe him the one, he shall be barbarous and brutish, if he shall not return her the other: the wife is the person then, with whom we must begin. The duty whereunto she is exhorted, is subjection; The persons to whom this duty is to be tendered, are their own husbands. The motive that should induce them willingly to tender it, It is comely. The manner or limitation of the render, it must be only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the Lord. As touching the first.   

Wives.  
If women will but consider the manner and end of their creation, they may be the more easily brought to what is here required: For as concerning the manner; The woman was not made of earth, as Adam was; And why? Nunquid deerat lutum figulo, ut necesse erat pulsare latus Adami? Did the Potter, saith St. Gregory, want Clay, that he was driven to knock at Adam's side.  
Surely no; but he would take woman out of man, & not out of earth, that the priority and dignity of man might thereby be established. And this is the Apostles reason. 1 Tim. 1.13. Adam was first form, and then Eve: and in 1 Cor. 11.8. The man is not of the Woman, but the Woman of the Man.  
Again in respect of the end. She was created for man's sake. For though God had made him Lord of the whole earth, and given him all the creatures for his use, he found not yet amongst them all a help meet for himself, and therefore desired a supply; He found helpers amongst them, but they were mute, without conference; brutish, without reason; all looking downwards: But man was in honour. Psal. 49.20. The horse served him to ride, the Ass to carry his burden: These were yet no meet helpers. Fuit in Adamo appetitus socii, et similitudinis: There was in Adam a desire of his like, he would have had a companion, with whom he might have discoursed of the love and praises of his Maker; but such a one found he not. Some of the Beasts drew near to him in reason, as the Fox; but none in this. 
Cicero lib. 1. de Legib. et 1. Tu●ouquaest.  Totum hominis scientia Dei! Man alone is capable of Religion. So that a fit help for comfort, conference, cohabitation, procreation, equality, he had none. Every Bird had his mate. Esay 34.16. There was Equus, and Equa: All had, what man wanted. God therefore out of man for man made a fit help.  
Wives. The word is indefinite and exempteth none. The younger women, and the elder; the rich, and poor; the noble, and base: are alike made liable to the performance of this duty. 'tis not only Ruth, that must be serviceable to her Booz; but even Vashti, though a mighty Empress must know her Lord. Yea though there were never so great a disproportion betwixt them in state and in condition; as say the wife were a Princess, the husband but a peasant, she must be yet in conjugal respects as a handmaid unto him; he must not be as a servant unto her. The dutiful respect, which the glorious Virgin exhibited to joseph, is observed in Luke 2.48. by the couching of her words, in that she saith, Thy Father and I, not I and my father. Ego et Rex meus; I and my King; is unsupportable in the Politic, and no less is, I and my husband in the Oeconomickes. It was Assuerus his edict, and it is likewise God's decree, that all women, great and small, shall give their husband's honour. For the husband is the wife's head, 
Eph. 5.24.  even as Christ is the head of the Church. As the Church therefore is subject unto Christ; so every wife must be to her husband.  
1. The subjection of one Creature to an other in general, is nothing else, if we consider it with relation unto God, but a divine disposing and subordinating of things less perfect, to such as are more perfect; that by this subjection they may receive what they want, and be forever guided, and preserved in their course. Or if we take it with respect to the creature, which is made subject. It is inwardly a cheerful inclination; outwardly a ready application of the same, to that whereunto the wisdom of God himself hath ordained, and appointed it. And this subjection is so necessary, that without it the world could not long subsist; yea nature herself would suddenly be dissolved.  
Things sublunary and terrestrial are all subject to the power, and influence of celestical bodies, and being in their own nature defective and ignoble, they must from them receive their due perfection. It is the earth's subjecting of herself unto the Sun, which first begets her fruits, and brings them afterwards to full maturity. It is the Ocean's yielding to the Moon, which occasioneth her daily ebbs, and flows, without which motion, the waters thereof would quickly putrify, and with their stench poison the creatures. In a word there is no maintaining of any politic society without this virtue.  
Rule and subjection, saith the Philosopher, are things not only profitable, but likewise absolutely necessary. When the people will not obey the Prince; when the Mariner will not listen to the master; when the Soldier will not follow the directions of his Leader, what can follow but confusion? In the beginning GOD established a superiority among all the works of his Hands, after their several kinds. He made two great Lights; the one to rule the day, the lesser to rule the night: and afterwards when he had created man; he did invest him presently into imperial authority, To subdue the earth, and to r●le over the Fishes of the Sea, 
Gen. 1.  and over the Fowls—  
Bees have their Sovereign; & little Aunts are not without their Discipline. In a word, we read of an Host in heaven, and why is it so called, but because there are orders and degrees therein, which being withdrawn from an Army, it can have no settled composition? There must be then a Mastery, and dominion specially designed, to say, Ho● puto non iustum est, illud malè, rectius istud. This is not right, that is evil, & the other is better. This is the Soder, by which the several parts and Members of a Commonweal are all united, and combined together. 'Tis the very life-breath of every Creature, which if the Spirit and Soul of government were taken from them, were like to prove nothing but a burden to themselves, a booty to their enemies. Maximilian the Emperor, comparing the Kings of France and Spain together with himself, said wittily and merrily, that the King of Spain was Rex hominum, a King of Men, because he used them ingenuously and liberally: The King of France, Rex Asinorum, a King of Asses, by reason of the many burdens and taxations which he laid upon his people; Himself, Rex Regum, a King of Kings, because all that were under him, would do but what they pleased themselves: The best is, Rex Subditorum, a King of Subjects: And whosoever shall shake from off their necks this yoke, they provide but ill for their own good.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Obedience is the mother of all happiness, saith the ancient adage; and surely he that follows her shall show a noble, and a generous mind. Facile imperium in bonos pessimus quisque asperrime rectorem patitur; Good men are easily governed, only the base and refractory spirit will admit no reines. Let the lawless Anabaptist therefore together with the ambitious Romanist cry out in Church, and Commonweal, against the Gods and Christ's of the Earth, as sometimes did those cursed Vipers among the Heathen, against the anointed Son of GOD; Let us break their bonds in sunder, 
Psal. 2.  and cast their cords from us. We must know yet that there is no Power but of God; and he that resisteth the Powers that be, he resisteth the ordinance of God. The Lord is King, be the earth never so impatient. Promotion cometh not either from the East, or from the West, or from the South, but wholly from the Lord. By him Kingdoms are disposed; Princes inaugurated; Sceptres and States established. By Him were Corah, Dathan, and Abiram with their Confederates sent down alive into the darker bowels of the earth; by him was Zimri burnt in his Palace, Achitophel hanged in a halter, and Absalon by his own hair; all for denying their duteous fealty to those whom he had constituted and appointed over them, as his Vicegerents; And thus much concerning subjection in general. The particular followeth.   

Wives be subject.  
This subjection of the Wife unto her Husband consisteth principally in three things. The first is an internal Act of the heart; as when the Wife, notwithstanding she come of a nobler house, and have brought with her a a greater portion, than she found, and know herself to be of a more able understanding than her husband, she doth yet in her mind acknowledge him to be her head, counting herself every way inferior unto him, in that she is his wife. This humbling of the heart is the fountain of all external subjection; And when it floweth not from hence, 'tis either constrained, or counterfeit. For the avoiding of this, St. Paul would have the wife to fear her husband. 
Eph. 5.33.  Now this may be expressed diverse kinds of ways.  
1. By giving him reverend and respective titles: So Sarah obeyed Abraham, and called him Lord: Non blandiendi con vetudine, sed hujus subjectio is testificandae voluntate; Not out of any soothing custom, but out of a serviceable conscience; And her daughters ye are, 
1 Pet. 3.6.  saith the Apostle, while ye do well, not being compelled thereto by any terror.  
2. It may be expressed, by living without suspicion, and making ever the best interpretation of his doubtful actions. Michol failed in this, when so presumptuously she taunted David for dancing before the Ark of God in presence of the maids of Israel.  
3. A woman may show a fear towards her husband by striving to walk continually under the lee of his anger, making her eye, rather a Bucket to quench the fire, than her breath a Bellowes to kindle it.  
2. This subjection of a wife towards her husband consisteth in a desire to conform her will, her words, her works, as near as she can, in things lawful and indifferent to those of her husband. For likeness in manners argues a likeness in mind; and there is no affectation of similitude, but where there is some similitude of Affection. This I confess is a hard task; but the more painful, the more praiseful. It is hard, because all are addicted to love their own ways, to like of their own humours, and distaste the contrary.  
Oderunt hilares tristem, 
Hor. Epist. 18. lib. 1.  tristemque jocosi, saith the Poet: Mirth will not willingly come into the house of mourning, nor mourning into the house of mirth. Lamenting Niobe will sit alone; and Rahel weeping for her children will not be comforted. 'Tis a laborious thing therefore for any to strip themselves of their own disposition, and put on an others. 'Tis requisite yet for a wife to do it: that which above all must be commended in her. For as a lookingglass, though it be curiously wrought, and richly garnished with sundry sorts of gems, is nothing esteemed as it is a glass, unless it reflect the true resemblance of them, that look therein: So let a woman be never so rich, never so fair, never so comely, never so qualifyed, she is not to be valued as a wife, if she be not conformable to the inclination of her husband. She that is married, saith the Apostle, careth how she may please her husband. The word in the original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. i She makes it the serious object of all her thoughts, and endeavours; she doth as it were pine herself by continual musing how it may be done. Now there is not a more compendious way, than to accommodate herself unto him, and so to compose her own affections, that they may answer to the level of his.  
3. The last thing where●n this subjection doth consist, is the daily and due performance of all such offices, and tasks as she is liable unto, Now the first of these is, to love him faithfully, Tit. 2.4. Not as Dalilah did Samson, to betray him to his enemies. For the heart of her husband must trust in her. Not as jezabel did Ahab, to abuse his power for the effecting of her base designs. Nor as Hieroboams wife did him; to do that for his sake, which may provoke God to forsake her; but as Abigail did Nabal, 
1 Sam. 25.18  to cast about for his good, all the days of her life, She must love him, for she is his Rib; yea the Rib next to his heart, which is the seat of Love; and she must love him faithfully.  
The sex of womenkind is compared by the Fathers to a dish of meat, which before the master of the Feast have carved up, every man at the table may say his part is in it, but being once cut up, look what piece is laid upon the Trencher, is his alone, to whom it is delivered. 
Prov. 12.4.  A virtuous woman, saith Solomon is a crown to her husband; but she that maketh him ashamed is as rottenness in his Bones. Marriage is a Love-knot of Gods own tying; she that breaketh it, forgets the Covenant of her maker. The Wife therefore must have a care, 
Pro. 2.16.   Thalamus sit pro Templo, & Thorus pro Altari; that her chamber be continually sanctified by prayer as the Temple, and her bed kept undefiled as the Altar.  
2. As she must love him faithfully; soshe must adhere unto him constantly, what chances, and occurrences so ever happen. We read of no dissension betwixt job and his Wife, so long as he lived in plenty, and was the greatest of all the inhabitants in the East, but as soon as he fell into disasters, she was willing to be rid of him; Blaspheme the name of God, said she, that thou mayst dye. The ancient Germans, though then a barbarous generation, did principle their wives at the very time of their marriage to a better practice. 
Lib. demori●. Germ●.  For as Tacitus relates it, they presented them then with two Oxen ready yoked, a horse ready trapped, and weapons fit for use, to let them understand, that from thenceforth they were to share with them both at home, and abroad; in the pains of Peace, and in the perils of War.  
So was Texene the wife of Agathocles affected, and so was Isabel likewise, sister to Charles the Emperor, and wife to Cristhierne King of Denmark: For when his subjects had banished him for his tyranny, and would have conferred the Sovereignty only upon her, she refused it, and chose rather to pine and perish with her husband in his exile, than to live as Queen, and have an absolute command without him. Aelian reports of Dionysius, 
L. 13. c. 10  that he married two wives upon one and the same day. Doris the Locrian, and Aristaeneta the daughter of Hipparinus, & sister unto Dion; the one followed him in his wars; the other accompanied him only at his return. Christian Wives are not to expect this division of attendance; one alone must undergo the burden of both. She takes her husband for richer, for poorer, and with a willing foot m●st place it after him in either fortune.  
Sulpitia, 
Patric. S●n li●. 4 de Rep. Tit. 5.  notwithstanding the many strong persuasions, which her mother daily used unto her, and the watchful eye she kept continually upon her, made an escape, and followed her husband Lentulus, whom the Triumvirs had proscribed into Sicily, choosing rather to abandon parents; kindred, Country, with all the pleasures and delights which many other ways she did enjoy; than to lose the sweet content she took in the society of him.  
The strange woman thinks herself most happy when her husband is from home; 
Pro. 7.16.  for than she perfumes her bed, and decks her chamber with Egyptian Carpets, resembling in this the Moon, which always puts on a revelling countenance, when the Sun is farthest from her; but Rebecca will not be seen out of her Isaac's company; like the Marigold, if the Sun be away, she lives retired, and keeps her beauty canopied from the view of all things else. Lot's wife was safe as she walked towards Segor, so long as her eye was fixed upon him, but as soon as she had turned her head aside to look upon the walls of Sodom, she became a pillar of Salt. The daughters of Sparta, while they were maids, did go continually bare-faced, but after marriage a Veil did cover all; and having no longer any need to seek for husbands, but to keep themselves to those, which they had.  
3. She must labour for him carefully, in the guiding and governing of her Family, that he may have no need of spoil. 
Pro. 31.11.  She must rise while it is yet night, and give the portion to her household, and the ordinary to her maids. She must oversee their ways, and not eat the bread of idleness. The Apostle will have her to love her children, & to keep at home. 
Tit. 2.4.  Phidias, that excellent painter, being desired to draw the picture of a woman, drew her sitting under a Snails shell; to show, that like the Snail, she should ever have her house upon her head. 
De precept. conjugal.  Plutarch reports, that it was the manner of the Egyptian women, after marriage, never to use any shoes, to signify that their business lay within, & there was no need they should outpass those limits. Herodotus likewise writes, that among the Persians, when the nuptials were once solemnised, the Ladies were carried home in chariots, which as soon as they were lighted out of them, and entered the house, were set on fire; intimating that after marriage, they were to joy in their own home, and to look wholly to their Family. And this as it is a happiness to their husbands, so it is an honour to themselves.  

Propert.  Foelix Admeti conjux, & lectus Vlyssis,  
Et quaecunque viri foemina limen amat.  
It is a Proverb amongst the French; Bonne femme & bon marriage se dit, non de qui l'est, mais duquel on see taste; The best women, and the best marriages are those, which are so silently carried at home, that the world hath no occasion to talk of them abroad. To hearten them up therefore a little the better to this subjection, we will propound some certain motives by which they may be stirred and incited hereunto; and afterwards show them the inbred lets, and impediments; which may withhold them from it. The Motives are of diverse kinds.  
The first is taken from the Institution of GOD, himself, which is not any way to be controlled: And surely religious Obedience will never stand to discuss the Commandments of God, but do them. He said to Eve, and it must be as an ordinance to all her daughters for ever, 
Gen. 3.16.  Thy desire shall be subject to thy husband, and he shall ruleover thee. So that to deny this subjection, is to resist the Counsel of the Highest.  
The second from the natural imperfection of the woman, not only in her corporal parts; but in those likewise, which are intellectual; She is weake● and less able to govern, and defend herself, than man. Now according to S. Anselme, Haec in dominationibus & servitutibus clara iustitia est, 
In locum.  ut qui excellunt ratione, excellant et dominatione. Law, and equity require, that they, which excel in reason, should exceed in rule. 
2 Ep. 3.7.  But St. Peter calls women, the weaker vessels; and the Philosopher saith, that the virtue and ability wherewith they stand endowed is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Pol. 1. ●. 8,  such as speaks them to be subjects, and not sovereigns.  
A third is taken from her transgression. It was she that violated the Commandment and afterwards alured her husband to partake with her in the fault: 'tis but justice therefore, that from thenceforth the wife should obey the husband, considering the husband did miscarry by obeying the wife, and this is a reason which the Apostle allegeth; I permit not, saith he, a woman to teach, but to keep silence with all subjection. For Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived, and was in the transgression. 1 Tim. 2.14.  
A fourth is deduced from the inconveniency, which may follow upon the resistance of God's ordinance, by the denial of this subjection. For as in nature upon the interruption of her due & ordinary course, thunder's, inundations, earthquakes, and other such like fearful and disastrous accidents do happen; So in a family upon the stoppage of this duty, there ariseth nothing but brawls, and contentions, which like impetuous thunder shake the very rafters, and threaten the whole house with final dissolution. Fear and jealousy like an earthquake split their bosoms, and disunite their hearts, and their affections. To conclude, the many miseries which proceed from hence occasion many tears, by which as by a general deluge, the sweet content, which might be taken in one another's love, is utterly washed away. But this may suffice; I will therefore pass from the motives, which should allure them, and come to speak of the lets and Impediments, which may keep them from the performance of this duty.  
The first is a proud conceit of her own nobility, beauty, riches, wisdom, and the like; in regard whereof she vilifies her husband, and thinks him every way unworthy to have any rule or authority over her, Of such the heathen Satirist.  
— malo, 
Juvenal. Sat. 6.   
Malo Venusinam, quam te Cornelia matter  
Graccorum, si cum magnis virtutibus affers  
Grande supercilium, et numeras in dote triumphos.  
I had rather have a low borne country Lass;  
Than thee, that brought'st the valiant Gracchis forth,  
If thou Cornelia with thy noble worth,  
Bring'st a big look, and dost thy Triumphs tell,  
That so thy dowry may the more excel.  
'tis better to match into a poor stock, than into a proud. Assuerus will avouch, that the lowly Esther is to be preferred before the lofty Vashti. Marcus Aurelius was taught by woeful experience, that he who marrieth only for wealth, according to that of Menander, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, takes not her into his protection but sells himself into her subjection.  — Vidua est locuples quae nupsit avaro. 
She, who being rich a needy husband takes.  
Is still a widow, and her own bargains makes.  
Alexander the great chose rather to marry the wise Barsyne without a dowry, than the daughter of Darius with part of his Kingdom. Lycurgus made a law that no portion should be given, or taken in the wa● of matrimony ut viri virtutem Conjugis, no● opes quaererent, that men might marry for worth rather than wealth, and women study the more to furnish themselves with all good virtues and abilities. But no such laws are now in being. That this impediment therefore may be removed; let them call to mind, that the superiority which man hath over the woman is founded upon God's ordinance, 
Psal. 2.  and is not to be weakened or infringed by any such accessary causes. Again let them know, that there is no greater argument of folly, than to wax proud either of outward trappings, or of inward truths. We judge the emptiness of a vessel by the loudness of the sound. Brass tinckleth more than Gold; And a Bladder is soon blown up; but when it is most swollen, there is nothing in it, but a little air. Last of all let them understand, that such conceits proceed from the devil, who as he stirred up Eve by the infusion of this venom to eat of the forbidden fruit; so would he stir up the daughters of Eve, by an instillation of the same poison, to shake from off their necks that yoke of subjection, which is imposed upon them even by God himself.  
The second is a defect of love. For where this is in a wife, she will be quickly tutoured to obedience. Affection, like a painted glass makes every thing seem of the same colour which is seen through it. No blemish but will appear a beauty being looked upon with these spectacles. But where this is wanting the woman neither knows, nor cares to please her husband.— maritum  
Convomit— as the Poet speaks. The sight of him makes her sick; and as it follows, Morte viri cupit haec animam servare catellae. Were it put to her choice; she had rather he should die, than that her puppy should miscarry. Now this happeneth, when either the parents will enforce their daughters out of temporal respects to marry where they do not like, not ask, as Bethuel did Rebeccah, 
Gen. 24, 57  their consent unto the business: O ●hen themselves ma●e their choice not in the Lord, nor for the love of virtue, but only to satisfy either their ambition, or their covetousness, or their curiosity, by matching either for honour, riches or comeliness. Marriage is a building, the mortar of it must not be untempered; but such it is, when virtue, and the fear of God is not regarded either in the contraction or consummation of the same. For if it be beauty, a shower of sickness shall wash it away; if honour, the breath of envy like a burning wind shall blast it; if riches, poverty shall quite dissolve it. Let who so marrieth therefore, marry in the Lord. Let it be Virtus, and not Venture; Deus, and not Does; faith, and not favour: God, and not goods, that brings them both together. The end of lustful conjunction was the deluge, and where money must tie the knot, it will quickly break. For non amatur, quod propter se non amatur. True love is fare from any side-respects. And where there is no love, there will be no subjection.  
The third, and last, is a fond and foolish affectation of all sorts of vanities, by which this conjugal subjection is not only hindered, but the administration of the family is likewise altogether neglected. For such a one will first of all be continually gadding: Her feet, like the strange womans in Prov. 7. can not abide in the house; with Dinah she must out to see the daughters of the country, though the loss of her chastity be the recompense of her curiosity. It were barbarous uncivility she thinks, to miss a new play at the Blackefryers, or any other spectacles of pleasure, and delight. Secondly, being a gadder, she can not but prove a waster, Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae. The end of such, is as well to be seen themselves, as to have the sight of others. And hence it is, that some like the Tortoise carry their whole house upon their back. Singulis auribus bina aut terna patrimonia dependent, saith Se●. 
Benes. l. 7. c. 9  Ye may see whole Lordships hanging at either ear. And as Tertullian speaks, 
De habitumul. cap. 9  Saltus et insulas tenera cervix fert. Though their neck, like Ephraeims be soft and tender, so many Acres yet of wood pasture, and arable are about it, as would pinch the shoulders of Atlas to support them.  
Some again, to appear more pleasing, taxing God as it were of defect in his workmanship, spend their revenues in Oils, and Drugs to set an adulterate gloss upon their natural complexion. The whole course of their life is but Pompa quaedam histrionica; 
Patri●. sen. lib. 4. tit. 5.  a kind of Stage-pompe, so pargeted, and so disguised on every side, that their Maker at the day of judgement will disclaim them to be the work of his hands. But according to Tertul. had women only so much faith on earth, as they do hope for benefit from heaven, they would not affect any outward glory, but rather humble themselves in sackcloth, and in ashes, and go mourning all the days of their life, as desiring any kind of way to expiate that great transgression of their grandmother.  
In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, 
Gen. 3.16.  and thy desire shall be subject to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee; Et Evam te esse nescis? 'twas God's decree, and is not yet repealed, for the guilt which procured it, is not as yet removed. Thou O woman, art the gate by which death entered into the world, thou art she that didst first break the covenant of thy Maker. The devil could not have prevailed against man, but through thy persuasions. 'Twas thy ambition, which defaced this glorious Image of thy Creator. In a word, 'twas thy desert which brought the Lord of life to suffer death upon an ignominious Cross, and canst thou mind the painting of thy Figleaf coat? Suppose the Needlework of Tyre, and the Embroidery of Babylon, with other such like Ornaments had been from the beginning; would Eve, think ye, have ever desired them at her expulsion out of Paradise? Nor ought she now in thee, if she be willing to revive, either covet, or know the things, which while she lived, she neither had nor knew.  
A wise woman, saith Solomon, Prov. 14.1. helpeth to build up the house; She is a fool then, that will pull it down with her own hands. Consuming her husband's substance either in clothes or colours for the embellishing of her earthly Tabernacle. Such accessary compliments are rather beams in his eyes, than any way baits to his affections.— Moechis foliata parantur, 
juu. S●t. 6.  saith the Satirist. They are only lures to bring the Adulterer to fist. Chaste thoughts will never stoop to such enticements. Poppea, the wife of Nero, drew upon herself a perpetual brand of ignominy, and reproach, quod cuti nimium indulserit: in that all her care, and cost was for the daily reparation of a borrowed beauty. And when all is done, that may be done in this kind: 
Haec, quae mutatis inducitur, atque fovetur  
Tota medicaminibus, coctaeque siliginis offas  
Accipit et madidae facies dicetur, an, ulcus?  
This, which their brain with care so much embroiles,  
In searching out new drugs, new salves, new Oils.  
To set upon it an adulterate grace,  
What shall we call't? an ulcer; not a face.  She therefore that desireth truly to prank, and paint herself as she ought, let her borrow the white that must embellish her cheeks from simplicity, the red from chastity: Let her pendants be the word, and the chain about her neck, the Cross of Christ. Let sanctity be the silk that clotheth her, and this subjection will be the only jewel of her glory. For to conclude, Tal ter pigmentata, Deum hab●bit an atorem; being thus set out, the God of Heaven shall court her beauty. And thus from the duty, we will pass to the persons to whom it is to be tendered. Wives be subject.   

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, To your own Husbands.  
The word is without any restriction, and shows that every husband is to expect this duty from his wife; the poor as well as the rich; the foolish as well as the wife, the froward as well as the kind; and she let her be what she will, must freely tender it. First, by subscribing to his admomonitions. Secondly, by suffering herself in all things to be guided by his advice. As touching the first.  
The husband is God's mouth, and in harkening to him, she harkneth to God in him; as on the other side, in contemning him, she contemneth God, and the ordinance of God in him, Though the husband therefore should chance as many times it happeneth, to find fault, where there is no cause, she must remember yet, that the property of an ingenious disposition is, Ibi culpam agnoscere, ubi culpa non est: sometimes for the avoiding of farther tumult, to acknowledge a fault where none is, and be ready to alter what is done, as if it had been otherwise done, than it ought. For according to that of St. Peter, 
1 Ep. 2.20.  If when we do well, we suffer wrong, and take it patiently, this is acceptable to God. Now as touching the other.  
The husband is called the Wife's guide. 
Pro. 2 17.  And therefore nothing must be done but by his direction. Sarah would not so much as turn her servant Hagar out of doors without Abraham's consent: neither would Rebeccah send away her son jacob without Isaac's advice. jezabel signed her purposes with Ahabs seal; and Esther wrote her letters in Assu●rus his name. The voice of a Trumpeter is nothing so sweet, so shrill, or so strong as when it soundeth from out the Trumpet. Man's mouth must be the Organ, by which the woman speaks, 
Maritus, Sermo; Vxor, Auricula. Aug.  if she desire that her words should carry with them any weight, credit, or authority. His hand, and seal must be to all her actions. A river, so long as the course thereof is guided by the banks, runneth pleasantly, and with delight; but when once it disdains those bounds, and out of a swelling pride will have a larger liberty, it hurteth others and defiles itself. Rosewater in a glass is clear, and sweet; but being let out it gathereth filth, and loseth both the colour, and the sent. Man's experience is woman's best eyesight, and she that rejecteth it, is like a seeled Dove, soars high for a while, but at length comes tumbling down, and lights in a puddle. Wives therefore be subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to your own husbands.  
In that he saith to hubands, he excludeth fornicators; and in that he saith, to your own husbands, he bars adulterers. Some count no yoke heavy, but that which in duty they are bound to bear; 
Si iubeat coniux, durum est conscendere navem,  
Tunc sentina gravis, tunc summus vertitur aer:  
Quae moechum sequitur, stom acho valet—  
'tis a hard task for her by ship to go,  
When her goodman commands it should be so:  
The Pump smells ill, the air is overcast:  
But she that doth to her Adulterer haste,  
Is sound of stomach—   
Like the Lamprey, they hasten to the hissing of the Viper, they make what speed they can to the call of their Lovers; let these impose what task they will, it shall be readily undergone; but if their husband's command, it shall be done at leisure. Some one occasion or other shall still prorogue the performance. All their endeavours are to endear themselves to these. But let such listen to what the Lord saith; Though thou cloth thyself with scarlet, 
Es. 4.30.  though thou deck thyself with ornaments of gold though thou paint thy face with colours, yet shalt thou trim thyself in vain, for in the end thy Lovers shall abhor thee,, and seek thy life. And then shalt thou say with that harlot in Hos. 2.7. I will go and return to my husband, for at that time was I better, than now. This must be the final Rendez-vous after all her stragglings. That which Martial prophecies of Dento in the Epigram, will truly, be accomplished in her.  

Lib. 5. ep 45  Quid factum est, rogo, quid repente factum,  
Ad coenam mi●i, Dento, quod vocanti,  
Quis credat, quater ausus es negare?  
Sed nec respicis, & fugis sequentem,  
Quem thermis modo quaerere, & theatris,  
Et conclavibus omnibus solebas?  
Sic est; captus es unctiore coena,  
Et maior rapuit canem culina.  
jam te, sed cito cognitum, & relictum,  
Cum fastidierit propina dives,  
Antiquae venies ad ossa coenae.  
Good Dento tell me, what hath happened late?  
What hath befallen thy person, or thy State?  
That when Ibid thee home to sup with me,  
My suit, wh'ould think it, should rejected be  
Four several times: and which is yet more strange,  
Thou dost not deign one word with me to change;  
Nay, when I follow thee, thou runnest away,  
And fliest from me, whom but the other day  
Thy custom was with diligence to seek  
At Baths, at Plays, in every nook, and creek.  
Surely the reason's this. Some daintier fare  
Doth hinder thy accustomed repair.  
A larger Kitchen doth the Cur detain,  
And makes my invitations all in vain.  
But lo! thy richer Ordinary shall,  
Quickly find out thy manners, and withal  
Leave thee; and then thou shalt entreat with groans  
To gnaw a fresh on thy forsaken Bones.  
To prevent which, and all other the like inconveniences, Let Wives be subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to their own husbands. And thus having spoken of the persons to whom this duty must be tendered, we will now touch at the Manner how it must be tendered.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
The word in the Original is diversely translated.  
1. As ye ought. 
V●oportet.  And so it is a Reason drawn from God's institution. Ye must do it.  

 convenit  2. As is meet. What availeth it the body to have all the Members, if the head be gone? The Spokes of a Wheel must be all united into one Nave, or it will never serve for motion. Who would not look to have the world confounded, when he should see the Moon in a higher Orb, than the Sun? GOD hath disposed all things to the best; this being therefore his ordinance, it is meet that Wives should be subject to their own husbands.  
3.  decet, 
 decet.  as it is comely. There are 3. things, saith Solomon, 
Pro. 30.29.  that order well their going; yea four are comely in th●ir going; A Lion, which is strong among beasts, & turneth not at the sight of any; a lusty Greyhound, and a Goat, and a King, against whom there is no ri●ing up. To these I may add for a fift, a woman that is subject to her husband. For beauty is vanity, and favour is deceitful, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. And thus much concerning the Manner how this Duty must be tendered; the limitation followeth.   

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: In the Lord.  
In the Lord, i not absolutely, or promiscuously, but so fare forth as faithful, and Christian women may lawfully do it. Sic placeat uxor voluntati Coniugis. saith S. Greg.  non displiceat voluntati Conditoris: She must not so please her Mate, as to displease her Maker. If the husband will have the wife at any time to do that which is ill; S. Peter doth furnish her with an answer: 
Act. 5.29.  We ought to obey God rather than Men. And thus having treated of the wife's duty towards her husband; we will now speak of the Husbands towards the wife. in which though I shall not peradventure enlarge myself so fare as in the former, that shall be no occasion yet of exception. For what it wants in the Bulk shall be found peradventure in the Balance.    

The Ground of the second Book.  
Husband's love your Wives, and be not bitter against them.  
LIB. II.  

The Husband's duty towards the Wife.  
THE Apostle sets it out. 1. By way of Affirmation, Husband's love. 2. By way of Negation, Be not bitter. As touching the former.  
The word love hath relation there, not only to the inward Affect, but likewise to the outward Effect, as may be easily collected out of Ephesians 5.25. Where the love of Christ towards his Church is propounded as a pattern for imitation unto Husbands; Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotes the one; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other. So that the first thing here required in the Husband, is an Affect of love. The Fathers observe out of Deu. 33.9. That Levi regarded not his Father, nor his mother; he knew not his Duty either upwards or downwards, to Children or to parents, it was not said yet, nescivit uxorem; that he did not respect his wife. So that the wife is to be preferred before all. The Hebrews allege for it a fourfold reason.  
1. She is nearer to him, than a child to his Father. For she is actually Bone of his Bones, and flesh of his flesh, whereas the child is properly neither, but in possibility.  
2. Children are but the fruit of the Loins, and the womb; she is the Rib next the Heart.  
3. The liker any thing is, the more it is loved. Man loves his Child, tanquam aliquid sui, his wife, tanquam se. And indeed Man and Wife are like those two Branches in the hand of the Prophet, so closed together into one Bark, 
Ez. 37.17.  that they grow to be one tree, and bear both but one fruit. So therefore ought men to love their Wives, saith the Apostle; 
Eph. 5.28.  as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself.  
4. Adam, say the jews, was a husband before he was a father; and for these Reasons the Wife is more to be loved than the Child. But they speak best, who say this Bond is supernatural, and like a miracle. For it is a hard matter to part from our parents. Ruth. 1.16. Rebecca yet leaves all to go with Isaac, and Zipporah though a Midianite, did the like for Moses.  
There is a threefold Glue, by which Man and Wife are joined and combined together; The one is natural, the other civil, but the third divine. By the first, man cleaveth to his wife, as a living creature; By the second, as a man; By the third as a Christian man. The natural marriage is for issue only; the civil, as that of the Heathen, for strength and help in household affairs; but the Glue, which conjoineth Christians, is Virtue, and the Fear of God. Men by nature, like Beast's couple to have children: Civil marriages are true but not perfect.  — Veniunt à dote sagittae. 
'tis the great Dowry proves the golden dart; or if not so, — facias, non uxor amatur. Only the Feature, and not the Creature is beloved.  
Tres rug●e subeant, & se cutis arida laxet,  
Fiant obscuri dentes, oculique minores;  
Collige sarcinulas dicet—  
Let him but spy one wrinkle in her brow,  
And he all love shall straightway disavow;  
Let her skin writhle; let her eyesight fail;  
Her Teeth wax yellow, or her cheeks look pale,  
Pack huswife hence, this honest man shall say,  
Truss up thy fardel, and use no delay.  
All affection is presently unglued; but the marriage of Christians is every way complete. For first, It is pleasantly good in regard of issue. Secondly, profitably good, in respect of supply: But last of all, and which is best of all. 3. It is honestly good, because it aims at a holy seed. Reason hath no hand in it, farther than it is sanctified by religion; and where this Soder is, no fire can dissolve it.  
It is an Axiom among the French, Que la femme faict, ou des faict la maison; That the woman usually is either the marrer or maker of the house: A man had need therefore to be very wary, that the settling of his affections may never prove a disparagement to his judgement; which cannot but happen, when he shall look upon the Object with other Spectacles, than God allows of.  
Charles VI of France, being desirous when he was but sixteen years of age, to entertain a Consort into his royal Bed, advised with his Uncle the D. of Anion, who led with politic respects married him to Isabel, daughter of the D. of Bavaria, that he might be the better able to make head against the Emperor Wenceslius, who notwithstanding outward shows did look upon his estate with no friendly eye. And it was a match which in the judgement of men, promised a great deal of good both to the king and kingdom; But mark how the Divine justice crosseth the designs of those, that rely more upon their own wisdom, than upon his Will; This hopeful Lady in a little time expressed such an imperious, and tumultuous disposition, that she became a burden unto both, having exposed them to so many foreign broils, and homebred partialities, that if herself had not died in a happy time for the Kingdom it must of necessity have expired as did the King.  
He therefore, that would love his wife, must be careful in his choice; and not either Arithmetic or Geometry; Portion or Proportion; or any other the like syde-respects to be Agents in the business. He must look more to her Manners, than her means; and wish her Faithful rather than Fair. Men marry not in love, but when they marry in the Lord. Beauty is a good outside, and Virtue is more to be esteemed, when it is so set out, than when we see it in an ill-favoured creature, like a pearl in a dunghill. Rachel was preferred even for this, by holy jacob, before the blear-eyed Leah. Tertullian calls it, Foelicitatem corporis, The happiness of the body; Divinae plasticae accessionem, A flourish set upon Gods own work; & Animae vestem urbanam, A comely garment for the Soul. But without Grace it cannot be counted graceful. She that hath only this ornament, is at the best but a painted Sepulchre; Sepulchrum quasi Semi-pulchrum; fair without, but full of rottenness within.  
Woman was made when Adam was a sleep, to show that in matter of wiving we should be consopitis sensibus, content to have our senses Charmed, and not be led herein by any outward Attractives. 
Pro. 19.14.  A good wife cometh from the Lord; and therefore all sinister affections being lulled a sleep, he should beg her at the hands of GOD only. But say a man have erred in his choice, his Folly must not free him from this duty.  
Every Adam must love his Eve.  
1. In regard of her efficient cause, which was the Lord himself, who made her with a great deal of solemnity, for the honour and dignity of man; and were it not for her society, what would he be, but a companion for the Hedgehog, and the Owl? The glory and the grace, which derived upon him from her, is most elegantly expressed by divine Du Bartas, in the sixth day of the week; where he saith, that without her 
— l'homme ça bas n'est homme qu' à demi.  
Ce n'est qu'un Loupgarou, du soleil enemi.  
Qu'un animal sauvage, ombrageux solitaire;  
Bigarre, frenetique, a qui rien ne penned plaire,  
Que le seul desplaisir; nè pour soy seulement,  
Priuè de coeur, d'esprit, d'amour, de sentiment.   
I will not prejudice our worthy Silvester so much, as to translate them myself, but will give you his.  
2. He must love her in respect of the Matter, whereof she is composed; She was made of a Bone, which is a most inward part of the Body; and shows that the love betwixt man and wife must not be superficial, but entire, and inward. When the Hebrews would say, I myself; they express it by a word, which doth signify, I myself in my Bones.  
3. In regard of the form, and manner of her making. God built her, and in this he shown a precedent of his double power; The power of his Creation in making the Heavens of nothing, and his power of Workmanship and Art in making Eve of something. Man can turn Clay into stone, mould into Metal, Ferne roots into Glass; he can build a fair house, but no living house: This is a prerogative belonging only to the Highest. He turned a Rib into Flesh, a Bone into a Body; that man might have an Ivory Palace wherein to recreate his best Affections. Husband's therefore must love their wives  
4. And lastly, the Wife is to be loved in regard of the End, for which she was made; and this was to be a meet help. Without her man is lame, and will he slight the staff that should support him? But come we from the Affect to the Effect.  
Probatio dilectionis exhibitio operis, saith S. Gregory, we cannot search into the Reins, and must therefore collect by outward Characters, what the heart doth inwardly conceive. Now these are principally three. The first is, peaceably to cohabitate with his wife. Solomon requires it by way of Precept; 
Pro. 5.19.  Rejoice with the wife of thy youth, let her be unto thee as the loving Hind, and pleasant Roe; let her Breasts satisfy thee at all times, and delight in her love continually.  
Again, Christ exacts it by way of Precedent: For such is his love towards the Church our mother; He doth at no time withdraw from her his sweet society; I am with you always until the end of the world. 
Mat. c. ●ult. ●●ult.  Yea, the very heathen Philosopher condemns that man of base injustice, that shall count stolen waters sweet, and abandon his wife for company of the strange woman. That opinion therefore, or indeed impiety of Aelius Verus the Emperor, is utterly to be exploded, who when his Empress complained unto him for loser rangings, would always tell her, that Wife was a name of dignity, not of delight. For according to Aristotle in his Economics; 
Lib. 1. c. 7.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: What can be more injurious ●o a woman, han to deprive her of her nuptial Rites?  
Some yet upon every trivial and imaginary discontent will seek a separation, but this as it savours of indiscretion, so is it not free from danger. For first Divorce in the Hebrew is called, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifies a Sawing. Now no man saweth off his Arm or Leg, but upon great necessity. If a man have the dead palsy in some part of his Body, he will not presently cut it off, unless it putrify some other part. The wife may be put away for Adultery, because she is then rotten flesh. But where this occasion doth not happen; art thou married? Seek not to be loosed, but abide in the Calling, whereunto GOD hath called thee. Conjunctio à Deo est; divortium à Diabolo; saith St. Aug. God delights in union; the devil alone is the author of division. The wife was made of a bone, and it was not a bone out of the leg, or a bone out of the arm, which a man may lose, and yet live; but a rib, which cannot be taken away without death; to show that his love should continue, till death them departed.  
Again, Vnum corpus in duobus locis simul esse non potest: The head, and the body cannot be severed but with destruction to them both. 'Tis true that needful occasions may often times procure long absence; but when want of love doth not cause it, 'tis no other than that of the Sun from the Marigold: She mourns, as being deprived of his presence, but he maintains her being by his influence. And thus much of the first effect, by which the love of a husband towards his wife is outwardly to be expressed.  
The second is to teach, and instruct her according to his ability in all such things as may conduce to the well-leading of this life, or the obtaining of a better. For therefore is he called in holy writ, the head of the wife: And to him the Apostle sends her, as to her household tutor. If they desire saith he, to learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home. The husband must therefore labour after knowledge, that he may prove unto her, not a head of Brass; a head, which hath a tongue, but cannot speak.  
Ischiomar in Xenophon was wont to desire the Gods first to enable him to teach that which is good, and then to give his wife the grace to learn it. A practice, which may well beseem the greatest Christian. For so, as they have but one Table, they shall likewise have but one Temple; as they fleepe in one bed, they shall serve but one Altar.  
The third is to provide for all her necessary uses, allowing her that, which the Apostle doth exact victum, et vestitum honestum; honest means and maintenance. The wife is the vine, and the husband must show himself an elm in her support. Like the Moon she must receive from him as from the Sun, that brightness which is fit. He is worse than an infidel, that provideth not for his family; can he be less then, that provideth not for his wife, the chief in the family next himself?  
What shall we say then of such, as in a riotous and desbauched course consume the dowry, which their wives have brought, and then turn them out like Hagar; to shift for themselves? Are they not like those, that take great pains for the getting of Nuts, but having eaten the kernel, they cast away the shell? Again, what shall we say of those, that live upon their wife's labour, and carelessly waste, what they industriously do gather? The Moon sure borrows not her light from the Sun, but the Sun from the Moon. The husband is clothed with the spoils of his wife; an order as prodigious, as preposterous. In a word, what shall we think of those, who notwithstanding, they have a sufficient estate, are very sparing of it towards their wives, not considering, that they are equally to share with them in either fortune. The Roman Lawgiver ordained that the married couple should at no time give any thing one unto the other; intimating, that whatsoever either had, was to be held in common. And indeed according to St. chrysostom; Quomodo dicis meum, et tuum, cum et ipse ejus es? When thou thyself art hers, all must be likewise so, that thou accountest thine.  
The fourth effect is to conceal her weaknesses, and imperfections: He must not tell them in Gath, nor yet divulge them in the streets of Ascalon, whereby to make the daughters of the Philistines rejoice. Noevus etiam in vultu Veneris. The fairest face is not without some mole: But love endureth all things. A man had he some ulcer about his own body, he would not willingly disclose it, unless it were to some special friend for advise; or to a Chirurgeon for recovery. And surely as unwilling would he be to discover his wife's defects, did he but consider, that she is his own flesh, and whatsoever dirt he casteth in her face, it doth defile his own. And thus having past the affirmative part of this duty, Husbands love your wives; we will now come to the negative; Be not bitter unto them.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
The word is metaphorical, and taken from unsavoury meats, which vex the palate, and oppress the stomach; the Apostle useth it, to show that a husband's conversation towards his wife should be full of sweetness, and fare from all austerity and severeness. St. Ambrose writes of the Viper, 
Hexam. l. 5. cap. 7.  that as soon as he spies the Lamprey, after whose kind embraces he is infinitely fired, approaching towards him, he doth immediately disgorge himself of all his venom, that nothing may impeach the pleasure, and delight, which each of them expect by their encounter: And would have husbands the like affected towards their wives. Doth she provoke thee unto love, saith he? answer her kind endeavours, and though thy nature be harsh and stubborn, let the contemplation yet of that honourable state, in which thou art linked unto her, uncurbe thy angry countenance, and set a mild aspect upon thy brow. Vipera venenum suum fundit, & tu non poteris duritiam mentis deponere? Shall the serpent lay by his poison, and wilt not thou unburden thyself of thy perverseness?  
God made her for a meet help. Auxiliator in opportunitatibus est Deus. The Lord is a refuge in due time. The jews say there is a help à Capite; 
Psal. 9.9.  
Dan. 10.13  and so the Angels help us from above; an other à Pede; so every Beast of the field; and every Fish in the sea, and every Fowl in the air are at our command, and help, one to defend us, an other to cloth us; a third to carry us; But this help is à jatere. No Angel, his place was too high: No beast; theirs was too low; but a help from the side of man, neither higher, nor lower than himself; A meet help.  
Meet in regard of sex. The Heavens send down their influence, and the earth receiveth it. The Sun by his heat cherisheth the Plants, and the Moon like a Mother suckleth them with her moisture. Man might have helped man in labour and conference, but the woman hath a womb, and breasts, and is a meet help for the conceiving, and conserving of children: By this help he may be furnished with such as shall be able to help him both in peace and war; and underprop him in his weaker age, like pillars of Brass, against all pains and perils whatsoever.  
Again, she is a meet help in respect of economical employments. Man goeth abroad about his affairs, the woman stays at home, and orders the household: She overlookes it with a careful eye, and will not eat the bread of idleness; her children rise up, and call her blessed; and her husband shall also have occasion to praise her. For as a quiet port is to a weatherbeaten ship, even such is she to him, when he returneth being tired with his toil. Like a kind Rebeccah she provides him pleasant meat, such as he loveth. 
Gen. 27.9.  The odoriferous Mandrakes grow within her garden, together with all sweet things, and with the Spouse she reserveth them only for his refreshment. 
Cant 7. ult  Whatsoever therefore his natural condition be, it behooveth him so to temper it, that as the Sun doth by the Moon, he may never approach her, but with an intent to make her still more lightsome in her countenance.  

De praeceptis conjugal.  The very heathen, according to Plutarch's relation, were wont in all their sacrifices unto nuptial juno to take the gall from out the creature, and to cast it behind the Altar; intimaring that in wedlock there should be no bitterness. The sharpness of a husband should be like that of wine, profitable and pleasing, not like that of Aloes, loathsome and unsavoury to the stomach.  
'Twas Plato's counsel to Xenocrates, a man of a severe and sour composition, but otherwise endowed with many virtues, that he should sacrifice unto the graces: And it is my advice to all such husbands, as are of the like nature, to do the like. Rain, when it descends from Heaven, like a gentle dew, doth sweeten all things, that it falls upon; but when it cometh with stormy violence, it causeth inundatitions, which bear down all, that standeth in their way. The clouds of discontent, which happen betwixt man and wife, like those of April, should no sooner grow, but presently dissolve into fruitful showers, which should produce in either's bosom fare sweeter Roses, and more fragrant Violets than ever grew in them before. But this can never be, where bitterness doth raise the vapour. It is a fiery exhalation, which finding itself on every side environed with a coldness of affection, breaks forth at length into lightning, and thunder, to the final dissolution of the whole house. Let husbands therefore love their wives, and not be bitter unto them. But for our better proceeding in this point, we will consider, First, what this bitterness is. Secondly, How it must be avoided. Thirdly, and lastly, the reasons, why. As concerning the first.  
1. It is either inward, or outward. Inward bitterness consisteth in the affections, and shows itself, when the husband upon every trivial error, and slight offence committed by his wife, is presently so exasperated against her, that thereupon he gins either absolutely to hate her; or at least to love her in a remiss, and careless manner: And being thus affected, though he neither do, or say unto her any thing that is ill; he takes away yet by his lowering looks the sweetness of the nuptial life, and wounds with grief and discontent the heart of her, that should be unto him as the loving Hind, & as the pleasant Roe.  
The second is outward, and consisteth either in bitter words, or bitter deeds. As touching the former. The tongue, saith St. james, is a world of wickedness. The rider commands his horse as he pleaseth with a little bit. The Pilot turns his ship with a small rudder; The Lion, and the Tiger may be tamed, but the tongue can no man check. 'tis an unruly evil, and full of deadly poison: It fireth the whole course of nature, and is itself set on fire of hell. Facile volat, saith one, et ideo facile violate; 'tis swift of wing, and therefore swift to wound. Eliphaz calls it a scourge. 
job 5.21. Psal. 57.4.  David a sharp sword. 'twas with this, that satan gave such a blow to Adam, even in the state of innocency, that both himself and his posterity were quite confounded with the wound. 'twas with this, that he made, in a manner the whole Host of Israel to fall as they marched thorough the wilderness. In a word, 'twas with this, that he did more worry the Son of God, and Saviour of the world, than with all the fatal engines that spiteful, and malicious cruelty could possibly produce beside. For neither the crown of Thorns, wherewith his cursed enemies impaled his tender brows, nor the boisterous fists, wherewith they buffeted his lovely cheeks; nor yet the whips, wherewith they ploughed his flesh from up the bones, and made deep furrows in his back, no nor the spear, wherewith they launched his heart, could extort from out his mouth the least complaint. The Lamb endured with patience these assaults, and did not shrink a whit in undergoing them. But when he heard his Deity traduced, and reviled by their opprobrious, and malignant tongues, he was forced to cry out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He that was Armour of proof, against all other invasions, found himself gored to the inmost soul with this. The Kingly Prophet therefore not without just cause, made his Prayer unto the Lord: that he would protect him ab aspero verbo, 
Psal. 91.  from the cruel word. And indeed a soft and tender disposition is sooner wounded, and more sorely with a cruel word; than the body can be with a cruel weapon. Let the husband therefore take heed, that he wound not the wife of his bosom with these words.  
The later kind of external bitterness is expressed in deeds. As when the husband not understanding what belongs to conjugal society, doth in every thing so curb, and restrain the desires of his wife, as if she were his vassal, a thing not suitable to the institution of marriage. For when God brought Eve unto Adam, he did not present her as a servant or a slave, but as a companion, and a helper. Non es Dominus, saith St. Ambrose, sed maritus. Thou art to be her love, 
Hexam. l. 5. cap. 7.  and not her Lord: she is to be thy wife, and not thy maid. Gubernatorem te esse voluit sexus inferioris, non Tyrannum praepotentem. His will and pleasure was, that thou shouldst be a guide, and not a tyrant to the inferior sex. Now tyranny may be exercised over the wife diverse kinds of ways.  
1. By denying her any rule, or sovereignty in the house, and not suffering her so much as to command her maids: nay peradventure subjecting her to them; But this is contrary to the ordinance of God, who hath apppointed, that the wife next under the husband, should bear the chiefest sway in the administration of the family. And therefore in Tit. 2.5. it is required, that she should be discreet, chaste, and one that delights to keep at home, where her employments lie and in Pro. 31.10. to the end, we have a fair description of all such household businesses, as God in his diviner wisdom thought fit to be imposed upon the woman: and for a man to put her by them is, to prefer his own conceit before the judgement of the highest.  
Again, this churlish practice is also repugnant to the light of nature. Xenophon therefore calls the wife 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: the keeper, and director of all that belongs unto the house: and Aristotle, will have it her charge alone, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to look to that, which is within. Though the wife therefore may think it a pleasant thing to show herself subject to the desires of her husband: It cannot yet but wring her patience, to see her power, and authority in the family, that she may not command her maid, but must rather be commanded by her. And behold, holy Abraham the father of the faithful will give the husband a precedent to forbear this bitterness. Sarah no sooner complained of Hagars' insolency, but he presently cast her out of doors, as unwilling any way to foster the occasion of her discontent. 
Gen. 16.6.   
2. This tyranny of the husband over his wife, shows itself, when either he denies her that, which doth conduce to her necessity, or substracteth from her any thing convenient for her dignity. For by virtue of the matrimonial covenant, and stipulation, she is to partake in all things with her husband. It is said of a friend, that he is alter ego: but a man may say of his wife, that she is, ipse ego: another like himself, nay the same with himself, and when he grudgeth her that which is fit, and convenient for her use, not caring how prodigal he be in his own occasions; 'tis as if he should endeavour to starve his left side, and to pamper his right. Every member in the body hath a share in whatsoever nutriment enters into the stomach. Now if man be the head of the house; the woman is the heart, and when this is feeble, the other must fail. Let not husbands than deny their wives at any time that which is fit, by engrossing all to their own occasions. This is deemed a bitter thing in the Agent and must therefore of necessity be bitter to the patiented. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Oecon lib. 1. cap. 7.  saith the Philosopher. None but will take it very ill to see themselves deprived of of what is proper unto them.  
3. And lastly, this Tyranny may be expressed in some outrageous violence towards the wife, which is indeed the height of all Bitterness. And never was it practised by any of the Heathen, except drunk or mad. 
Patric. Sen. l. 4 de Rep. tit. 4.  Cato the Censor was of opinion, that whosoever should lay violent hands upon his wife, did deserve to be as much abhorred, and detested, as if he had profaned an Altar, or been injurious to the Commonweal. This is an overflowing of the Gall, and will require a strong purge. To come then to the Means, by which both this and the other kinds of Bitterness are to be avoided.  

Exo. 15.25.  We read, that when Moses cried unto the Lord in behalf of the people, who being come unto Marah, were not able to drink the waters of the place; the Lord shown him a Tree, which when he had cast into them, they did immediately wax sweet. By this likewise together with a Cruse of Salt did Elisha recover the Springs of Hiericho; yea, by this and a handful of Meal did he chase Death from out the Pottage of the Prophets. Let whososoever therefore finds himself stern & stubborn in his disposition, make his recourse unto the means, and behold the Lord will then show him the Tree of Life; he will fill his Cruse with the true salt of the earth; he will give him a handful of that purer Meal, whereof the Bread which came down from Heaven was composed, to remedy thereby his natural corruption: Of a Lion he shall become a Lanbe; and of a hurtful Dragon, a harmless Dove.  
The 2. means, whereby to cure this Bitterness, is to read and meditate up- the word of GOD. Here shalt thou find a salve for every Soar, a medicine for every Malady. Art thou covetous, or lascivious, ambitious, or furious?  

Hor. Epist. 1. Lib. 1.  Sunt verba, & voces, quibus hos lenire dolores  
Possis, & magnam morbi deponere partem.  
Here shalt thou meet with such Receipts, as will not only mortify thy dolours, but remove thy disease. It is that roll mentioned by the Prophet; 
Ezec. 3.1.  we must cause our Bellies to eat it, and our Bowels must be filled therewith; and lo! the Effect, which shall follow hereupon; The Heart shall be rejoiced, and from the mouth shall proceed a savour, as sweet as any Honey.  
The 3. way, by which to cure this Bitterness, is to turn the course of it an other way, he that will needs be froward, and perverse, let him be it to his sins. Alas! what glory can it be to insult and domineer over the weaker Vessels? These are sturdy, and robustious, and will deserve the uttermost of thy Choler. If thou must needs lower, let it be upon the Devil; if thou must needs chide, let it be with the world, & worldly vanities: in a word, if you must needs fight, let it be with the desires and lusts of thine own Flesh: Buffet thy body with S. Paul, beat it down, and bring it into subjection: Mortify thy Members which are upon the Earth, Fornication, Uncleanness, inordinate Affection, evil Concupiscence, and Covetousness, which is Idolatry. These are worthy thy Conquest, and for thy Bitterness to them here in this world, thou shalt enjoy eternal sweetness in the World to come.  
4. And lastly; Whosoever would avoid this Bitterness, he must destroy it in the bloom. Sin creeps like a Canker, and it is a natural course, even in evil, faith the Schooleman,  ab imperfecto ad perfectum quis moveatur; by degrees to come unto perfection: the diseases of the Body grow not at once, they have their accretions long before their eruptions; & it is no otherwise with the Soars and sicknesses of the Soul. Verecunda sunt omnia initia peccati; saith a Father, Sin is ever bashful in the beginning. Modicum non nocet, saith the carnal Libertine; a little Pride, a little pleasure will not hurt, and peradventure the fiery nature will not stick to affirm, that a little choler is an argument of a good spirit; but S. Paul's advice is to the contrary; 
1 Cor. 5.6.  Cavete modicum fermenti, Beware, saith he, of a little Leaven, for even a little soureth the whole lump. The enemies of the Church enter like little Foxes; but once in, they take on like roaring Lions. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Custom, saith the Philosopher, ariseth from very small beginnings. Many will think it nothing to lend the Devil an evil Thought. Yet the Wiseman telleth us, 
Wisd. 13.  that evil Thoughts do separate from God. And indeed, dum ludunt, illudunt; while they dally with us, they deceive us, & like a bemyred dog, defile even in fawning. As the streams of jordan carry the fish with pleasure and delight, till on a sudden they fall into mare mortuum, The dead Sea, where they are presently choked. So many while they suffer themselves to be led away by a froward Affection, are overtaken with froward Actions, which do unexpectedly plunge them into the bosom of destruction. An unkind Thought will quickly bring forth unkind Words, and it will not be long ere these be followed by unkind Deeds. Destroy therefore the Cockatrice in the shell. Husband's love your wives, and be not bitter unto them. And thus from the Means, whereby to avoid it, I come now to the Reasons, for which it is to be avoided.  
The first is drawn from the very Precept by which the Apostle enjoineth Husbands to love their Wives. For it carrieth with it no exception. The blear-eyed Leah must be loved as well as the beauteous Rachel; and Hannah when she chides, as well as when she cherisheth. For when God first imposed this charge upon the man, he knew full well there was no woman without her weaknesses. As she therefore is bound to be obedient to her husband, notwithstanding his many imperfections; so is he to be kind and courteous to his wife: and whensoever he slacks this affection towards her upon any light occasion he becomes guilty of this Bitterness.  
The second is taken from the example of CHRIST, whom the Apostle in sundry places of his writings propounds as a pattern of imitation unto husbands. For he never either hateth or despiseth the Church his Spouse, notwithstanding those infinite blemishes, and defects, which might justly make her distasted and detested of his purer eyes: but endeavours rather to palliate and disguise them, still honouring her person, though he be displeased with her Faults. And thus disposed should the husband always be towards his Wife. No inward defect, no outward deformity should at any time lessen or abate his conjugal affection, unless it were such as did dissolve, & break in sunder the nuptial knot. For so long as this stands firm, the wife is but one flesh with himself. And according to the Apostle, No man ever hated his own flesh, 
Eph. 5.29.  but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ doth the Church.  
The third is drawn from a free confession of the very Heathen in this case. Aristotle even by the light of Nature perceived, it was unfit that a husband upon his wives miscarrying should presently seem estranged & alienated from her. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: 
Oecon. Lib. 1 cap. 7.  Small offences, saith he, though wilfully committed, must be passed over; and where ignorance may extenuate those of greater moment, it shall suffice by gentle warnings, and admonitions to make her more cautious for the future. Husband's therefore love your wives, and be not bitter unto them.  
Not bitter, inwardly in your Affections, much less outwardly in Words. The end of a reproachful speech is to rejoice, not for any profit acquitted by it to ourselves, but for a disgrace inflicted upon others. Now as I shown before; A man cannot scratch his Wife's face, but the prints of his Nails will appear in his own. Some peradventure will break forth into stormy language, and direful threats, and yet not harbour in their breast the least intent to do an injury. Yet even this Bitterness must be condemned. For if he that is angry with his Brother unadvisedly, and shall vent his choler against him in reviling terms, 
Mat. 5.2.  shall be Culpable of Hell-fire, what judgement must he expect, that shall do the like unto his wife? That this bitterness therefore may be utterly banished from the married state; let salomon's rule be still had in remembrance, Rejoice with the Wife of thy youth, 
Pro. 5.18.  etc.  
Now as touching the last kind of Bitterness, which doth usually express itself in Blows. 1. It is, as I have said before, against the law of Nature, Vitium uxoris aut tollendum, aut ferendum; The infirmity of the wife, said Varro, 
A. Gel. lib. 1 Cap. 17.  is ei her to be tolerated, or amended. He that corrects it, adds to her grace; he that bears it, to his own Goodness. Alcibiades demanded Socrates how he could endure to live with his Xantippe. For night and day did she molest him with her brawling, and contentious tongue: His answer was, That by suffering her at home, he became armed against all petulant assaults that could happen unto him, when he came abroad. Were it not madness then in a man to beat a women for that Weakness, which if well digested, will set the fairer Gloss upon his own Worth?  
2. It is against the Civil Law. For that permits her, if she can prove that her husband is injurious to her in this kind, to sue the benefit of a Divorce: and the reason, which is assigned for it, is this. Quia verbera sunt ab ingenuis aliena; Because blows are too burdensome for ingenuous natures. Again, every Superior hath not power to correct the errors of his inferior by stripes. The Prime Consul hath no authority so to chastise his companion, though for many respects he be beneath him in place and dignity. Say a league of Amity were made and contracted betwixt two, conditionally, that the younger shall suffer himself in all things to be guided by the wisdom and discretion of the elder; by virtue of this Covenant he is bound to obey; but if afterwards he refuse it, he may not by stripes be compelled to his duty. It is the like in Matrimony. For there the husband, and the Wife, agree upon a kind and sweet Society; so that the Wife must be subject unto him, and willingly be guided by his advice, yet as a fellow, not as a follower, by counsel, not compulsion. For he must not, saith the Philosopher, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: work her to a servile fear, which is the bane of Modesty and Love.  
3. Such barbarous dealing is altogether repugnant to the Law of God. For if we consider but the matter whereof he did compose her, we shall find that she was not intended, as Litter for his imperious feet to trample on; for she was made of a Rib out of the side, to show that she should be collateralis, his equal & companion. On the right hand, 
Psa. 45.  saith the Kingly Prophet, stands the Queen. Again, out of the Side, that she might be Vxor gremii, The Wife of the bosom, as dear and entire unto him as his own Heart.  
4. And lastly, the very condition of Matrimony, utterly disclaims such base and currish usage. For by marrying he hath taken her from her friends, and covenanted to tender her for them all. From them she is committed to her husband, as to a Sanctuary for her safe protection, and shall he dare to injure her himself? 
Gen 20.26  Abraham is called Saras Veil, to show that every wise, and faithful Abraham is to defend and keep his loving Sarai.  
And why in the beginning think ye, was the woman made of a Rib under the Arm, but to teach the Man, that he should ever be the woman's safeguard? For as the Arm is the only member, wherewith by bearing, and putting by of blows, the other parts of the body are secured: so the husband should be the Shield by which the wife should live as it were under the Lee of all indignity.  
In Pro. 12.4. the woman is said to be the crown of her husband; he that woundeth her, woundeth his own honour, and treadeth under his Feet, his own credit, and estimation. A Crystal Glass is not to be handled roughly, as Pots, that are made either of Earth or Pewter, but charily, and warily, as being of a finer Mettle, and so more brittle than the other. Saint Peter therefore adviseth us to give honour unto the Woman, 
1. Ep. 3.7.  not expecting, that wisdom, that Patience, that Faith, nor that Forbearance in the weaker Vessel, which is not many times in the stronger.  
The very name of Wife, is like that Angel which stayed the Hand of Abraham, when the stroke was falling upon the neck of his beloved Isaac. Therefore as Ionathan's Arrows were shot not to hurt, but but to give warning; So the words of a Husband to his wife, should be words to direct her, and not deject her. He should not utter them with the  intent, to grieve and discontent her softer spirit, but only use them as sauce, that is made of purpose to sharpen the life, and make it more desirable. To be short, when the woman is brought from all her friends, to be resident only with the man; If he be churlish to her, and unkind, from whom shall she hope for comfort, or expect relief? Offences as well in mariageas in other States will grow; but to reform the wife by way of violence, I find no warrant. He therefore, that cannot rule her without beating is worthy to be beaten himself for having made so bad a choice. The Bride-bush is never to be besprinkled but with sweet water, and may the Bramble be his portion, that shall otherwise bedew it. Husband's therefore love your wives, and be not bitter—  
That we may not take this word Bitterness here in too large a sense, we must know, that our Apostle in prohibiting it, doth not desire, that the husband should as it were hoodwink himself, that he may not see the Vices, and imperfections of his Wife. It was a prodigious dulness in Antoninus to commend his Faustina for her chastity, when the whole World had taken notice of her Luxury: the like in Sylla, who very stiffly praised Messalla for her purity, when in every Tavern throughout Athens, the Fiddlers sang her prostitutions: He did not know his Bed to be dishonoured, till his very enemies did cast it into his Teeth. The Apostle requireth not this stupidity in any.  
Every man as he knows his wife to be the weaker vessel, so he must look after the Weakness of this Vessel; He must search out the Leaks, that they may never either blot himself, or blemish his posterity. Mart. lib. 6. Epigram. 39  
2. It is no Bitterness, to deny her the knowledge of thy Secrets. 
Mic. 7.5.  Trust not in a friend, saith the Prophet, neither put thy confidence in a Counsellor: Nay, Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy Bosom. The Philistine ploweth with no other Heifer, and therefore Samson conceal thy Riddle.  
3. It is no Bitterness, to find fault where there is just cause, nor to reprove upon good occasion. Qui non vetat peccare cum potest, jubet. He makes himself an Abettor to her fault, that seeks not to abridge her in her folly. Only this, his Reprehensions must savour of Meekness, not of Madness; they must be clothed in God's words, not his own.  
4. It is no Bitterness, so fare to cross her humour, as still to persevere in doing those things the forbearance whereof may redound with hurt or prejudice, either to thy soul, or thy substance, notwithstanding any importunity of hers to the contrary.  
Fiftly, and lastly, 'tis no bitterness to deny her that liberty, which may prove dangerous to her, disastrous to thyself. Let not the wife then count that bitter, which is sweet; Neither let the husband under these pretences obtrude upon her that for sweet, which indeed is bitter: But if the wife b● subject, let the husband love; So shall the balance be equally poised; and marriage if it be a bondage, will prove such a one, as is only knit in love-knots. The yoke of it will be drawn with pleasure, and delight, to God's glory, and their own comfort.     


The Ground of the first Book of the second TOME.  
Children obey your parents in all things; for this is wel-pleasing unto the Lord.  
TOM. II. LIB. I.  

The duty of children to their parents.  
FRom the first economical combination, which was betwixt the husband, and the wife; we come now to the second, which is betwixt the parent, and the child; And here as in the former in exacting those mutual duties which are to be performed by the one to the other; our Apostle gins with the weaker, and that as I conjecture either for the same reasons alleged there or others not much unlike. For first of all, children are usually more defective towards their parents, than parents can be toward them Hoc est amor in ho●inibus, quod humour in arboribus: Even corrupted nature teacheth every one to be carefully provident for his own. For according to Gerson; Naturaliter ascendit su●cus à radi●e ad ramos, & non è converso. The sap which is in Trees ascendeth naturally from the root to the branches, and not contrarily. Secondly, when children shall truly tender their obedience, parents can not choose but afford their love. To come then to a particular consideration of the Apostles words; we have in them two things, Regulam, et rationem Regulae:  
First, a Rule; Children obey your parents in all things.  
Secondly a reason of this rule, For this is well pleasing unto the Lord.  
In the rule we may observe 4 things,  
First, the persons whom it concerns, Children.  
Secondly, the duty, which is exacted by it, Obedience.  
Thirdly; To whom they are to tender it, Parents.  
Fourthly, and lastly, How fare, In all things. Children obey your parents in—   

Children.  
As touching the first, In the original we read, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, whereby is signified unto us a man's whole progeny. So that sons, and daughters are not only to be understood here, but likewise nephew and nieces. For even these are comprehended, and that according to Law and Scripture, under the name of Children; As when the jews without any distinction are called the Children of Israel. It is a rule then, which concerneth all. The Athenians, according to Thucydides, idly conceited their original to be from out the earth; but reason, and religion both teach us, that man is the offspring of man. Whosoever therefore is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the child of any one, he hath by virtue of this title some, to whom he owes all honour, and obedience; And it is neither length of time, nor difference in state, that can authorise a dispensation for this duty. For as touching the first.  
It is not only during our nonage, and minority, but likewise in our best maturity, that we must with all due reverence subject our wills to their commands. And as concerning the later, Though in a civil, and politic respect, a public Magistrate be more honourable than a private man, yet as he is a son, he is to count himself inferior unto him, from whom his being is derived.  
jacob was in great want when he departed out of Canaan; joseph his son yet being a Prince in Egypt, and one whom Pharaoh had made his Lord-high-Constable, as it were, for the government of his whole land; caused his Chariot to be made ready; and went up with all observance to meet Isaac his father. Ye may see the like respect in Solomon. 
1 Kin. 2.19.  His mother did no sooner approach, but he rose from our the seat of Majesty and bowed himself unto her. Yea, our Saviour Christ, a greater fare than Solomon, neglected not the meanness of his Parents, but notwithstanding he was King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, he thought it no disadvantage to his dignity, 
Luke 5.51  to show himself subject unto them. In a word then, whosoever is a child stands liable to this rule, and it is neither wealth, nor age, nor honour, or the like, which can unloose this tie. The word is indefinite, and without all exemption or limitation. Children obey: And so from the persons whom this rule concerns, I come to the duty which hereby is required.   

Obey.  
The word in the original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and according to the native signification, which it carrieth, denotes unto us two things.  
First, the matter that must be tendered.  
Secondly, the manner, how it must be rendered.  
For first, it implies an humble promptitude in entertaining the commands of others.  
Secondly, a cheerful application of our best endeavours to a quick, and full performance of the same.  
The several parts then whereof this obedience here required doth consist are these:  
First, to do that which our parents shall enjoin us.  
Secondly, to learn that which they shall teach us.  
Thirdly, to redress and amend what ever they reprove as faulty in us. As touching the first.  
Obedience hath ever been magnified both of God, and man. The offspring of the righteous is obedience and love. The Rechabites shall never want a Panegyricke to testify their obedience to the world, 
Hier. 35.2.  no though the book of Hieremy the Prophet happen to be cut again with a penknife, and burnt upon a hearth, as in the days of Zidkiiah. jonadab their father had enjoined them to drink no wine, & it was a Law, which they observed with such a religious respect, that neither they, nor their wives, their sons, nor their daughters, did ever violate or infringe. 'Twas Christ's prophecy of himself, and it will beseem us well to practise it. The Lord opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, 
Esay 50.5.  neither turned I back. It was written of him in the book, that he should do the will of his father, and he did it. The Law was in the midst of his bowels, and without any protraction or delay he presenteth himself, 
Psal. 40.8.  Lo I come: He was obedient to the death, yea even to the death of the Cross; and though he were the son, yet learned he obedience by the things he suffered, and according to S. Ber. Ne perderet obedientiam, perdidit vitam. Though his pangs were sharp, sweet was the peace wherewith they were rewarded.  
Disobedience on the other side could never avoid the judgements of Almighty God. It cast the Angels out of heaven; our first parents out of Paradise; Let's wife out of her life, and nature too; Saul out of his Kingdom; jonas out of the ship; the children of Israel out of their native soil, and which is more, out of the natural root that bore them. For this is the reason which God himself allegeth, I spoke unto them, but they would not hear, 
Hier. 35.17  I cried unto them, but they would not answer. Samuel tells us, that it is as the sin of witchcraft. And Ezekiel, 
cap. 8.16.  that to turn our backs rebelliously upon the Lord is an abomination which admits no parallel. Yet nothing more natural to man. The breasts of Eve gave no other Milk than perverseness to her children; neither did Adam bequeath to his posterity any other patrimony.  
But he that hath been principled in the school of grace, will never appear like Otho's soldiers, who according to the Historian, jussa ducum interpretari, quam exequi malebant, delighted more in commenting upon the directions of their leaders, than performing them; but like the Centurions: Bid him go, and he goeth; come, and he cometh: do this, and he doth it. He stands not to inquire after the nature and scope of that which is enjoined him; nor yet to search upon what reasons, motives, and inducements, it is grounded, 
Ambros. Offic. lib. 1. cap. 17.  but borne as it were Daedaliis remigiis upon the wings of diligence, he cuts through all encumbrances to do it: He knows it is his father's will, and here he finds his rule, Children obey.  
Secondly, this obedience consisteth in learning what their parents teach them. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom, and instruction. My son therefore, saith Solomon, 
Pro. 1.8.  hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. 
Pro. 31.1.  Lemuel a potent King gloried in the practice of that prophecy which his mother taught him.  
Thirdly, they must amend whatsoever they reprove; And behold the eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother in this the Ravens of the valleys shall ●icke it out, 
Pro. 30.17.  and the young Eagles shall ea●e it. This for the matter.  
For the manner, how this obedience is to be tendered. It must be with all internal, and external reverence. Internally, they must conceive a holy estimation of their parents; and externally, be ready with all dutiful behaviour to accept of their commands. The fift precept in the Decalogue is, Honour thy father, and thy mother, but the Apostle useth the word Obey.  
First, to tax a fault whereof children for the most part are usually guilty. For many will give all due respect and reverence to their parents, who yet in the fashioning of their lives will deny them their obedience, and with a refractory ear put by their counsel and advise.  
Secondly, because obedience is the chiefest part of that honour whereunto children by Gods divine injunction are obliged. For vain is the pretence of honouring them, where there is not a readiness to obey them; as may be seen by that parable of the two sons propounded by our Saviour Christ himself to the Priests and Elders of the people. 
Mat. 21.30.  3. Because such as are not obedient to their parents, cannot be obedient unto God. He is the supreme father of all; & ab illo omnis paternitas; 
Eph. 3.16.  of him the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Our carnal parents are but as it were his deputies, and vicegerents. Lactantius therefore styles them only generandi ministros; 
Lib. 5. c. 19  the instrumental causes of our being: But will the King think himself honoured, when his delegate is disobeyed? Questionless, no. Let children then obey their parents; for this is well pleasing to the Lord. And so from the matter which is here required, Obedience; I come to the persons, to whom it must be tendered, Parents.  Children obey your Parents. 
He doth not say, Obey your Fathers, but your Parents, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, under which word both fathers, and mothers are equally comprehended, and that not without just cause. For the child takes his original from both: and therefore owes obedience and reverence unto both. Harken to thy father that begot thee, saith Solomon, 
Pro. 23 22.  and despise not thy mother, when she is old. Again there is couched in this word a very forcible argument, or rather many, and all of them sufficient to stir up children to obedience. For the very name of parents can no sooner sound in the ear of a child, but it must put him in mind that these are they, from whom he hath received not only life, but for the most part, food also for the preservation of that life, and good education for the b●tt●ring of the same. Now as concerning the first.  
If from them he have derived his corporal being, then is he bound by the law of nature to subject his will in all things unto theirs. The little Lamb runs at the call of the dam; and the younger Elephants are always pliable to the directions of the old. Secondly, If from them this being hath been preserved by a daily supply of food and nourishment, then lies there a moral tie upon him; and by the law of gratefulness he is to tender unto them all observance: and to this the very Stork may instruct them. For when his parents by reason of their age lie bedrid, as it were upon their nest, and are wholly stripped of their plumes; he doth not only bring them food wherewith to nourish them, but spreads his pinions forth upon them, and makes his own Feathers a cover for their nakedness; returning that love to them in their enfeebled state, which inbred gratitude puts him in mind to have received from them in his. A retribution so generally admired of all antiquity, that the requital of a benefit even amongst men was ever entitled Antipelargosis, of the word Pelargos, which is the usual appellation of this foul. As if nature could not have produced a more lively precedent of piety than this.  
Thirdly, and lastly, If by good discipline, and godly education they have bettered this his being, he is then obliged out of a consideration of his own utility and gain to do the like. The greater our debt, the greater m●st be our duty; Christ had done much for Saint Mary Magdalene, and she loved much. Every Christian is to be respected though no other Bond should tie us thereunto, but that of Christianity. But if to this be added others, we must then grow in our affections.  
Let the Elders, 
1 Tim. 5.17  saith the Apostle, who rule well, be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the Word and Doctrine; and why a double honour, but because of a double desert, which doth require and exact it? Now to whom can a man be more especially and particularly bound, than to his Parents, by whom he hath received what ere he hath, and what ere he is?  
I, but will some say, the things which are enjoined me by my Parents, are base, and such as if I underwent them, would expose me to disgrace, and make me derided of the world. O consider not what they require, but what thy Lord, and Maker hath ordained, and let his proceed towards Christ, his one, and only Son provoke thee to Obedience. He commanded him to bear the Cross, and he with all alacrity embraced it; he willed him to let his face be buffeted, his Flesh ploughed up with whips, and his cheeks defaced with loathsome excrements. Yea, he willed him to suffer every word he spoke, and every miracle he wrought to be traduced and blasphemed, and he declined it not, but in all things became obedient to the will of his Heavenly Father.  
Others peradventure will object that their Parents are destitute of wisdom, and discretion, and therefore unfit to be obeyed in any thing they shall impose; but however, my answer is, they are not to be despised. The Rose smells not the less, because it springs from out a Briar: Neither doth an Almond abate of his sweetness, because of the hardness of his shell. GOD knows what is good for thee, and hath therefore caused thee to come out of the Loins of such, that the fair tender of thy obedience, might make thee a worthy spectacle to God, to Angels, and to men.  
A third sort, to blanche this duty from themselves, will peradventure say, They are not my natural Parents, but my Stepfather, or Stepmother. Be it so, yet even these must be obeyed. The great respect of Ruth to Naomi, is sufficient to remove this cavil, as likewise that of Moses to jethro. The one would not be persuaded to abandon the society of her Mother in Law, but would share with her in all occurrences: the other harkened to the voice of his Father in law, & did in all things as he directed. Or if these examples be too weak, look again upon that of Christ to joseph: He had no greater relation to him, than that he was betrothed to the blessed Virgin his Mother, and yet he was content to be governed by him.  
A fourth and last rank, to plead exemption from what is here required, will say, They be not my Parents at all, but only my kindred and allies, as my Uncle or my Aunt, &c that have had the breeding and bringing of me up. It is all one, thou ow'st this duty even unto them. Esther was advanced to be a Queen, she forgot not yet in the height of Majesty to show her obedience to her Uncle Mordecai. To close up this point then, Children obey your Parents. The next to be discussed is the extent of this obedience; how fare it is to reach, Children obey your parents in all things.   

In all things.  
There must be a limitation of this; for universal, and absolute Obedience is due only to God, and we may find it in Ephes. 6.1. where the Apostle plainly expresseth what here he leaves to be understood. Children obey your Parents in the Lord, that is, so far forth as is permitted by the Lord. Or thus, 
A. Gell. lib. 2 Cap. 7.  All things may be reduced to a threefold rank. For 1. some are simply good, and these must be done, notwithstanding any inhibition of our Parents to the contrary, and that in regard of the things themselves, as likewise in regard of him that doth enjoin them. For he that listeneth, saith our Saviour, to Father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me.  
2. Some things are simply evil; and these must not be done for any strong entreaties or enforcements that can be used by our Parents, because God forbids them; and according to that of Saint Peter, We are to obey him rather than men. 
Act. 5.29.   
3. And lastly, some things are of an indifferent strain; as neither simply good, nor simply evil, & in these children must show their Obedience without any reluctation, how unmeet soever they may seem to their own apprehension. In adiaphoris, saith Gerson, superioris judicio maximè credendum, quoniam ille vice Dei tibi dicit, quid expedit, & quid decet. In matters of an indifferent nature, a man must ever subscribe to the judgement of his Superior, because he doth supply the place of God, and serves as one deputed from him to tell thee, what is decent and convenient to be done.  
Patris jussa discutere non lic●t, patris monita retractare non convenit, s●ith Petrus Ravennas. Tristior esse poterit paterni mandati species, res tamen ipsa salutifera est, & vitalis. Though the commands of our Parents may seem to us never so harsh, never so unjust, so they be not clearly convicted of impiety, we are not to reject them, especially if we be such as are still under their government, and protection. An excellent example we have of this in Isaac, who without any resistance, either in word or deed, suffered himself to be bound, and laid upon the Altar, where he was content so far to yield unto the will of his Father, as to be sacrificed unto the lord 
jude 11.36  The like did Iephtah's daughter unto him; and the like should be done by every one. The very placing of the fift Commandment, in which this duty is required, may be sufficient to move us hereunto: God hath set it before our goods, yea before our lives; to show that Obedience to Parents should be dearer unto us, than ●it●●● Goods or Lives. Agapae, there is annexed unto it a promise's of Long life, a thing so beloved of all, that ●here need no other allurement. For Death is hated, and abhorred of Nature.  
But here it may be demanded, whether married Children, or such as are called to any public place either in Church or Commonweal be still bound to obey their Parents, and how fare. I answer, that this filial obedience is to receive no intermission, so long as life doth last. For 1. as it is 1 Tim. 2.3. it is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a good thing, and to God acceptable, but it is likewise, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a just thing, Eph. 6.1. We cannot forbear it without injury. Christ's direction therefore is this, Give unto Caesar, 
Mat. 22.21  that which is Caesar's; to every one his due; Tribute to whom Tribute, Custom to whom Custom; Fear to whom fear; 
Rom. 3.7.  Honour to whom Honour belongeth. Now this is proper, and peculiar unto parents, as appears by God himself; If I be a Father, where is my honour? if I be a Master, where is my fear?  
2. It is exacted by way of Precept; Honour thy Father, & thy mother that thy days may be long in the Land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee. So that concerning the continuance of this duty. It is to last, so long as we do live, but not in the same measure, nor after the same manner. For such as live in their Father's house, and under their Father's power, are to be employed by their Parents both at home, and abroad, according as they shall think fit to make use of their service.  
But as touching such as are married or called to the administration either of Church or commonweal; though they be still tied to reverence, & obey their Parents Will, as likewise to secure, and relieve their wants, as oft as occasion shall require: they are not bound yet as before, to cohabitate with them; nor yet to expedite their businesses, as having matters of their own to look unto, and those of greater moment and importance. And this is most apparent in the first sort. For it is the Ordinance of God himself, 
Gen. 2.24.  that a man should forsake Father and Mother, to cleave to his Wife; which is not to be understood simply but comparatively, & in respect of an individual society: Again, he must labour for the sustentation of his own Family. This was that which jacob pretended for his departure, 
Gen 30.  when Laban did solicit him, still to continue the keeping of his Flock, willing him to appoint his own wages; Thou knowest, said jacob, how I have served thee, and how thy Cattle hath been with me; It was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased to a multitude; and the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming; and now when shall I provide for my own house also?  
Now as touching those, that have betook themselves to any Church-imployments, the case is clear. There is no authority in Parents to revoke them thence, to look again to their terrestrial affairs. For if a Father can not withdraw his Son from the service of an earthly King, much less is he to do it from the service of the KING of Kings. He that putteth his hand to this Plough, and looketh back, 
Luke 9 ult.  shall be thought unfit for the Kingdom of heaven. The same reason may serve for those which are advanced in the Commonweal. For it is requisite that private things should still give way to public. To resolve the doubt then in a word. A child can never be freed from the duty either of honouring, or relieving his Parents; but from Cohabitation, as likewise from the administration of their domestical affairs he may. Here the Pharisees then meet with this condemnation, while devilishly they would disspence with their children's honouring and relieving of their Parents, 
Mat 15.6.  so they would bestow it upon them. The Church of Rome, likewise hath her blame, while in imitation of their error, she affirms it lawful for children even against the will and pleasure of their Parents, if once they be come to ripeness of years, which in a Son they hold to be at 14. in a daughter at 12. to put themselves into a Monastery.  
For 1. to do a thing not commanded by God, with an apparent violation of that which is commanded, is rash and irreligious; but for a child to take upon him the profession of a Monastical life, is no Commandment of GOD'S, whereas to be serviceably obedient unto Parents, is a manifest injunction of his: he must not therefore abandon them in such a case, without their free consent.  
2. It is against Reason, and religion to offer that which is another's unto God without the approbation of him that owes it. Now children so long as they remain under their Parent's tuition, are a part of their peculiar possessions; and therefore not to be disposed of as they list themselves. We have it in the old Law, 
Num 30.3.  That if a woman shall vow a vow unto the Lord, being in her Father's house, and in her youth, and her father disallow her in the day that he hears thereof, not any of her vows, wherewith she hath bound her Soul, shall stand.  
3. If it be rashness to do a thing without the advice and consent of our Parents; it must needs be wickedness to do it against their Wills; and when they use their best endeavours to prevent it; but it is rashness for any child of 15. or 16. years to determine upon a course of life without his parent's knowledge; and specially upon such a kind of life as causeth a necessary a vocation from those duties, which are to be performed unto Parents, what must it be then to do thus against their Wills?  
4. And lastly; For I omit many reasons, which might easily be alleged for the conviction of this Error. The Gangrensian Council, celebrated in Paphlagonia, Anno 324. pronounceth for Anathema the child, that under a pretence of religion shall departed from his Parents; and not give them that reverence, which they may justly challenge. How true then this Assertion of the Romanists is, let every man be judge.  
Here then are condemned Marriages, without consent of Parents. GOD gave Eve unto Adam, as having most right, because he made her; And this authority he hath communicated to all Parents; Rebeccah asked the consent of her Father before she would marry; yea Ishmael though ungracious, was willing his mother should appoint him a wife. Hamor entreated jacob for Dinah; 
Gn. 21.21.  The Sechemites, though uncircumcised; would not commit a rape, but sought the good will of those, whose daughters they desired to marry; And in 1 Cor. 7.36. Every Father, saith the Apostle, hath power over his Virgin. Now what this power is, the Law will show us.  
If a man had enticed a maid, and lain with her, he was to endow her for his w●fe, 
Exo. 22.16.  but if the Father would not consent, he was to pay the money, and yet not marry the party, yea, let us search the Bible throughout, and we shall find, that God did always absolutely interest the parents in providing Wives for their Sons, 
Deut. 7.3.  and Husbands for their Daughters. Samson though the beauty of the Timnite had in a desperate manner fired his affections, 
judge 14.2.  durst not yet without the consent of his Father and Mother take herto wife, because he knew the match would otherwise be unwarrantable.  
It was the Plea which Thamar used to her brother Amnon, when with a violent hand, he did invade her Chastilie, 
1 Sam. 13.13.  I pray thee speak unto the King, for he will not withhold me from thee. So that the law of Nature, the Law of Moses, and the Law of Christ require from children a particular subjection of their own wills to that of their Parents in this kind. To these we may add the Laws of Nations, the Constitutions of Popes, the determinations of Councils, all like so many several lines uniting themselves in one, and the same Centre.  
1. The Romans observed it very strictly, allowed no marriage to be lawful, but what was contracted, and agreed upon by the Parents of either party. Ye may see the practice of it in the Comedy; 

Terent. Andr. Act. 1 S●en. 1. — Hac famâ impulsus Chremes  
Vltrò ad me venit, unicam gnatam suam  
Cum dote summa filio uxorem ut daret;  
Placuit; despondi; hic nuptiis dictus est dies.   

Act. 1. Scen. 4.  Plautus likewise in his Aulularia presents us Megadorus stipulating with Euclio for his daughter, in the same manner.  
Catullus in a Nuptial Verse of his thus speaking to a young Damsel, who out of a foolish fancy, when her Parents had provided her a match, against which lay no exception, utterly refused it, maketh this his Plea, whereby to work the obstinacy of her Will to a more flexible temper.  
At tu ne pugnes tali cum conjuge Virgo;  
Non aequum est pugnare, pater cui tradidit ipse,  
Ipse pater cum matre, quibus parere necesse est;  
Virginitas non tota tua est; ex parte parentum est,  
Tertia pars patri data; pars data tertia matri.  
Tertia sola tua est; noli pugnare duobus,  
Qui genero sua jura simul cum dote dederunt.  
Refuse not, gentle maid to be his Bride,  
Whom thy dear Parents did for thee provide;  
By nature thou art bound them to obey,  
Then let not Humour Duty oversway;  
Nor think thyself sole Mistress of that Gem,  
In which thou hast no interest but by them.  
The thirds of thy virginity belong  
Unto thy father, and without great wrong  
In other thirds thy mother hath her share;  
Only the thirds remaining we declare  
To be at thy dispose; then humbly do,  
As they would have thee; struggle not with two;  
But rest content his loving spouse to be,  
Whom they would make their son in law by thee.  
Secondly among the decrees of Euaristus, Pope, and Martyr, who lived about the year 110. there is one, in which he plainly pronounceth those marriages to be rather whoredoms, and adulteries, than marriages, which are not concluded by the parents. Pope Vrban was of the same opinion.  
Thirdly, the Lateran Council under PP. Innoc. third, Cano. 51. did peremptorily determine, that wedlock, if the person were under years, which was otherwise performed. The 4th Toledan did the like. 
Ad uxorem lib. 2. cap. 9   
Fourthly, Tertullian celebrating the praises of Christian Matrimony, among other excellencies in it, recounts this as a chief, that they never marry Sine consensu patrum, without the consent of parents, Non est virginalis pudoris eligere maritum, 
Lib. 1. de Patri. Abra. cap. 9  saith St. Ambrose. It becomes not the modesty of a Virgin to be the chooser of her own husband. Euripides in his Andromacha, makes Hermione, to answer the importunity of her suitors thus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. I leave to my father the care of my marriage, as a thing not at all belonging to my choice. I could produce a world of other arguments, but I think this little essay of every several kind enough to principle ingenious natures, to the performance of their duty in this kind; And therefore, Children obey— And so from the rule, I come to the reason.   

For this is well pleasing to the Lord.  
The Apostle allegeth it as a Motive, to stir up children to this duty; and sure ●here can not be a more effectual inducement to religious minds. He doth not therefore say, this your obsequiousness shall redound with great profit, & advantage to yourselves; or shall be pleasing to your parents; but it shall be acceptable unto Christ: and to please him is everlasting happiness. But how may some object, shall it appear, that, this observance to our parents is so pleasing and acceptable to God our Father, and to Christ our Lord? I answer that it appears two manner of ways. First, by the temporal reward, which is annexed to that Commandment in the Decalogue, which concerns the honouring of our parents, being the first Commandment with promise, and therefore urged by the Apostle to this end. Eph. 6. 2. Again it is evident by the temporal punishment, which God himself hath apppointed to be inflicted upon such as wilfully break, and violate this his mandate. If a man, saith he, have a stubborn, and rebellious son, 
Deut. 21.18  that will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother; and when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them, he shall be brought unto the Elders of his City, and unto the gate of the place, and the men of his City shall stone him with stones that he die. Yea, the very heathen did acknowledge, life to be prolonged unto such, as did demean themselves piously towards their parents; & were of opinion that the contempt of these was to he expiated with no less punishment than that of the Gods. 
Plato de leg●b. lib. 11 pag. 932.  Let Children therefore obey their parents in all things, for—  
Well pleasing: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. It is not only pleasing, but wel-pleasing: and from hence we may collect these observations.  
First, that the faithful in every good work ought specially to look unto the Lord, not caring how it be censured by man, so it be pleasing, and acceptable unto him Ludam, et vilior fiam: said David unto Michal; I will be yet more vile: 
2 Sam. 6.22  when she derided him, because he danced before the Ark.  
Secondly, that there is a way to please God, even by pleasing man, and this may serve to hearten up the good in the performance of all family-duties; as likewise to reprove the hypocrite, who counteth sacrifice more pleasing to the Lord, than either mercy or obedience. For sure, he will be served with obedience unto men.  
Thirdly, we may note from hence, That even in our childhood, we have a means to endear ourselves too God. For according to Hugo de S. Victore; Haec paternitas est nobis Sacramentum, et imago divinae paternitatis, ut discat cor humanum in eo principio, quod videt, quid debet illi principio à quo est, et non videt: God hath appointed a paternity here below, to serve us as a Sacrament and fair resemblance of his divine paternity above; that we might learn by this Original of ours which we see, what we own to that Original, from whence we are, and see not.  
Fourthly, that even children are bound to make conscience of their ways as fare as they have reason to discern good from ill; and must endeavour to do that, which may be pleasing unto God. 'Tis said of Hieroboams diseased child; That there was found some good thing in him towards the Lord God of Israel. 
1 Kin. 14.15.  And sure it is a happy thing, when young men see visions, as well as old men dream dreams. Parents should begin betimes therefore to enure their children to the paths of righteousness, and train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. For the workmanship of grace and obedience in the hearts and lives of children, is like the graving of a King's palace, and as soon may the character of God, as that of Caesar be imprinted in those waxed years. The children of Bethel might have been taught as easily to have welcomed the Prophet with an Hosanna; Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord, as in reproach & scorn to call him, Baldpate, Baldpate, as he passed along. And thus much concerning the duties of children toward their parents. Now follow those of parents toward their children.    

The Ground of the 2d Book of the second TOME.  
Fathers, provoke not your Children to anger, lest they be discouraged.  
TOM. II. LIB. II.  

The duty of parents to their children.  
THE Apostle still carries the scales in an even hand, and as in the first combination belonging to the constitution of a family, having principled the wife, he came to direct the husband, that neither might be defective in the p rformance of such offices, as by virtue of the nuptial tie were mutually to pass from one to the other: So here in the second, which is betwixt the parent, and the child, he doth the like. Fathers, saith he, provoke not your children, lest they be discouraged.  
In the words we may observe two things.  
First, A prohibition, Fathers provoke not your Children.  
Secondly, the cause of this prohibition, lest they be discouraged.  
In the former we may consider.  
First, the persons, to whom the prohibition is directed; Fathers.  
Secondly, the act prohibited; Provocation.  
Thirdly, the persons in whose behalf it is prohibited; Children. Fathers—  
As touching the first; It may be demanded, why the Apostle doth here make mention of Fathers only, not retaining the word Parents, which he had used before in exacting the obedience of children, considering that father's, and mothers both are comprehended under it. I answer, that children are usually deficient in the tender of this duty towards their mothers; 'Twas necessary therefore, in prescribing of the same, that mothers should equally be included: But very seldom, or never is the tenderness of their affections so fare exasperated against the fruit of their womb, as to look upon it with an austere, and sour eye. 'Twas sufficient therefore here, that fathers only should be named, as principally liable to this Interdiction. The offence of a mother is to be more cockering, than cruel. Moses his wife, 
Exod. 4.25.  called him a bloody husband, because he put her child to pain, though in a way, which God had commanded. And therefore, Fathers provoke—   

Fathers.  
The very name implies an Argument. For when he saith, Fathers provoke not; 'Tis no other than if he should have said, Forbear the doing of that, which so ill beseems the person, and aught to be so fare removed from the practice of a father. 'Tis a title, which sounds not any thing but mildness. The Poet therefore speaking of one, in whom this virtue was exceeding eminent, saith thus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: He was as mild, and loving, as a father. And do we not see that the very creatures are instructed by nature to be kind, and courteous towards their young. Plutarch writes of the male Partridge, that he shares with the female in hatching of her eggs; and is the first when they come out of the shell, that brings them meat. The Bear, and the Wolf, for want of hands, wherewith with to struck their whelps, are still licking them with their tongues. Yea, the Dragons, how pernicious so ever unto others, look smilingly upon their own; And shall we, that are endued with reason be froward, and perverse to those of our own loins? Omnes honesti mores in bestiis congregantur in homine: Man is an universal Pandect, and in him are congregated what ever virtues are in all the creatures. Ishmael, was a gibing bratte; Esau a surly child; and Absalon a traitorous son. Abraham was yet loving to the one; Isaac tender over the other; and David most affectionate towards the third; witness the care he had to preserve him, while he lived, and the lamentation, which he made for him being dead. In a word then, having such a precept together with such precedents, Fathers provoke not your children. And thus from the persons, to whom this prohibition is directed, I come to the act prohibited, and that is Provocation.  
The word in the original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and signifies to provoke to anger; which may happen many ways to children from their fathers, by abuse of their paternal power; as first by words; and secondly, by deeds. By words, three manner of ways.  
First, by burdening them with precepts, either unlawful, or unmeete: unlawful; 
1 Sam. 20.31.  as Saul, when he commanded Ionath●n his son, to fetch David, his innocent, and harmless friend unto him, that he might deprive him of his life. And likewise, when Herodias enjoined her daughter to ask of Herod, who had promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she demanded, the head of john the Baptist; 
Math. ●4. 8  we read not yet that this dancing daughter was any way displeased with the bloody mandate of her mother, but had she harboured in her breast so much as a grain of piety; 'twould have grieved her very soul to hear such an unjust request.  
Again, unmeet; as when the father, no necessity urging him thereunto, shall bind them to such servile, and base employments as beseem not an ingenuous nature to undergo. For according to the Philosopher, The rule of a father over his children, should be like that of a King over his subjects, grounded rather upon love than fear. He should not out of an insulting tyranny abuse their labour, as the Egyptians did that of the Israelites, by tiring out their strength in works of drudgery; but make that use of it, which may tend to the good of either.  
Secondly, fathers may provoke their children by thundering upon them undeservedly with railing, and reproachful words: For these have usually with them so sharp a sting, as will go near to wound the soul, of the most settled patience: and in this kind also was Saul injurious unto jonathan, when in his anger he said unto him, Thou son of the wicked and rebellious woman, do not I know, that thou hast chosen the son of Ishai, to thine own confusion and to the confusion of that shameful, and ignominious womb which brought thee forth. For what should more provoke a son than to hear not only himself reviled and disgraced; but his mother likewise to be scandalised with base invectives, and made in reputation inferior to a common Courtesan?  
Thirdly, and lastly, parents may provoke their children in words, by traducing their works, and weakening their desert to others, and that either before their faces, or behind their backs. And indeed it hath often happened, that the father hath suspected virtue even in his child; and hath therefore laboured to weaken the reputation of it in the opinion of such as were thought to admire it: or sought by bloody practices utterly to extinguish it. Solyman the fourth Emperor of the Turkish Monarchy, commanded his son Bajazet to be strangled by Hassan Aga, together with his four young sons, one of which lying in the cradle was there murdered by an Eunuch, the child smiling in the villain's face; And that which moved him to this unnatural cruelty, was only the nobleness of their sire, which in his ambitious apprehension, was gazed upon by his subjects with an eye of too much admiration. The like jealousy provoked him with no less barbarous fury to prosecute the life of Mustapha his son, a Prince in whom wisdom and valour were so equally poised, that his attempts were never frustrated of their determinate end: And so great was the expectation which the people had of his maturer growth, that after his death, if ever, either in foreign, or domestic affairs their designs had miscarried, their usual exclamation was, Gietti Sultan Mustapha; Sultan Mustapha the only stay of our hopes is dead and gone. Yea the best, and the meekest amongst the Ottoman Commanders, have always more or less been sick of this distemper; and would therefore never suffer their sons to live in Court, when once they had attained to years of discretion, but sent them to govern their Provinces a fare off, where they lived under the check of their Lieutenants general, without whose leave they might not departed thence, no not to visit their Father. And what can be more unnatural? Filii gloria patris tri●mphus; The very Briar is esteemed, because it bringeth forth a Rose; and therefore Fathers provoke not your children. This for the first kind of Provocation.  
The second expresseth itself in Deed, and that five kind of ways.  
1. By subtracting from them, that, which of right pertains unto th●m; as by denying them necessary food, & raiment, and not giving them that education, and bringing up, which their estates and means may conveniently afford. And this is an offence so great, that the Apostle doth avouch, and that boldly, whosoever he be, that is guilty of it, to be a denier of the Faith, and worse than an Infidel. 
1 Tim. 5.8  But while we would avoid Charyhdis, we must beware we light not upon Scylla. Many to shun failing on the left hand, are still in the same hazard, by leaning too much upon the right; and thus do they that corrupt their children with daintier f●re, richer apparel, and costlier education than need requireth. And indeed this age of ours is sick rather of this, than of severity. That which was said of old, may justly be retorted upon us; utinam liberos nostros non ipsi perderemus; O that we were not ourselves the bane and breake-necke of our children's happiness. We undermine their very infancy with pleasures. That soft and wanton education, which we call indulgency, weakeneth the sinews both of mind and body. What will not he desire being grown to riper years, who hath been clad in Scarlet from his very Cradle? Nondum prima verba exprimit, 
Quintil. lib. 1.  & coccum intelligit; He can hardly speak, and yet he apprehends the fairest clothing and the choicest Meats; Ante palatum eorum, quàm os iustituimus: We train them up more to taste, than to talk; and hence it happeneth that for the greatest part, they prove like Adonijah, fair it may be, but wondrous faulty.  
2. Parents may provoke their Children in Deed, by using them harshly and unkindly, when they come to be of riper years. For than they should be pleased to make them sharers in whatsoever they enjoy. Artobarzanes King of Cappadocia, 
Val. Max. lib. 5. cap. 7.  as soon as his son had attained to man's estate, that he might see him equally ranked with himself, took the Diadem from off his own head, and in the sight of C●: Pompeius, set it upon his. And surely it should be the delight of parents, to see themselves paralleled, yea, and surpassed in any virtuous abilities and endowments by those of the●r own body.  
3. Their rigorous and unjust dealing in matching them; as when they enforce them contrary to their own liking to marry where they thin●e good; or restrain them from marrying where they would themselves, no withstanding that God have called them thereunto; and that the object of their choice is such as cannot but out of wilful stubbornness be any way rejected, is likewise a provoking of them, one way to Incontinency, an other to discontent.  
4. Parents provoke their children, when being transported with some headstrong, and immoderate passion, they break forth into violence, and fall upon them, even for surmised errors with bitterness and excess, not weighing what Reason might suggest, but yielding wholly to their own unbridled rage: and in this manner also was Saul injurious unto jonathan, when he darted at him with a Spear to hi● him, and that for no other cause, than taking upon him the defence of Dav d, his innocent and absent friend. For jonathan hereupon arose from the Table in a great anger, saith the Text, and did eat no meat the second day of the month, as being sorry for David, and that his Father had reviled him. Parents therefore provoke not your Children. Correct them not either unjustly or immoderately.  correction I call that, which is not grounded upon a lawful cause. Again, Immoderate, when the greatness of the punishment transcends the grievousness of the crime. A thing prohibited even by divine authority. If the wicked, 
Deut. 25.3.  saith the Lord, be worthy to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten before his face according to his trespass unto a certain number. They which are under our government, are not to be punished according to our lust, and pleasure, but proportionably, & as the nature of their transgression shall require. I pray thee, said Plato to Speusippus do thou correct my servant, for I am angry. It must be done even to the greatest malefactors with the spirit of mildness, not of madness; of love and lenity, not of choler and severity. Antiquity feigned that the Chariot of justice was always drawn by two aged, and decrepit women, 
Pierius Hieroglyph. lib. 42.  the one whereof had in her hand a sword whose edge was blunted, and whose point was broken; the other went crouching upon a staff; intimating hereby to us, that in punishing such as are under our command, we should never go but a Cripples pace, nor strike, but with such an Instrument as may not pierce too deep. I cannot therefore but much condemn the tragical asperity of Marcus Scaurus; Lucius Brutus; Manlius Torquatus, and others, who having emptied their Bosoms of all fatherly affection, did either with their own hands revenge the dear inquencies of their children, or at least see it done with their own eyes. Aulus Fulvius, a noble Senator, had a Son, whose worth even in the flower of his youth made him the honour of his equals; and gave the most renowned in the Verge of Rome occasion to expect, one, that should quickly parallel if not exceed them in their best performances. But alas! no Plant so hopeful, which may not be blasted in the upspring. Lewd counsel had at length seduced him to side with Catiline, against the common-weal; his father having notice of his revolt, intercepted him on the way, and put him presently to death. He might have kept him in hold till the rage of that civil tempest had been over; but he thought it a greater glory to be counted a cruel Father, than a cautious; and yet I think there are few so iron-hearted, as to commend the severity of his Act. Esse debet penes patrem dulcis conditio libera servitus, absoluta custodia, timor laetus, blanda ultio, paupertas dives, 
Serm 1.  secura possessio, saith Chrysologus. The bondage of a child under his Father should be no other than a sweet and pleasing kind of liberty; the yoke which bee imposeth on him, should be soft, and not any way wring his neck. If an offence be committed, the correction must be such as may seem to court an amendment rather, than enforce it, that being no way tainted with servility, he may rejoice continually in that fear, which is to over-awe his corruptions. I have read of a Father, 
Vale. Max. lib. ●. cap. 9  his name is not extant, who having notice that his son did secretly practise his death, would not be persuaded that so unnatural a thought could be nestled in the Bosom of one Legitimate; and therefore humbly besought his wife, that she would tell him truly, whether she had thrust upon him that young man, or else conceived him by some other: at length being throughly resolved upon her many oaths, and deep asseverations, that he was his own, he took him aside into a solitary place, put a sword which he had privily brought along with him, into his hand, and withal presented him his naked throat, affirming, that there needed not either poison, or the hand of any base assassinate to commit a parricide; he was now furnished with the means, and therefore willed him to dispatch it. The son hereupon was so dismayed, that he fling away the weapon; and with a kind of ecstasy cried out, Tuverò pater vive; O live my father; Et si tam obseq●ens es, ut hoc precari filio permittas, me quoque exupera: and if thou be so obsequious, as to allow this prayer of mine, fall upon me, and take away my life, who would have deprived thee of thine. Only this I beseech thee, let not the love which I have towards thee, be the less esteemed, because repentance gives it both a Birth & Being. It is a memorable example; and sure it will become a loving and Christian Father, in the chastening of his children, to make this rather the pattern of his imitation, than the former. It is the saying of Menander.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
Good Fathers can not harbour in their Breast,  
Such furious rage, as may their child molest.  
A little punishment with them should be sufficient for the expiation of a great offence. New Wines are harsh, but commonly the older they grow the more delightful is their taste: And so it is with youth. I will not say with him in the Comedy, Non est flagitium Adolescentulum scortari, neque potare n que fores effringere, etc. But this He say, That where such riotous Affection's happen, Parents should not be so transported with any violence of Passion, as presently to cast them off, and blot them out of the list of their children; but patiently wait, Donec deferbuerint, Till their heat be spent; and labour in the mean space by Prayer, and Precepts, and moderate severity also, to stay the headstrongness of their condition.  
God's Spirit is able even in a moment to make the spotted Leopard, a Milk-white Ermine; the Tawny Ethiopian, as free from Morphue, as the beauteous Rachel. To follow therefore any tyrannous and unnatural course, is to affront his sweet and milder operation; and gives an argument that we despair of his goodness. Saint Augustine reports of his mother, that she gave great Alms, went twice a day to the Church, and there upon her Knees poured forth both Prayers and Tears, not for Gold, or Silver, or any other worldly thing, but for his true conversion to the faith; and at length she reaped the accomplishment of her desires.  
Sour Grapes may prove sweet Reasons, and ragged Colts good horses. Themistocles was so desbauched in his younger years, that his Father did disinherit him; and his mother overcome with shame, and not able to stand under the burden of so great a grief, prevented the hand of Nature, 
Val. Max. lib. 6, cap. 11  and with her own in a most tragical manner abridged the days of her wearisome life; and by this means was deprived of that sweet content, which not long after she might have enjoyed, by seeing him quite weaned from all irregularities, and become a valiant Captain, and a prudent Governor. The like happened to Alcibiades, to Scipio the African, to Valerius Fla●cus, to Fabius Maximus, and diverse others, whose unriper age was a blemish to the house from whence they came; and to the City wherein they lived; but Time made them the greatest ornaments to both.  
It is storied of Polemon the Athenian, that when he was a young man, he was in all luxurious courses prodigiously exorbitant; but entering on a certain day into the School of Xenocrates, with no better intent, than to jeer both him and his profession, he was at length so astonished at the gravity of the Philosopher, and so inwardly touched with the weightiness of his sayings, that he did immediately lay aside all barbarous behaviour; Et ex infami ganeone maximus Ph●losophus evasit; an by that one lecture, of a notorious Ruffian, b●c●me himself the greatest Philosopher that those times afforded. We read likewise of Aristotle that having in his younger years, played away his Patrimony, he betook himself to the wars; but finding that course of life not agreeable to his humour, 
Aelian, lib. 5 c. 9  he turned Apothecary, frequented the Schools, and proved in the end, the Prince of all Philosophers. julius Caesar, the rarest Monarch that ever the world brought forth, was in his first upspring of so effeminate a carriage and behaviour, that he minded nothing but the satisfying of his own voluptuous, and lose desires; but being grown to a maturer State, he so improved his worth in Martial discipline; that ere Time had run any long race, he was seen invested with the Roman Empire.  
It is an ancient Proverb; They go fare which never turn; even Saul at one time or other, may be found amongst the Prophets. Somewhat must be borne with in respect of their age; He that names youth, names ignorance, small experience, Infinite Long; a sudden quickness in entertaining them, and a foolish rashness in enjoying them.  
Remember not, O Lord, the sins of my Youth, cries David; and again, Lord take me not away, in dimidio dierum, in the midst of my days, that is, in my youth. Adam and Eve were young, when to satisfy a fond and foolish Appetite, they forfeited the royalest jurisdiction, that ever was. Yea there is not that Vice, saith S. Aug. which hath not a desire to nestle itself in the Breast of Youth.  
They were young men, which Ezekiel saw with their backs towards the Sanctum Sanctorum, 
ap. 8. v. 16.  courting their own wanton Affections with the sent of sweet Flowers; and which in all haste planted a Vine-yard, saying, Vtamur creatura etc. Come let us enjoy the good things that are present; 
Sap. 2.6.  let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments; let us crown our Heads with the Buds of Roses before they be withered, etc.  
Young men lost Rehoboam his kingdom; Phaeton was young, when through his rash and unadvised managing of the Sun's bright Chariot, he set this whole frame of Nature on a fire. He was of the same hair, whom that married wife in the Proverbs, alured to her house, 
Cap. 7. v. 13  there to take their fill of love, during the absence of her husband.  
This considered, Parents should not, when they see their children any way extravagant, slack their endeavours to reform them for want of Hope; nor yet forgo their Hope, because they fail in their endeavours; Peregrinari poterit tantummodo illorum animus in nequitia, non habitare; Vice may peradventure have some kind of Tenure in their Bosoms, but no Freehold; and who knows how s●one the Lord may grant an Ejectio firmae to cast it out. And therefore Fathers, forbear with too much rigour to provoke your children.  
5. And lastly, The improvidence of Parents in the education of their Issue, during their minority, may prove a great provocative both of grief, and anger to them in their riper years. For what can more distract a man, than when he is left at his own dispose, to see himself unfurnished of all such means, as should support his Being in the world? We have the experience of it daily, while some pine away to death in the contemplation of their necessities; others, to redress them, venture upon lawless courses, and bring their lives at length to a sad, and tragical Catastrophe, Cursing at their departure the very Urns in which the Authors of their miseries do lie entombed. It behoves a Father therefore, if he cannot leave his posterity a sufficient inheritance, to train them up to some profession, which is indeed the surest fence to keep them out of the iron clutches of an unsufferable want. The other is only an Egyptian Reed; And how can we rely upon it for security, when according to the Poet; 
Nunc ager Vmbreni sub nomine nuper Ofelli, 
Hor. Sat. 2. lib. 2.   
Dictus erit nulli proprius, sed cedit in usum  
Nunc mihi, nunc alii—  
That land, which now doth bear Vmbrenus name,  
Ofellus lately did possess the same;  
None shall enjoy it long; one while in me,  
The right shall rest, another while in thee.   
Fortune is Mistress over the greatest Patrimonies, and infinite are the chances, whereunto they are liable. He that is as rich, as Croesus at the rising of the Sun, may be as poor, as Irus before his going down. job was the wealthiest man in all the East, and yet upon a sudden; no room was left him for the entertainment of his friends, but the loathsome dunghill. A Thief, a Storm, a Fire is enough to bring to naught the labours of many years. But knowledge is a thing exempted from all miscarrying, and a sure revenue to him, that hath it; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Menander calls it; a possession out of the check of all disastrous Accidents. Claudius' Nero, when the Mathematicians had informed him, 
Sueton.  that he should one day be deprived of his Sovereignty, cheered up himself with this; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. That there was no Climate under heaven so barbarous, but would afford an Artist sufficient maintenance. Many therefore did excuse his serious practising of Music, and blanche it from asspersion, as being a Science, which afforded him pleasure while he was a Prince, and might procure him profit, when he should be a private person. Solon made a Law, that the Father which had not bred up his son to some one trade or other in his youth, should not be relieved by him in his age. The carelessness of those of Megara in this kind, gave Diogenes occasion to say, that he had rather be their sheep than their son; 
Aelian. l. 12. cap. 56.  intimating, their Providence to be greater for the breeding up of their Cattle, than their children. And it is a fault too frequent in this our age. A Gentleman is usually more solicitous for his Horse, or his estate, than either for Sons or daughters; He will be sure at any rate to provide a faithful Steward for the one, and to inquire out a skilful Rider for the other; one that shall look to the feeding & dressing of him with all diligence; when the weakest Tutor, so he be the cheapest, shall be thought fit enough for the fashioning & informing of his Children. And hence it is, that for the greatest part they degenerate from Virtue, and prove altogether distorted in their lives and conversations. julian's Apostasy is ascribed mainly to his Governor, who being seasoned with bad leaven himself, did likewise sour him. I find it in the Rolls of Antiquity recorded of one of no mean quality, that coming to a Philosopher, and having asked him, what stipend he should give him, to train up his son in the knowledge of Letters; a pretty round sum was demanded, whereupon the Father replied, that he could with less charge purchase a Slave and have him taught at hom●: I, said the Philosopher, and so for one Slave thy house in a little space may be furnished with twain. Young Natures are in this, like Looking-glasses; bend them toward the earth, and they will show you nothing but what is earthly; turn them up to heavenwards, and whatsoever Objects they represent will be heavenly. Trees grow not, either straight, or crooked, but as they are ordered by the hand, which doth first plant them. Cloth stained in the Wool, will hardly be brought to any other hue; 
Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem  
Testa diu—  New Vessels will savour long of that liquor, wherewith they were first seasoned. We are all naturally prone to corruption. Now when unsettled youth as the Comic speaks, Magistrum cepit ad eam rem improbum, ipsum animum aegrotum ad deteriorem partem plerumque applicat; lights upon a Guide addicted to vicious practices, the craggy mind is commonly swayed to the worse part. Parents therefore should be very wary, to whom they do commit the Education of their children. A good Tutor is to be preferred before much Treasure. Blessed be our Ancestors, saith the Satirist, and may their Ashes never be molested, 

juven. Sat. 7  Qui praeceptorem sancti voluere parentis  
Esse loco—  Who held a learned, and judicious Schoolmaster worthy the utmost reverence, that the best Fathers or Mothers could by nature challenge to themselves. And indeed according to Plato, the benefit, which we receive from these, our Parents, and the gods, is fare beyond the limits of requital. Philip of Macedon, 
Patric. Ser●●. Lib. 2. Tit. 7. de Repub.  did not so much rejoice, that a son was borne unto him as that he happened to be borne, when he might have Aristotle for his Teacher; And it was afterwards Alexander's own ingenuous acknowledgement, that he was no less beholding to Aristotle for his breeding, than to Philip for his birth. The one gave him his Being, but the other shown him how to use it, with glory to himself, and good to others. Diogenes the Cynik in his passage to Aegina was taken by Pirates, who brought him into the Market at Corinth to be sold, where Xeniades bought him out of their hands, & gave him not only the regiment of his Children, but likewise of his whole house; A trust, which he so faithfully discharged, that Xeniades himself was often heard to say, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; 
Diog. La●r.  Fortune, I give thee thankes, that by thy means a good Angel is entered into my house. I could enlarge myself in this discourse, but it shall suffice only to give you a taste, and away; I pass therefore now from the Act prohibited, and come to the Persons, in whose behalf it is prohibited, Children. Father provoke not your Children.  
The name is general, as in the former Verse, and denotes unto us even Sons and Daughters in law, as well as natural Children; for even these may likewise be provoked.  
1. By suspecting without just cause the soundness and sincerity of their affections; in secretly listening and enviously enquiring after every thing they either savour do.  
2. By suffering even our meanest servants to molest them, and to exercise a kind of insulting mastery and dominion over them.  
3. By branding their carriage and conversation with undeserved marks of infancy.  
4. And lastly, by giving evil Counsel, or carrying of Tales, whereby to exasperate the son against his wife, or the daughter against her husband; a practice hateful in any, but utterly to be abhorred in Parents, whose care should rather be to tack the Vine to the sides of the house, that it might grow there with pleasure and delight, than with a most unnatural and felonious hand to tear it it from that, which should support it; and therefore parents provoke not your children.  
Your Children; He doth not say this, or that Child, but universally, and without any limitation, Your Children. Some are all for the Elder, and make no more account of the younger, be they never so many, than if they were not the fruit of their own bodies, but the spurious issue of some unlawful copulation; a fault too general in this our land; and it ariseth from too great an ambition of perpetuating their name, which transports them indeed so fare, that they grow forgetful of Nature. Others on the contrary, are all for the younger; Quo serior, eo dulcior; they make the Dilling, their Darling; And this in a manner is incident to all. Isaac was the Son, whom Abraham, as josephus writes; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, loved above measure, with surpassing and more than ordinary love. The like was joseph unto jacob; 
Gen. 45. v. ult.  I have enough, said he, when after a long miss of him, he understood of his safety in the Land of Egypt, joseph my son is yet alive. And I deny not but affection may lawfully be extended, upon particular respects more to one child than an other, provided always that none may be provoked. The Prohibition is general: Fathers provoke not your children.  
Children. The very word hath in it an Argument, whereby Parents may be easily incited to forbear that which is here forbidden. For it is no other, than if the Apostle should have said, Be not injurious to your own flesh, wring not out your own blood, wound not your own Bowels; be not cruel to your own selves. For according to Aquinas, Filius est aliquid Patris; The Son is a piece of his Father; & as the Philosopher tells us, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; I will render it in the Apostles phrase, No man ever hated his own flesh. It is said in the Canticles, That Love is strong as death; And by this is intimated unto us, that of all the affections in man, Love is the strongest, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Love unto children is most passionate of all. Multa volumus patriae debere, multa parentibus, saith the Prince of Orators, multa demum multis, sed filiorum causâ omnia volumus: We joy to do much for the good, and safety of our Country, for our Parents much, and much for many, upon manifold occasions; but what is it we will not do for our Children? These are our very Bowels, and in these our joy, our love, our life, and all our Affections live.  
1. In regard of Nature. For Bonum est sui diffusivum; The Lord in the beginning said, Increase and multiply: So that it is the Ordinance of God, and the instinct of Nature, for every Creature to cherish and save his own.  
2. Reason will enforce the like. For who should be more dear unto us, than they who have proceeded out of our own loins? with whom we are to live, and to whom at length we must leave the honour of our Name, the reputation of our Virtues, and all the Wealth, and Substance, which we have. These, 
Gen. 49.3.  as jacob said of Reuben, are the joy of our youth, the beginning of our strength, & how should we look upon them with a murderous, or malicious Eye?  
3. And lastly, Religion above all persuades a tender respect unto our Children. In Ephes. 6.4. we have the same Precept which is here; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Fathers provoke not your Children to wrath. And in the Gospel, 
Mar. 9.36.  our Saviour embraced Children with an extraordinary love, as knowing, that the Dead could not, but the living should praise him; and therefore he requireth a godly Seed, and would have Parents cherish their Children, that they may live to glorify his Name.  
If we desire joy; is there any joy like the joy of Children? There is joy at every Birth, 
Joh. 16.21.  said our Saviour; yea the very heathen were wont with great solemnity to celebrate the nativity of their Children. If we stand upon honour; children's children are the Crown of their Fathers; 
Pro. 17.6.  
Psal. 127.4.  They are like Arrows in the hand of a mighty Giant; they that have their Quivers full of these will not be ashamed to talk with their Enemies, when they me●t them in the Gates The Lord, 
Luke 1.25.  said Elizabeth, as soon as she had brought forth a child, hath taken away my rebuke from amongst men; counting it the greatest honour, that ever could have happened to herself, and her husband to be the Parents of a blessed son. In secular Story we read of one Dercyllidas, 
Plut. Apoph. Lacon.  a brave Commander, who coming to a public meeting, and expecting, as it was the manner of the Lacedæmonians, that some of the younger should arise, & give him place; not one amongst them all would stir, and the reason, which they alleged was; that himself had begotten none, who in their age might do the like to them. Last of all, in regard of Wealth, Riches are no way comparable to a Child. Adam called his first begotten, Cain, which signifies a Possession, as if his chiefest and only treasure, and yet he was then Lord of the whole World, had consisted in him. Cornelia the wife of Paulus Aemilius, 
Patric. Sen. de Repub. lib. 4.  when a certain Lady of Campania, that was come to visit her, having bragged sufficiently of her sumptuous Robes, and precious Ornaments, desired in the end to have a sight of hers; she sent immediately for her children, who being come, Behold, said she, these are the jewels and Gems in which I most delight. In a word, all worldly things are nothing to the comfort of a child. God had endowed Abraham with honour, health and victory; he had enlarged his substance, increased his Flocks and multiplied his Herds; 
Gen. 15.2.  he stood possessed with Gold and Silver in great abundance; yet all this he accounted nothing, because he wanted Children; His speech imports no less; O Lord God, saith he, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go Childless? as if for a Child he would willingly have relinquished all those other blessings.  
johs patience stood as  as the Centre of the earth, notwithstanding the news of much stern disaster, did without any intermission assault his ears with the various reports of sad events. For though one came to him first, and told him, that as his Oxen were ploughing, and his Asses feeding in their places, the Sabaeans by violence drove them all away; then another, even while his fellow was yet speaking, that Fire from heaven had consumed all his Sheep. Afterwards a third in like manner, that the Chaldeans had fallen upon his Servants with the edge of the sword, as one scarce sensible of the loss, he did not shrink a whit under the burden; but as soon as the last messenger had related unto him the tragical destruction of his children, he then rend his , and shaved his head, and lying grovelling upon the ground, he filled the Air with cries, and lamentations. The like subject did produce in Psammeticus king of Egypt a quite contrary effect; for being vanquished by Cambyses King of Persia, and spying first his daughter, by and by his Son, among those, who by the appointment of the Conqueror were led to death, he stood stone-still, and uttered not a word; but at length perceiving one, that only was an attendant upon his person, in the troop, he mourned bitterly; and being afterwards demanded the reason of so preposterous a grief, his answer was; that the two first disasters did admit no character, only the last, found Tears for an expression. And indeed many Accidents do fare surmount our best ability to bear them; Curae leves loquuntur, ingentes stupent;  
'Slight cares will speak, when great ones have n● tongue. But to pass by this; we may see by these Examples; that Parents should not any way provoke or hurt those, whom Nature teacheth them continually to cheer and cherish. Other Reasons there are, and forcible enough to keep them from provoking their Children unto Anger.  

Pro. 16.32.  1. The wisest and ablest men have found it a thing of no small difficulty, so to suppress this passion, as that it might not hurry them into sin. jonas was a Prophet, a great Prophet, and appointed to preach to Niniveh the great City, yet being but a little provoked by God himself, and that no otherwise, than in his own erroneous and weak imagination, grew presently so impatien●, that he did not stick to tell him to his face, that he was angry, yea, angry with him to the very death. David was a meek man, a man after Gods own heart, yet by the provocation of the Amalekites, he was so mightily incensed, that never any Nero could have paralleled those bloody outrages, which he did act in prosecuting their presumption. Much less than shall Children be able to stifle in their bosoms, 
Hor. Epist. 2. lib. 2.  the fierceness of this fury.  
2. Our anger towards them, is a main occasion of God's anger towards us. For with what judgement we judge, we shall be judged, and with what measure we meet, it shall be measured to us again. He that is angry with his brother unadvisedly, shall be liable to judgement; and shall not he who unadvisedly, and without just cause reviles his children be the like? They be the words of our Saviour himself. 
Mat. 5.22.  And therefore Fathers—  
3. Anger in the Breast of Man serves but as a Porter to let the Devil in. When is it but in a time of tumult and commotion, that he sows in our hearts the feed of Malice, Envy, Hatred, &c and works us to the acting of his most damnable designs? When was it that Cain with a parricidial Hand put a sad period to his Brother's life, but when Rage, and Discontent were set enthroned in his Bosom? And therefore Parents provoke not your—  
4. And lastly, by provoking them to anger, we hinder in them the operation of the Word; It cannot be grafted, 
jam. 1.21.  where this Weed doth grow. Yea, we weaken in them the power and success of prayer. For who can lift up a pure hand, that hath a muddy heart. Let not Fathers then unless they desire to deprive their Children of eternal happiness, provoke them to anger.  
Again, Children must learn from hence, to fashion their minds to Patience, and with Meekness to embrace what ever injuries, and indignities are done unto them by their Parents. For though cruelty in a father towards his Child be a grievous sin; Wrath yet, and stubbornness in a child towards his father is a more enormous, and prodigious crime, Filios non modo reticere parentum iniurias, sed etiam aequo animo ferre oportere, saith the heathen Orator; Children ought not only to conceal, and smother their Parents weaknesses and imperfections, but submit themselves with mildness likewise to their greatest oppressions. Quem ferret si patrem non ferret? saith the Comik; with whom should a man bear, if he should not bear with him that did beget him? It is not for Children to expostulate with their Parents in this kind; but yet let their Parents know, they shall be countable for all such harshness unto God. He gives the precept, and will require the performance. Therefore Fathers provoke not your Children.  
Provoke not. He doth not say, Rebuke not, or Correct not your children. For both are commanded and required; because great is the profit, which accrues from both. For as touching the first; Hear counsel, my son, and receive instruction, saith Solomon, 
Pro. 19.20.  that thou mayst be wise in thy later end. And again, He that teacheth his son, 
Eoclus. 30.3.  shall vex hereby his enemy; but shall have cause himself to rejoice in the midst of his Friends. Qui non vetat peccare, cum potest, jubet: Not to kill sin where we may, is to cherish it. The Shepherd if he be not obeyed at his call, sends forth his dog to fetch the straggling sheep again unto the Fold; he hath a Hook as well as a Whistle. And therefore as touching the later; Children may likewise be corrected.  

Prov. 19.15.  The Rod, saith the Wiseman, giveth wisdom, but a Child set at liberty maketh his mother ashamed. Chasten thy son therefore, 
Pro. 23.13.  while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his murmuring. If thou smite him with the Rod, he shall not die: Thou shalt smite him with the Rod, and shalt deliver his Soul from Hell. The Caution than must be this; Not to make Food of that, which should be ministered only as Physic. Our Rebukes must be mild, and our corrections moderate. Sweet Balls are best to scour away the Dirt; and behold the proceed of our heavenly Father towards his children, may serve all earthly Fathers for a Precedent, whereby to fashion their practice towards theirs. He never is so fare incensed against his, as utterly to withdraw from them his fatherly kindness and compassion. If they forsake my Law, 
Psal. 89.31.  saith he, and walk not in my judgements: If they break my Statutes, and keep not my Commandments: I will visit their transgression with the Rod and their iniquity with strokes: I will not yet take from them my loving kindness, nor falsify my truth. We must not guide the reines with too rigorous and stiff a hand. Metus hand dinturni Magister officii, saith the Orator; Fear is but a bad Tutor; and whatsoever lesson he teacheth, it is quite forgotten when we come to liberty. And thus from the Persons, in whose behalf this Prohibition was awarded, we follow our Apostle to the Reason, upon which it is grounded, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Lest they should be discouraged.  
It is drawn from the inconvenience, which usually follows this Act of provocation. And this by the word in the original is manifested to be wondrous great. For it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which implies three notable Evils.  
The first is a Heaviness of the mind, whereinto children, specially if they be godly & religious, are cast by this unseasonable severity of their Parents; and from hence arise in them sundry sicknesses, and diseases, by which Nature is enfeebled, and many times even life itself is abridged. For as a Moth is to the garment, 
Pro. 25.20.  or a Worm to the wood, so is Sadness to the Heart, saith Solomon. Parents therefore must have a special care to avoid this inconvenience, that they may not be thought to have begotten Children, with an intent to become themselves their Executioners.  
The second Evil contained in this word, is that stupid dejection of the Spirits, by which they become fearful, and unapt for any noble and ingenuous designs. For finding by experience that their best observance is neglected, and all that ever they can do for the pleasing of their Parents, rejected as ill done, they set them down, and do no more, but wax dull and sluggish in their undertake. Now Parents must be very wary, that they drive not their children into this state. For Children are as it were the Arms and Hands, by which their age must be defended; the Feet and Thighs, by which their Weakness must be underpropped: and might we not justly count him a mad man, who with some Narcoticall medicine should so stupefy those parts, as never to have the use of them again? Can we then think otherwise of those Parents, who with their hardness and austerity, so dull, and stupefy their Children in their youth, that they can neither help themselves, nor them in their maturer years.  
3. And lastly, this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, carries with it, especially in those, that are not of a good and generous disposition, a desperate kind of contumacy. For when they see no hope of pleasing, they likewise cast away all care to please, yea, many times they assume unto themselves a boldness to displease, and make it their sport, and pastime to provoke their Parents. Now this in a Child, is the very height of all impiety. Parents therefore must forbear such sour usage, as may occasion in them this impiety. The Rider in breaking of a Colt doth seldom make use of the Spur, but seeks by fair and gentle means to ring him to a perfect pace; It is the familiar managing of the Hawk that makes her forgo her savageness. A Lion may be stro●ed, he will not be strucken. Kindness may prevail, where crabbedness shall be excluded. It is not either Lightning or Thunder, but only the sweet and gentle shows, which the heavens send down upon the earth, that make her fertile, and willing to produce such food, and fodder as is requisite for Man and Beast. The Sun by shining gently upon the Traveller, made him of his own accord lay by his Garment, whereas to spite as it were the blustering Winds, he girded it to him the more. Unseasonable severity is a retraction from duty. Let not Parents therefore provoke their children, lest they be discouraged.  
The vulgar Latin reads it,  non pusillo animo fiant: that they may not be pusillanimous, white-livered, or hen-spirited, as we use to say, which many happen to be, having been too much snipped in their Infancy. The Philosopher gives the Reason, when he saith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that Fear is to the Blood, as cold is to the water; it hinders Action, and preventeth even Motion. Some therefore allege this for a reason, why the Children of Israel were not presently brought into the Land of Promise; because having been bred up in the house of bondage, they would not have had the courage to look upon an Enemy. Dicite pusillanimis— Say unto them that are fearful, saith the Lord, be strong; fear not; 
Esa. 35.4.  behold your God cometh with vengeance; even God; with a recompense will he come and save you. And thus we have done with the mutual Duties of Children and Parents one towards the other.     


The Ground of the first Book of the third TOME.  
Servants in all things obey your Masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service as men pleasers; but in singleness of Heart, fearing God; And whatsoever ye do, do it hearty, etc.  
TOM. III. LIB. I.  
Having past the two first Combinations concurring to the constitution of a Family; the one whereof was betwixt the Husband and the Wife; the other betwixt the Parent, and the child; we come now to the third, which is betwixt the Master and the Servant; whose mutual duties, one towards another being throughly expounded, our Economics will be full and complete.  
Now here as in the two former, the Apostle gins with the weakest, Servants. And 1. he gives them a Precept. 2. Directs them in their practice. In the Precept we will first consider the Persons, on whom it is imposed; Servants. 2. The Duty which thereby is exacted, Obedience. 3. The extent of this Duty, how fare it is to reach, and that is, to all things. 4. And lastly, the Persons to whom it is to be tendered. Generally, Masters. Particularly, Masters according to the Flesh. This is the deduction of the Precept. The direction for their Practice, is set down two manner of ways, Negatively, & Affirmatively. Negatively, he shows the Faults, and Imperfections, which are incident to Servants, and would have every Christian to avoid them: For he would not have them, either Eye-servers, or Men-pleasers. Affirmatively, he seeks to fashion them to the contrary; For he would have their Obedience grounded upon an upright heart, and guided by the fear of the Lord; Servants be obedient in in all things to them, that are your Masters according to the flesh, not with Eye-service, as Men-pleasers, etc. And thus having showed the several parts, which must be the groundwork of our ensuing discourse, I return to the Precept, Servants obey.  
This Precept was so much the more seasonable, because servants in the Apostles time being converted to Christianity, did think themselves hereby exempted from the yoke of servitude; for it seemed unreasonable, that he, whom Christ with his precious blood had redeemed from the power of the Devil should continue a slave to him, who being not converted to the Faith, was still a slave himself unto the Devil. But this opinion was altogether erroneous, and no doubt suggested into the minds of men, by that great enemy of man, that so the Gospel of Christ jesus might be scandalised amongst the heathen, as having no other aim, than utterly to subvert all discipline. The Apostle therefore to silence such specious Pleas prescribes a contrary command; in which every word is of sufficient weight to evince both the Equity, and Necessity of what is here enjoined. For he spoke here to Christians, and yet he did not, call them Brethren though indeed they were Brethren, but he styled them Servants.  
The word in the Original is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and implies, not such attendants, as we usually now have. For though we hire them for wages, their condition yet is free & ingenuous; but such as the ancients usually had, who were either taken in war, and so were called of the Latins, Mancipia, because Manu capti; & Servi, because in bello servati: Or they were bought with a Price, and were therefore wholly in the power of their Lords, to be disposed of as they pleased.  
And such a kind of Bondage may still stand with Equity, being used with Mercy, & moderation. For,  
1. The jews being captivated, 
Baruc. 1.11  by Nebuchadnezar were commanded by God to quiet themselves in that estate, and willingly submit their necks to the Babylonian yoke.  

Gen. 17.11  2. Abraham had such in his house; 
Leu. 25.24.  and the jews were permitted to have such.  
3. The Apostles in their Epistles impose Subjection upon Servants, most of whom in those times were no other than Bondslaves; Art thou called, saith S Paul, being a bondman? Care not for it; 
1 Cor. 7.21  but let every man abide in that calling, wherein he was called.  
4. Not only the Philosopher calls such kind of servants, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an animated possession; but in holy writ they have the like Title. In job. 1.3. the Servants of that holy man are put into the Inventory, as a part of his Goods and Chattel. And in Exod. 21.21. The Servant is styled his Master's money. But many things are objected to the contrary. For,  
1. Some affirm this servile condition to be against the Law of Nature.  
2. Others to be a fruit of sin.  
A third sort, will have it to be against the Law of Christ, who hath purchased such a liberty to the world, that now in him all are one.  
The fourth and last kind of opposers say, it is against the Apostles own Rule, in the 1 Cor. 7.23. Be not any longer the servants of men: To all which I answer in order. And first to the first.  
Every Subjection is not against the Law of pure Nature. For even in the state of Innocency, there was a politic Subjection of the wife to her husband, and of Children unto both. The Image therefore of God, in which we were created, takes not away all Subjection, but only such a Subjection as takes away all Dominion. But this can never happen to the basest Slave that is; for though his Master have Dominion over him; he hath yet dominion over the Creatures, and this is in him a part of God's Image.  
2. It is true, that Bondage is a fruit of Sin, and so is Sickness, so is Death, and so are all other temporal punishments whatsoever, and yet they still remain; but as in them, so likewise in this, the curse is taken away to God's Children. Christ hath purchased a liberty both for our souls and Bodies; but so long as we live in this World, we must account it a great happiness to receive primitias, the first fruits of it, and these are our spiritual liberty from sin and Satan, from Hell and Condemnation, which is a forerunner to that perfect freedom, which we expect in the Kingdom of Heaven, when we shall not only be freed from the power of sin, as here, but even from all molestation thereof; the sting of it shall be plucked out, and the Teeth of it shall be broken; It shall not be able then either to bite or bark at us any longer; Our enfranchisement, shall not only be from the evil of servitude as now it is by Christ, but likewise from servitude itself.  
3. I grant, that all are made one in Christ, and all Distinction of Bond, and free is taken away; but how? It is taken away from the Spiritual Body of Christ, which is the Church; but not from the outward Bodies and Societies of men here upon Earth: For then there should be likewise no distinction either of Countries or Sexes: There should be neither Scythian nor Barbarian; Male nor Female. They are all one in regard of the inward, and spiritual man, as also in regard of the means by which men are led to everlasting happiness, but in regard of the outward Man they still abide Masters and Servants, Prince and People, Bond & Free, Noble and Ignoble. Paul had converted Onesimus, a Servant, and a runagate, he did not keep him yet at Rome, nor discharge him his Master's Service, because he was called, but sent him back to Philemon, who although in regard of the Faith, he were to esteem him as a Brother, yet his outward condition was to be a Servant still.  
4. And lastly, concerning the Apostles own Rule, Be no longer the servants of men; It must be understood of the Conscience, which is to admit no other Lord than Christ, and not otherwise: for he speaks not there of any bodily service unto men; nor is there indeed any one word throughout the whole Scripture, which doth any way countenance a licentious liberty. Religion frees no man from his Duty, but rather binds him the more unto it: Search all the Records of Truth, and ye shall find that the embracing of the Faith was never held a dispensation from these Ties. The Anabaptists therefore err, that think the Rule and Government of Christians over Christians, repugnant to the freedom of the Gospel. The Papist likewise is mistaken, 
Gerson. qu. 1. de Potest. Ecclesi. ca 9 & qu. 2. c. 8.  while he counts Heresy a sufficient ground to take away the Sovereignty of Kings, when the Apostle here allows not Paganism to prejudice the authority of a private Master over his Family. If they be Servants, their duty is required; Servants be Obedient.  
The word in the Original is the same, which he used unto children; and as there, so here it implies;  
1. An humble promptitude in entertaining the commands of others.  
2. A careful application of our best endeavours to a quick performance of the same. Their Obedience must express itself;  
1. With Reverence, and that internally, and externally; Internally, they must not despise either the Person of their Masters, or the place, but must count them worthy of all Honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not evil spoken 
1 Tim. 1.6.  of. Externally, their speech and their behaviour must be such as may not savour either of contempt, or contumacy. They must fear their Masters. This is that which the Lord himself requireth in all his Servants. If I be a Master, saith he, where is my fear? Mal. 1.6. And in Ephes. 6.5. Our Apostle exacteth fear, and trembling from them towards their Masters.  
The second Character of their Obedience must be Patience. They must endure without resistance, rebukes and Corrections, be they never so bitter, and unjust. For if when we do well, 
1 Pet. 2.20.  and suffer wrong, we take it patiently, this is well pleasing unto God. Agar being roughly dealt withal by Sarai, ran away, and would not abide her chastisements, but the Lord by an Angel did control this course, & advised her to return home to her Mistress, and to humble herself under her hand. A Servant may lawfully withdraw himself, so it be done conveniently, and without despising his Master's authority, till the fury of his unjust anger be allayed. For so David conveyed himself from Saul; and the Egyptian that directed David to the Amalekits made him swear, 
1 Sam. 30.15.  not to deliver him into the hands of his Master from whom he was fled; neither did David sin in 〈…〉 an oath. For in Deut. 23.15. it is set down as a Law, that if a servant were fled from his Master's cruelty, especially if he were a Heathen, who little regarded the very lives of their servants, he should not be presently redelivered, but kindly entreated, till mediation might be made for the reinstating of him in his Master's favour; but he must not show himself at any hand peremptory and rebellious. And thus much of the duty; the Extent of it follows.  
In all things. A Servant, like a Bow in the hand of his Master must not be bended or unbended, but according to his will and pleasure. I am a man in authority, saith the Centurion, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; to another, Come, and he cometh; and to a third, Do this, and he doth it. But there are some of that sturdy disposition, that if the things enjoined them do any way cross their credit, prejudice their profit, disturb their ease, or are contrary to their liking, they will either not do them at all, or they will do them with a left hand, and as they list themselves. Their usual complaint is, that the master whom they serve is a churlish Nabal; and one that forgetteth all humanity, both in exacting, and rewarding the service that is done him. But this is not enough to unyoke them from their Obedience. For though they receive no comfort from their masters; God yet, to whom, and for whom they do their service, will not leave them unrequited. jacob served a hard Laban 21 years; In the day he melted away with heat; in the night he was benumbed with cold; yea the very sleep departed from his Eyes, that nothing might miscarry, which was committed to his charge; all which Laban regarded not; but God in the end requited his care, and travail in a large measure. And surely whatsoever a man doth, that shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond, 
Eph. 6.8.  or free. And therefore Servants be obedient in all things.  
In all things i in all outward things, which are indifferent and lawful. Even Servants must look to that supreme Power, whereunto their Masters are but subordinate, and be wary of doing any thing but the command of the one, which they know to be countermanded by the other. The Master of our flesh is to be obeyed so fare as he commands not that, which is forbidden by the Master of our Spirit, saith Saint Hierome. They which please them in this kind are utterly condemned. It is said of Pharaoh, That both he and his servants sinned. And indeed many are contented to prostitute their best endeavours to their Master's most adulterate designs. Absalon's followers were very forward in smiting of Amnon; and those of Caiaphas to spit in the face of our blessed Saviour, & to buffet him with their hands. 
Mat. 26, 67  Let a great one make a scoff of Religion, and presently his Attendants to keep him company will do the like. As there are Flatterers in Princes Courts, so also are there in private cottages. Many Apprentices, and journeymen, will never be unfurnished of a Lie or an Oath; that they may fill their master's houses, as the Prophet speaks, by bribery and cruelty; whereas indeed, they should humour them no farther than stands with the safety of a good Conscience. The Servants of wicked Saul were none of the best, yet they refused to execute his unjust sentence upon the Priests of the Lord; though his commands had been enough to countenance the deed. Let Christian Servants therefore much more abhor to please any Flesh so fare, as to displease the Lord. The Apostle aims not at a lawless, and irreligious Obedience, he only forbids such a dimidiated, and arbitrary subjection, as Servants according to their own fancy are willing to tender, when he saith, Servants be obedient in all things. This for the extent. The Persons follow, to whom this Duty must be tendered, and that is generally, Masters; Particularly, Masters according to the flesh.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The very Title speaks the Equity of the Precept, as well as that of Servants. For as the word Servant intimates an Obedience to be exhibited to to another; so the name of Master implies a due Obedience to be exacted from another. Whosoever therefore is a Master, must be obeyed, whether he be rich or poor, kind or crabbed, a true believer or a false. The Apostle sets it down indefinitely, without any difference of condition, Servants be obedient to them that are your Masters; And we must understand it likewise without distinction of Sex. For the Head of the Family, be it Man, or woman, must be obeyed. 1 Tim. 5.14. No Salik Law for the cutting off of this. But to pass by this; why doth the Apostle say, Obey your Masters according to the Flesh? What needed this addition? I answer, that this may be referred either to Masters, or Servants. If to Masters, the sense is this, That Servants must be obedient even to such Masters as are fleshly, and carnal men. And indeed what greater praise can happen to a Christian man, than to show himself a joseph in the house of a Putiphar?  
If to servants, they serve as a limitation, & show them to be subject only in respect of their flesh; and so here are two things remarkable. The one expressed, viz That the Bodies of servants are with Christian mercy and moderation to be disposed of at their master's pleasure: They should learn therefore from hence, willingly to suffer their flesh to be commanded. and corrected by them. The other implied, viz. That none but GOD alone must be acknowledged to h●ve dominion over their souls and consciences. It was the answer of a Lacedaemonian youth to his Ma●ter; That he might command him what was un●itting but he should quickly find that it was in his choice not to do it. 
Sen.  Errat si quis existimat Servitutem in totum hominem descendere, saith the Heathen moralist; Pars melior ejus exempta est; Bondage descends not upon the whole man; his better part is still exempted: the Body may be obnoxious to the imperiousness of a Master; but the mind remaineth still as free as Air; and can never be so penned up in her earthly prison; but ever, and anon she will be breaking forth as fare as heaven.  
The Rule which man hath over man, is only temporal, and in outward things. A Servant must be of the same Trade and Calling that his Master is of; but he is not bound to be of the same humour, or Religion with his Master. It is a fault not to give the Master what thou oughtest; but it is a greater fault to give him more than thou shouldest. Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, but still reserve for God that which is Gods. It is our Saviors own Caution; Fear not them which can kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul; fear ye rather him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell. And thus we have done with the Precept, and are now to fall upon the direction for the Practice; and first of the Negative part thereof, wherein two faults commonly incident to servants, are absolutely prohibited. 1. They must not be Eye-servers.  
Eye-service is said to be that which is done only in the presence of ●he Master, and with no better intent, than to please him for the time, that he looketh on. For his back shall be no sooner turned, but such a servants labour will be at an end. 
Luk. 12.54  Our Saviour himself gives us his true Character. He sees his master defers his coming, and gins therefore to tyrannize over his Fellows, and gives himself to rioting and drunkenness, consuming in those and other such desbauched courses his Master's substance. And amongst the Heathen most were of this nature. It was wittily and fitly therefore answered both of the Persian and African; The one being demanded what Provender would best fatten up a horse, replied; The master's eye: The other, what dung would most enrich the Field; made answer, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The steps of the Owner: His continual walking about to oversee what was done unto them himself. The Apostle would have this fault to be fare removed from Christian servants; His Exhortation therefore is Servants he obedient to your M●sters in all things, but not with Eye-service.  
Nor as Men-pleasers. And this m●y seem to be the Fountain from whence issueth the former faultiness. Now he may be said to 〈◊〉 a Man-pleas●r, that applies his best endeavours more to please man, than God. A fault frequent enough in these later days, and which in many places hath shaken the foundations both of Church, and Commonweal. We are all of us, 
Habent hoc in se naturale blanditiae, etiam cum rejiciuntur. ●lacent; saepè exclusae, novissimè recipiuntur. Sen. qu. nat. lib. 4. cap. 1.  high and low, naturally inclined to covet praise, and from what mouth so ever it proceeds, we give it a cheerful entertainment, notwithstanding our own Conscience whispers inwardly unto us, that it is not any way deserved. Croesus' King of Lydia drove Solon out of his Kingdom because he could not flatter him; Dionysius put to death Philoxenus the Poet, because he wa● so bo●d as to tell him that th● Verses which he had published, were absurd, yea some are ambitious of it in a prodigious manner. Lucian tells us of a great Lady, who being fair, 
Dialo. pro Imag.  & comely, but of a low stature, a certain Poet having composed Verses in commendation of her, among other beauties extolled her for her tallness, comparing her for height and straightness to the Poplar, and finding by her gesture, that she so gloried in this, as if she had felt herself really shot up to a longer measure, he took all occasions to sing them in her hearing; till at length one of the Assistants said unto him in his ear, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: My friend give over, that thou move not the woman to rise up from her seat, and so betray the falsehood of thy Encomiums.  
The like, but more ridiculous, is reported of Stratonico the Wife of Seleucus, who being bald, and having scarce so many hairs upon her head, as one, whom Martial mentions in his Epigrams, 
Lib. 3. ep. 51.  employed a company of Poets to commend her Tresses, with promise of a Talon to him that should do it best. Yea there are some that affect it in their Pictures, and will enjoin the Artist, when their eyes are naturally grey, to make them black; when their Nose is long, to make it short, and so to alter, or add whatsoever other perfection themselves do most approve and desire should be in them; not remembering that in so doing they cause their fancy to be drawn, and not their feature. Now this inbred propension in every one, to hear and believe, whatsoever may be any way advantageous to his glory, is that which draws so many Sycophants, about the Ears of Greatness, who make h●r proud of what she nei●her is, no● hath no● caring so they may raise themselves, to ruin those on whom they most rely. But he that is truly wise will ●●refully avoid them. Gul●d●us P●risi●●sis terms th●m. Sacerdotes Diaboli; The Devils Priests; and Solomon saith their discourse is Panis mendacii, 
Pro. 20.17.  The Bread of Lie. Rehoboam was fed with it by his Courtiers; Ahab by his Priests; They found it sweet at the first, but in the end it proved Gravel in their mouth, and was an occasion of ruin unto both.  
A famous Statuary came to Alexander the Great, 
Lucian. dial. pro imaginib.  and offered to transform the high Hill Atho wholly into his Figure, making him hold in either hand a City; No, said Alexander, I prithee leave the Mountain Atho untouched in his place, and wrong it not so much, as to reduce the vastness of it to the similitude of a Body so little as mine. O that the sons of the mighty would learn of him, not to lend an ear to those, who with a commendation too rank and overgrown, should go about to set forth their merit. Tobias when a Kid was presented unto him, would not accept it, till they had satisfied him, that it was not stolen; if great ones would do the like by those Encomiums, which are daily given them, and admit of none, but what were duly theirs, and not stolen from others, they should not be so obnoxious to miscarrying as they are. But Aristippus hath now no other Plea for all his base insinuations, than that without them there is no life or conversation to be had with Dionysius, or any other of his strain. Their Ears he finds are in their heels, and unless he lay his head in the very dust before them, he cannot be heard. Yet this shall not free him from the stroke of vengeance. For if a poor, & silly wretch, that is afraid of his Master's wrath, and hath a feeling of his own wants, may not yet for the avoiding of the one, nor for the reparation of the other, insinuate himself into his master's favour, by wicked and sinister means; what shall we think will become of those, who in imitation of him, speak only placentia, Butter and Oil to their Superiors, not caring how they dead in them all goodness, so they may give a life to their own greatness? Surely the hand of the Highest is drawing upon the very walls of such men's houses, the Character of their destruction; and it shall quickly come down upon them to the bruising and breaking of their hairy Scalp; Let Subjects and Servants therefore be obedient unto those, that have authority over them, in all things, but but not with Eye-service, nor yet as men-pleasers.  
M●n-pleasers. Who never do any service, but when it m●y be seen; desiring out of their own particular ends, by flattering and deceitful courses to purchase their Master's praise, but never striving to procure his profit. Such as these I may well liken to Players, who seek so to perfect their Action, that it may please, but the end of their pleasing is to benefit themselves. They appear not upon the Stage till their spectators be come: No more do these put hand to their work, but when their Master is by, to look upon them, and applaud them. But Saint Paul would have Christian Servants in the performance of their duties to know, that they are always in God's eye, and it is he that requireth their diligence; They should not therefore serve as Men-pleasers: but whatsoever they do, they should do it hearty, as to the Lord, & not to men. And thus from the negative part of the direction we will now pass to the Affirmative.  
In this 3. things are propounded for the fashioning and conforming of a servants Obedience to the right model.  
The first is, Singleness of heart, and is prescribed as a Countercheck to that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the deceitful service of the Eye.  
The second is the fear of God, and meets with the other defect of servants, by which with a fraudulent and sinister kind of industry, they only seek the applause, and praise of men.  
The third and last, is a courageous and cheerful performance of whatsoever is enjoined them: for they must do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hearty, and with a willing mind, and presently he adds the Reason, They are servants unto GOD, and not to men. Touching the former, we may consider it two manner of ways. 1. As it is in the Servants of God. 2. As it is in the servants of men. As it is in God's Servants, it excludeth,  
1. All Hypocrisy. For he that hath a single heart, had rather be good, than so accounted, whereas the Hypocrite, so he may seem fair in the Bark, cares not how rotten he be in the Body. His desire is to satisfy his own lusts, but he would not the world should be ware of it. Formal preciseness therefore must keep his countenance, while Legions of unclean spirits revel in his Conscience. Again, the single-hearted man will serve God at all times, whereas the hypocrite upon the Sunday perhaps will show himself like the Dominical letter zealously red, but all the week after, Hell shall not be blacker than his deeds, nor the grave colder than his devotion.  
2. It excludeth, 
Mart. lib. 12 Epigr. 51.  fleshly wisdom, Bonus homo tyro est, saith the Epigrammatist; and in the Gospel our Saviour saith of his Disciples, Behold I send you out like Sheep in the midst of Wolves. It is Saul that must make a Machiavellian; It is Achitophel whose words must be embraced as an Oracle. jacob was a man of great understanding, in matters that concerned the good of his soul, but in other things so plain and open, that he lay exposed to the craft of whosoever would surprise him.  
3. It excludeth, All spiritual Pride. For a Single heart, is an humble heart; If God send crosses and calamities, it will not answer, nor justify itself, but will make supplication, 
Cap. 9.16.  as job speaks, to his judge, and ingenuously acknowledge, that he doth handle him so for his corruptions. Yea if when he prays, the Lord vouchsafe to answer him by the sweet whisperings of his blessed Spirit; so lowly yet is he conceited of his own worth, that he will not believe, that he hath hearkened unto him.  
4. It is against the property of a single Heart, to be either doubled, or divided. Men have a double heart, that waver, and are tossed with uncertainties; such as are now for God and godliness, and shortly after for sin, and for the Flesh; now resolved to leave such a fault; as persuaded it is a fault, & by and by they to it again, as being persuaded it is none. Again, Men have divided hearts, when in respect of the world, they will serve both GOD and Mammon; or when in matter of worship they will bow to Christ and Baal. The people that came to inhabit Samaria, 
2 King. 17.33.  had a divided Heart, for they feared the god of the Country, because of the Lions which he sent amongst them, and they feared also the gods of the Nations.  
5. A single Heart, is a harmless heart, and surely he that harbours it in his breast, is seldom prejudicial to his Brother, either in word or deed. Not in word, for his desire is to live without blame, even in the midst of a crooked and froward generation, and to shine as a light in the world. He hath learned of Michael the Archangel, not to return a railing accusation, no not to the devil; but to say, 
jude 2.9.  The Lord rebuke thee. Again, not in Deeds. He is not like Dan, a Serpent by the way, or an Adder in the path, biting the Horse heels, so that the Rider falleth to the ground; Foenum non habet in cornu; he is no horned Beast, that will be goring whomsoe'er he meets, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an innocent and harmless Dove.  
6. And lastly, a single heart, is a clear heart, a quiet heart, and a constant heart.  
1. It is a clear heart, a heart, which is at no time so overcast with mists of ignorance, and Clouds of passionate Affection; but that it is able to discern the things that are excellent. 
Phil. 2.10.   
2. It is a quiet heart; The day of the Lords coming is to the Righteous a day of redemption, when they shall lift up their heads; 
Luk. 21.28.  but to the wicked a day of darkness; 
Amos 5.18  and why? but because of the terrors of a guilty conscience, which produce nothing but cramps; and cold convulsions in the soul. Satan hath no sooner drawn a man to sin, but he would drive him into desperation, by possessing him with fear. Cain after he had slain his brother, was so miserably distracted, that he fled from his own Father, as from a deadly enemy. Philosophers ask, why Swine make a greater noise when they be taken, than any other Creatures, render this reason; that by an instinct of Nature they know when they be taken, nothing is desired but their lives. Sinners are Swine, 2 Pet. 2. ult. and ever grunting: their Heart is like the raging Sea, which casteth up nothing but mire, and dirt.  
3. And lastly, it is a Constant Heart, a heart free from infidelity, free from grudging, and free from all distrustfulness. Such a one had holy job, when neither the fury of the Devil, nor the folly of his Wife, nor the frenzy of his friends, could any way alter the dialect of his patience; but in the depth of his disasters he cried out, 
job 2.10.  Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and shall we not receive evil? the Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken, blessed be the name of the Lord. Yea such a heart had blessed Paul, when having propounded a question, he gave also the resolution; 
●om. 8.35.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish; persecution, or famine, nakedness, peril or sword? Surely no, I am persuaded that neither life nor death, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other Creature shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ jesus our Lord. And thus much concerning singleness of Heart, as it is in God's servants; we will now treat of it, as it is in the servants of men. And in these it may be discovered diverse ways.  
1. He may be said to serve in singleness of Heart, who eyes not the condition of his Master; but whether he be rich or poor, mild or moody, he considers his Authority, and thereto suits his Obedience.  
2. If for Conscience sake, and not either for fear of punishment, or hope of reward, he do apply his best endeavours to the performance of his master's commands, counting, ipsum officium esse fructum officii; the thing done a sufficient recompense for the doing.  
3. He would seem what he is, and he would be what he seems. For there are servants, who like lying Hens, will make a great deal of cackling, though they seldom Lay. Like a Mill that is lose hung, they keep a mighty clacking, but grind no Grist. I may liken them to nasty dunghills, that are covered over with Snow; an outward diligence distinguisheth their inward sloth: like the Partridges of Paphlagonia they have two hearts, the one pious, and officious, stirring them up to all dutiful obsequiousness, so long as the Master looketh on; the other impious and inofficious, moving them as soon as his back is turned to fraud and negligence; but he that obeyeth in singleness of Heart, hath but one heart, and that is ever like itself; as painful being alone, as if he had the world for his spectator.  
4. And lastly, he may be said to serve in singleness of heart, that serves with a faithful heart. Now this faithfulness in a servant expresseth itself, in several things.  
1. In the diligent and ready performance of what his Master shall enjoin him. Ye may see it in him, whom Abraham sent to seek a wife for his son Isaac. Having received his instructions, he presently began his journey, and being upon the way he invocated the the God of his Master for the good success, and dispatch of his business; and when he was come to the house of Bethuel, he could not be drawn to taste a morsel of meat, till he had delivered his message; but servants now a days, I speak for the greater part, are like Phoebus his Crow, they may be sent in haste, 
Ovid. lib. 2. Fast.  they will return at leisure.  
2. In the concealment of his counsels and Secrets, a thing wherein servants are usually too too much defective. For indeed they may be counted so many spies in the house, whose common practice is, where they may be heard, to blaze abroad, whatsoever may tend to their Masters or Mistress' reproach; having at once cast off, both the religious fear of God, and also the reverend respect of his Image in the persons of their Superiors. I find yet such fidelity among some heathenish slaves, as may set a blush upon the face of Christian servants. M. Antony the Orator, had one, 
Val. Max. lib. 6. cap. 8.  who though he were conscious to those incestuous practices, whereof his Master was accused, and known to have carried a Lantern before him at such times, did yet with patience endure the greatest tortures, that an incensed rage could possibly devise to put him to, and by his constant secrecy delivered him from the malice of his adversaries. 
Macrobius l. 1. Saturn. Calls him Vrbinus.  Panopio had another, who when the rest of his fellows, upon his proscription had given notice to the Soldiers, that they should find him at his Country house, came and informed him of his imminent destruction, and having changed apparel with him, and put on his Ring, conveyed him out at a back door, went presently into his master's chamber, lay down in his Bed, and there received that mortal wound, which was intended unto him. It is but a short story, yet full of admiration, that a man on such a su●den and in such a hurry, should so calmly compose himself to die for another. There is yet a third example, equalling; if not surpassing in some respects either of these. Antius Restio, perceiving his Domestics, when the Triumvirs had proscribed him, so fare from grieving at his misfortune, that all their care was to ransack his Chests, and make havoc of his goods, stole avay by night from amongst them; yet not so covertly, but that one of them, whom he had often caused to be cruelly whipped, ignominiously branded, and used with all the contumely that a Rocky-hearted Tyrant could devise, had a curious eye upon him at his departure, and while they that enjoyed a happier condition in his house, were ravening upon his substance, he who was only the shadow & resemblance of his insulting pride, & inhumanity, shown himself a constant follower of him in his misery; and by a Stratagem did bring his life out of the check of danger. Abunde fuisset iram remittere; ille vero adjecit etiam charitatem: In such a case as this, not to have sought revenge, had been an act which might richly have deserved praise; but he did likewise add a Character of his Love: As if he had been trained up in a better School, than that of nature, & taught by Christ himself, to recompense good for evil. All which considered, I cannot but set a brand upon the brow of Fortune, who suffered such noble and heroic spirits to lie disgraced under a servile name.  
It is true, Quot servi, tot hosts. A man's worst enemies are commonly those of his own house; but many times they come not such to our hands; they are made such by our usage: we desire they should rather fear us for our severity, than love us for our lenity: They must not so much as open their lips before us, but like senseless statues, keep a continual silence. Nay, they cannot cough or sneeses, but they are sure of rebukes, if not of blows; yet these are only natural infirmities, and cannot be suppressed, when the motion taketh us. No marvel therefore, if these, that may not speak before their masters, delight themselves in speaking of their Masters; whereas others, whose mouths are not sowed up in this manner, have often set their own life at nought for the preservation of theirs. In conviviis loquebantur, sed intormentis tacebant; they talk at the table, but in the midst of Tortures are as silent as the dead of night, and will not be made to find a Tongue wherewith to betray, either the life or reputation of their Lord.  
If thou hast a servant therefore, treat him with love like a Brother. Sit tibi quasi anima tua, saith the Wiseman, 
Ecclus. 33.29.  Let him be unto thee as thy soul; He doth not say, Dimidium animae, the one half of thy soul, as Horace calls a friend, but anima integra, thy whole soul. Sicut viscera mea suscipe, saith Paul to Philemon, concerning his fugitive Onesimus, Receive him as mine own bowels. But alas! many use their servants, as they do their shoes, when they are grown old, they cast them on the dunghill. If they happen to be sick presently out of doors with them. But if God will one day lay it to our charge, that we did not visit the sick in other men's house●, what vengeance must we expect, when he shall charge us with casting them out of our own? The Centurion went to Christ for the recovery of his Vassal. And surely they which neglect the good of their attendants in this kind, are men, as Paul calls them, Sine compassione, without compassion. The like are they, who in any other kind are currish & crabbed unto them; And how should any Fidelity be expected from them, when we never cast so much as a mild aspect upon them? The best Vessels if they be long in the Sun, will hold no liquor. It is the like with servants; the heat of our anger continually beating upon them, makes them plenos rimarum, full of leaks, and unwilling, if not unable to keep and retain, what is committed to their secrecy. Let us show them more of our favour, and then we may rely more on their Faith.  
3. The faithfulness of a servant expresseth itself in well husbanding of that which is committed to his charge; not purloining the least thing that belongs unto his Master, to dispose it either to his own, or others use, without his consent; a sin too frequent amongst many; but to deter them from the practising of it any more, let them look into the fift of Zachar. v. 2. and they shall read of a flying book, the length of it is twenty Cubits, the breadth of it is 10. and it is full of curses, even from the one end to the other, It shall enter into the house of him that stealeth, and craftily conveigheth to his private use, that which should go another way, and shall consume the Timber, and the stones thereof.  
Object. I, but will some say, as long as I take from no man else, I may be bold a little with my master, especially when it is so little, that I neither can nor would hurt him therein.  
Ans. I answer, that this lesseneth not the Theft, because it is from the Master, but augmenteth it the more. For the Lord endures it less in a child towards his father, than in one stranger towards another. And it is sure, that he who maketh no conscience of robbing them, will make as little of robbing any. So saith Solomon. He that robbeth his father or Mother, 
Pro. 28.24.  and saith it is no sin, is the companion of a destroyer i He will easily join with open robbers, to spoil others of their goods also. Besides, to say, it is but a small thing, and my Master will neither be the better, nor the worse for it; The truth is, he that will crack his conscience for a trifle, will hardly be kept from straining it, when Achans' Wedge of Gold, or his Babylonish garment shall come in the way: He that will serve the Devil for a Penny, will be more serviceable to him for a Pound; he will increase his work, as he augments his wages. And whether it hurt thy Master or no, that is not the question, it hurteth thy own soul, by transgressing the commandment, and incurring the curse.  
4. The faithfulness of a servant is seen in wisely distinguishing with joseph the things commit●●● to his trust, 
Gen. 39.8.  from those which are excepted. It was wanting in our first Parents. All the Trees in Eden were allotted for their use, only one was exempted, yet so exorbitant was their Appetite, that they usurped upon that, and brought thereby the wrath of God upon themselves, and their posterity.  
5. It is fidelity in a servant, I will not say, obstinately to deny, but modestly to delay the execution of such commands, as in his own true judgement, and understanding, cannot be performed but with prejudice either to the state or honour of his Master, till such time as he may inform his ignorance, or reduce his wilfulness to a more judicious contemplation of the business. The French Inventary will afford us a remarkable example in this kind. Philip D. of Burgundy, knowing that the Town of Campiegne, situated upon the River Oyze, in the borders of Picardy, might much advantage him in his Designs, resolved either by love or force to reduce it into his subjection; whereupon he began a fresh to practise with Charles VII. who notwithstanding he had been formerly deceived by his o●ly glossings, did yet afford a credulous Ear to his new enchantments, and to assure himself of his friendship, did faithfully promise to surrender it up into his hands; to which effect he wrote several times to the Lord of Flavy, whom himself had entrusted with the charge and government thereof; that he should deliver it up unto him. But he considering the importance of the place, delayed the Duke, till he had wrought the King to a revocation of his Grant, by letting him know the dangerous consequences that might have ensued thereupon; regarding more the loyalty he ought unto his Sovereign, than the profit, which might have accrued unto himself from the Duke, had he been forward in the Action. And indeed as the Historian saith; C'est un bon service de desdire le Maistre, quand il commande à son damage. It is a special piece of service to put off the Master, when he commands to his own detriment.  
6. And lastly, it is seen in avoiding all lying and dissembling, whether for his Masters, his own, or other men's advantage. Now that servants may be the better incited to this faithfulness, let them consider:  
1. The promise which is annexed thereunto, The faithful person shall abound with blessing. 
Pro. 28.20.   
2. The punishment which attends the contrary.  
God often pays the unjust Person with his own Coin; he scourgeth him with his own rod; bringing upon such as have been unfaithful servants, poverty, want, or other worse calamities, & that by the means of unfaithful servants, that their sin may return upon them with more bitterness.  
3. Let them know, that the only way to learn how we should rightly use our own portion of Goods, is by the careful use of other men's, as they shall happen to come into our hands. For he that wretchedly rioteth and consumeth his master's Goods, 
Luk. 16.12.  is for the most part given over by God's just judgement, to be a waster of his own. Let every servant of man therefore, if he desire to be the true servant of God, labour in all his courses to show a single heart; For better is the poor in the uprightness of his heart, than he that abuseth his lips, and is a fool. Yea let us all take heed, that Satan beguile us not from the simplicity that is in Christ jesus. And thus much concerning the first thing required to the fashioning of a servants Obedience, according to the true model Singleness of heart. The second follows, and that is the Fear of God.  
The only thing indeed, which will make all our ways, words and works to savour of simplicity and sincerity. As the cause therefore with the effect, the Apostle hath placed it, with Singleness of heart, and that right well. For he that feareth and regardeth only man in the performance of any duty, will prove wavering & unconstant, as being guided and directed by an unconstant rule. For the Fear of man takes no impression longer than he is present; but the Fear of God stands firm in the breasts of the godly, because they have him ever before their eyes, and he neither aught, nor can at any time be imagined as absent. The very Stoic could affirm, that there is a God within, 
Epictetus.  & a good Angel evermore about us, & that they need no light to look into the nature of our actions. What was that, which preserved joseph from the Siren incantations of an adulterous & lustful Mistress, but the fear of the Lord? How can I do, said he, this great wickedness, and so sin against my God? Had he been a mere man-pleaser, he might, and would no doubt have satisfied her lewd demands; but because he reverenced his Celestial Master, he could not do that injury to his terrestrial. It is the fear of God, which must restrain servants, from whoring, drinking, stealing, gaming, and other the like prodigious and enormous courses. It is the fear of God, which must make them diligent and faithful in their business; as knowing, that though the eye of their Master be away, yet that of their Maker is upon them, who will not wink at their error, but will severely punish their offence. In a word, it is the fear of God which will move them with Abraham's servant, daily to pour forth their prayers to heaven, in the behalf of their Master, and the rest of the family, & for the good success of his own endeavours. Servants then must learn from hence, so to labour in their several places and functions, as to fear God, even that God. 1. Who set them in that Calling. 2. Whose eyes are evermore upon them, watching and observing with what diligence they discharge their duties in those Callings.  
Again, Masters must also learn, if they would have painful and trusty servants, to choose such as are religious; and frame to religion such as they have chosen; that knowing what it is to be subject to their Master in heaven, conscience may compel them to be subject to their earthly Master also. Wouldst thou have thy servant to please thee in all things? work him first to please God in all things: Wouldst thou find him faithful? see than he be a joseph, that will not sin, and be unfaithful to the Lord. Wouldst thou have him profitable? see he be an Onesimus, and then, howsoever in times past he were never so unprofitable, he will be profitable to thee and others.  
Commonly, all that if stood upon in the choice os servants, is only skill an ability for those services, wherein we purpose to employ them. So it is said of Solomon, He saw Hieroboam was a man fit for the work. But as for Religion, no great matter is made of that, and yet it is all in all. For I avouch, the ungodly servant, how fit so ever he may seem for our turns, to be unprofitable; and that a servant fearing God, though coming fare short of the other in wit, knowledge, and dexterity for the well managing of businesses, ought yet to be preferred before him, as fare more profitable.  
For first, the evil servant draws the curse of GOD upon all his endeavours, so that many times the wisdom of such a one, like that of Achitophel, doth vanish into foolishness; whereas on the contrary, by virtue of God's blessing, prospering what ever the righteous man takes in hand, 
Psal. 1.3.  even his foolishness and simplicity, in respect of the deep policies of the wicked man is turned into wisdom, and sorteth to a very good and happy effect. When joseph had the ordering of Putiphars affairs, and jacob of Laban's, all things were well. The little of the just man, 
Pf. 37.16.  saith David, is more than great riches of the wicked. It is spoken there of his wealth; but it is true likewise of his wit, of the inward gifts of his mind, as of the outward Goods of this life. A little wit, a little skill, and a little knowledge in a godly servant, shall go farther, and prove more advantageous to his Master, than twice as much in an evil servant.  
2. The wicked servant doth not only bring the curse of God upon himself and his endeavours, but upon the whole family wherein he lives. So Achan endangered the whole Army; jonas the whole ship, in which they were; whereas on the contrary, for a godly servants sake, other in the house have fared the better. Such a one is like the Ark of God under the Roof of Obed-Edom. 
2 Sam. 6. 1●.  He brings with him a blessing upon his Master, and the whole household.  
Neither are ungodly servants unprofitable only to the body, but also to the soul, infecting all that are about them with the contagion of their corrupt example; whereas the other by their good and virtuous lives adorn the Gospel of Christ, and cause it to appear beautiful in the eyes even of profane and irreligious Masters, gaining them often times to the love, and liking thereof, even as the believing wife doth the unbelieving husband. Master's therefore must either choose such servants as are religious, or seek to ma●e them such when he hath chosen them.  
But what shall Masters do, that their servants may be such?  
1. They must cause them to pray, and read the Scriptures in their private houses.  
2. They must bring them to the public hearing of them in the Church.  
3. They should be a light and a Lantern to them themselves. Pessima defluxio quae provenit à capite; A sick head distempers all the other parts; and a dark eye makes a dark body.  
4. And lastly, they must restrain them from profane company, and allow them liberty at convenient times to converse with such as fear God. While Saul was amongst the Prophets, himself did likewise prophecy. Let it be a fragrant flower, or a stinking weed, which we handle, our Fingers will be sure to retain the smell. judas was honest while he conversed with Christ: 'twas after he had conferred with the Priests and Elders, that out of a greedy desire of the wages of unrighteousness, he plotted the death of his innocent, and harmless Master. And thus much concerning the second thing required to the fashioning of a Servants obedience to the true model, it is the fear of God; I come now to the third, Whatsoever they do, they must do it hearty. And here we will, 1. Consider the Duty. 2. The Inducement thereunto. As concerning the Duty.  
Whatsoever they do they must do it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with a heart, and a soul. The word implies two things.  
1. That they should do what their Masters enjoin them cheerfully, and as it were for their life, without any murmuring, or repining. And it is very likely that some Christian servants in the time of the Apostles obeyed their masters more for the necessity of their condition, than any willingness they had unto it. S. Paul therefore seeks to cure this evil, when he commands them to do whatsoever they do, freely, from their heart, and without any enforcement.  
Now then may we be said to do a thing with our heart, when the heart not only desires to do it, but withal rejoiceth, and is much delighted in the doing of it. On the contrary, when the heart holds off, and is a verse and refractory, though the outward work be done, it is done yet only by the hand, and not with the heart. For as Prosper well, Si quid invitus feceris, fit de te magis quàm facis; If we do any thing unwillingly, it may rightly be said to be done by us, but it cannot be said to be done of us; and in this our master hath no more from us, than he hath from his Ass, or from his Ox, a mere extorted labour; and what reward can we expect for this? Animus est, qui parva extollit; sordida illustrate; magna, & in pretio habita dehonestat. It is only the condition of the mind, saith the moralist, which gives the form to ever thing, and makes it either respected, or disrespected both of God and man. It was the heartiness of the poor Widow in the Gospel, which made her two Mites be so applauded by our Saviour, when the large offerings of the Pharisees were not a jot regarded. The Soldier that brought a little water in his Helmet to his Sovereign, was more regarded of him than the greatest of those Peers that courted him with costly presents. It is in service, as it is in sacrifice; if the heart be wanting, it can never be acceptable.  
2. In that he saith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; he showeth, that servants should not only express life in their actions, ●ut likewise Love in their Affections; and no less approve of the Commander, than they do of his commands. And indeed these are things for the most part combined one to the other. For no man can go cheerfully about a business, unless he love and respect the person that enjoineth it. And therefore in Eph. 6.7. It is expressly set down, that they should serve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with good will. And indeed according to S. Ambrose, Nemo melius obtemperat, quàm qui ex charitate obsequitur. None serve like those, that serve, because they love. And thus much concerning the Duty; the Inducement follows.  
As to the Lord, and not to men: that is, as they who rather and more principally serve the Lord, than men, even in the performance of those offices which are exhibited unto men. For though the use and benefit of the work be to redound to man, the mind of the worker yet is to look specially unto God. And here we must note, that the Negative particle, doth not infer it, an unlawful thing to serve men, or in serving to regard them. It only shows, that in the performance of all Duties we should not look so much to our earthly Lord, as to Christ our heavenly Lord. It is a known rule in the exposition of holy Writ, In comparationibus saepe negari illud, quod non est excludendum, sed tantum alteri postponendum: that in comparisons a thing many times is denied, which must not yet be utterly excluded, but only postposed to another; as in Mark 9.37. Whosoever receiveth me, saith our Saviour Christ receiveth not me, but him that sent me. i he receiveth the Father that sends, more, than me that am sent; for he receiveth me for his sake. And so in this place. Whatsoever ye do, do it hearty as to the Lord and not to me● i to Christ your Lord rather than to men; because it is for his sake that ye serve them. And indeed there is great reason, why even in vile and external duties they should be said rather to obey God, than men, though they do them wholly at their command, and only for their profit.  
For first, they which obey are Christ's by right, more than their earthly Lords: They bought them to be their servants with gold, and Silver; but Christ bought them to be his with no l●sse price than with the effusion of his own most precious blood; they redeemed one●y the body, & that no farther than out of one servitude into another; but Christ hath ransomed both soul and body into a glorious liberty, that shall last for ever; and therefore Christ is to be served before them. 2. Our earthly Masters are to be obeyed no otherwise, than Christ prescribes; they are to him as a steward to a Noble man; he hath the command of all the inferior Servants; but if he command any thing that is contrary to the will of the Lord, they are to suspend their obedience.  
3. Christ himself hath declared it to be his will and pleasure, that Servants should obey their Masters; and in his wisdom and power he hath ordained some for sovereignty, and some for subjection; All which considered, Christian servants may be rightly said, even in the performance of any office to their Master, to serve the Lord, and not men. And it is a great motive to do whatsoever we do, hearty, considering that the eye of Christ can screw itself into our inmost retreats; and that in every Action, he more regards the heart, than the hand.  
The defects of men towards men in their observance arise from a want of fear and reverence toward God. We have it from the mouth of a Heathen, That he who behaves himself impiously and perfidiously towards him, can never be Single-hearted towards Man. In all the works therefore of our vocation, we must study rather to keep a good Conscience, than to gain the applause of men. For how laudable so ever our outward Obedience may seem, it is but hypocritical and adulterate if referred to an ill end. A Christian servant must not think it enough to please his earthly Lord unless withal he please Christ who is his heavenly one. To conclude, this is the manner of Christian obedience, that every faithful man should so do the works of his Calling, as if there were none in the world besides God, and himself. For than he will not dare to do those offices for men, which he knows are hateful unto him, but will show himself so fare serviceable to the one, as that he may be truly serviceable to the other. And thus much concerning the Precept imposed upon servants, as likewise of the Obedience required at their hands. Now follow the Inducements which must stir them up to the tender of this Obedience; & these are drawn from those things, which usually make the greatest impression in the minds of men, Reward and Punishment. In handling of the former we will consider,  
1. The quality of the Reward proposed. It is a Reward of inheritance.  
2. The Person from whom it is to be expected, and that is the Lord; Ye shall receive from the Lord.  
3. The certainty of receiving it; Ye know that he shall receive.  
4. And lastly, the Reason of this certainty. For Ye serve the Lord Christ. As touching the quality of the Reward.  
It is the Reward of Inheritance. But in this may some say, lies a contradiction. For a Reward is commonly that, which we give unto servants; an inheritance which we bequeath to sons. Whereunto I answer, that the Apostle speaks not of any temporal Reward, which might in worth be correspondent to their labour, but of that eternal beatitude, which God conferreth upon his Saints, and which fare surmounteth the worth and excellency of all humane obsequiousness whatsoever: and he calls it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Retribution; not that men are able any way to interest themselves therein, by the dignity of their works, but because in regard of some circumstances it obtains the similitude of a recompense.  
For first, as Wages are not given, but to them, that work; no more is the Kingdom of heaven conferred on any, that are idle. They that would have it, must not lie snoring in the lap of worldly pleasure; but diligently labour in the works of their Vocation.  
2. As wages are not given till our work be ended, no more is life eternal, till our course be finished: after the Race the runner must look for his reward; 
2 Tim. 4.8  and after the combat the Soldier expect his Crown.  
Now as this heavenly reward is for two respects, in which it resembleth wages, entitled by the Apostle, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Retribution; so for two other respects, in which it differeth from wages, it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, An Inheritance. For,  
1. Wages are given as a due to him that worketh; but this heavenly reward proceedeth wholly from the grace and liberality of him, that doth confer it. For when we have done all that is commanded us, we are yet unprofitable servants; 
●uk● 17 10  and what have we done, which was not our duty to do? We are all of us, Filii divini beneficii, The Children of divine kindness, as S. Augustine terms us, by grace saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God.  
2. Wages have usually a proportion with the work for which they are paid; but this heavenly reward hath no proportion with our services; For what proportion can there be, betwixt that which is finite, and that which is infinite? It is called therefore an Inheritance, to exclude it wholly from being a Desert. For Children come not to inherit their Father's lands by virtue of any merit; because most an end the land is purchased before the Child is borne; much less can we by any such title lay claim to heaven, who can not pretend so much as this, that we came out of the Loins of our Celestial Father. For we are his Children only by grace, & not by any privilege of Nature. So speaks the Apostle, Ye have received the spirit of Adoption, 
Rom. 8.15.  by which ye cry, Abba Father. Now Adoption admits no Merit. For if Civilians define it rightly, Adoptio est gratuita assumptio personae non habentis jus in haereditate ad participationem haereditatis; Adoption is the free assumption of a person, that hath no right in the inheritance, to a full participation of the same.  
The right which we have to eternal life, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Hesychius speaks, is not a guerdon, but a gift. We have it, Propter promissum, according to S. Gregory, yet not propter commissum; It is not factu●, but pactum, saith S. Aug. the Mercy of the Giver, not the Merit of the Worker, which deriveth it upon us. The possession of this life yet, is as the Apostle terms it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Reward, or Retribution. And the Lord so styleth it; not to puff us up thereby with any vain conceit of our own sufficiency; but only to cheer and hearten up with some kind of solace, the debility of our Nature. And therefore when the Scripture saith, that God the righteous judge will one day render the Crown of righteousness to those that are his:  
1. I except with S. Augustine, where should this righteous judge bestow his glory, but where the mercy of a loving Father hath bestowed his Grace? How should any righteousness be seen, if Grace, which justifieth the sinners, and wicked men, did not precede? Quomodo ista debita redderentur, nisi prius illa in debita darentur? How should the things which are due, be rendered, if first the things that are not due, were not given?  
2. I add, how should he impute righteousness to our works, if his own indulgency should not hide that unrighteousness, which is in them? How should he think them worthy of Reward, unless out of the riches of his mercy, he did abolish that in them, which is worthy of punishment? Yea the Scripture seeks to humble us a little farther. For it doth not only forbid us to glory in our works, because they are the free gifts of God; but teacheth us withal, that they are stained and defiled, and such as being brought to the rule of his judgement, will be no way able to satisfy.  
But how then are we to understand that saying of the Apostle in Heb. 6.10. Where he saith, God is not unrighteous, that he should forget our works, and the labour of our love: as if in justice it were fit he should remunerate our good endeavours? I answer; we must remember first of all, that even this promise, like all the rest, could afford us no benefit at all, if the free covenant of mercy, whereon relies the hope of our salvation did not go before.  
2. Being resolved in this, we ought to be securely confident, that God will not suffer our good performances, how short so ever they come of true perfection, to pass without a worthy Retribution. For according to S. Augustine, Fidelis Dominus; qui se nobis debitorem facit, non aliquid à nobis recipiendo, 
Psal. 32. & ●09.  sed omnia promittendo: The Lord is faithful, and makes himself our debtor, not by receiving any thing from us, but by promising allthings unto us. Now promise is a debt. 'Tis requisite therefore, that God should recompense our works, though not forany worthiness in them, yet for his own engagement. Here is matter then of comfort, generally for all that groan under the heavy burdens of their sins, and earnestly desire reconcilement; if they do what in them lieth, a reward attends them, and it is a Reward of Inheritance, even a weight of immortal glory, in comparison whereof all the sufferings of this present world are to be counted nothing: And this must animate them to persevere with all alacrity and patience in the exercise of godly works; for unto these belongeth this good, and gracious Retribution. But servants may draw from hence a more particular solace. For it is to them that the holy Ghost himself doth particularly apply the words, and that without any limitation or exception; to show, that there is no Vocation so vile, so abject, and so base, but if men piously undergo it, a reward shall follow it. Servants thereto should not,  
1. So much regard the outward face of their Calling, but how mean so ever it be, so it be lawful, and honest, should labour to discharge it with a good Conscience. For this is the counsel of the Apostle, Let every man abide in the same Vocation, wherein he was called; For he that is called in the Lord being a servant, is the Lords freeman; And hath as large a Patent to be good as in the highest degree of dignity whatsoever. Nulli praeclusa est virtus, omnibus patet, saith the very Heathen, Virtue keeps open house, and without any respect of persons gives a fair access to all that come, whether they be Male or Female; rich or poor bond or free. Lazarus in his rags shall be admitted into her inmost Cabinet, when Dives, notwithstanding his Purple & fine Linen shall not be received into her utmost Courts. Honour, beauty, riches, and the like, are no incitements to her favour. We ourselves choose not a horse by the sumptuousness of his trappings, nor she her followers by any accessary compliments. If their manners be blameless, no other defects shall ever lessen than in her estimation. Again, he that subjects himself to fleshly lusts, is in a base bondage, than he that is enthralled to a fleshly Lord; The one being voluntary, & so an argument of a degenerate spirit; the other only of necessity, which never brings with it a brand of infamy. 
Di●g. Laer.  Diogenes shown as free a mind, when the Pirates set him forth to be sold in the Market, as ever he had done in his better fortunes. For being then demanded by a Chapman, what he could do; I can rule and govern, said he, them that are free. And afterwards, so little prejudice and inconvenience did he meet within that servile state, that when his friends would have redeemed him out of it, he said, they were unwise. For Lions were not servants to their Keepers, but their Keepers rather unto than; of whom they stood in fear, and durst not for their lives provoke. Other immunities there are, the consideration whereof will help to sweeten the bitterness of this condition: some of them are wittily comorized by Martial in an Epigram, which h●e wrote to one, who much groaned under this burden. The tenor of it is this; 

Lib. 9 ep 94.  Quae mala sunt domini, quae servicommoda, nescis  
Condile, qui servum te gemis esse diu.  
Dat tibi securos vilis lecticula somnos;  
Pervigil in pluma Caïus, ecce jacet.  
Caïus à prima tremebundus luce salutat  
Tota dominos; at tu, Condile, nec dominum.  
Quod debes, Caï, red, inquit Phoebus, & illine  
Cinnamus; hoc dicit, Condile, nemo tibi.  
Tortorem metuis? podagra, Chiragraque secatur  
Caïus, & mallet verbera mille pati.  
Sure, Con●ilus, while thou dost so bemoan  
Thy servile state, those troubles are not known  
It seems, to thee, which Masters do attend;  
Nor doth thy shallow judgement apprehend  
The great advantages a servant finds  
Above his Lord, in many several kinds.  
On a course Matt sleep closeth up thy sight,  
When he in Down lies waking all the night.  
At break of day he trembling must salute  
A thousand Lords; whilst thou to him stand'st mute;  
He cannot step into the vulgar streets,  
But with some churlish Creditor he meets,  
Claiming his debts with a disgracing note,  
When none can challenge Condile for a groat.  
Dost thou the torture fear? he would endure  
A thousand stripes to be from Gout secure.   
When we cannot frame our fortune to our will, let us conform our will to ou● fortune; and not suffer the dislike of our condition, to m●ke us neglect the discharge of our Duty.  
2. Servants may learn from hence, not to fix their eyes upon those trivial recompenses, and rewards, which are promised them by men for their good service, but still to look to that eternal Reward of Inheritance, which God th● Father promiseth to his obedient Children. So did Paul in the execution of his Vocation; he sought not for any glory, grace or gain from the hands of men, but only for that Crown, which the Lord in the great day of his visitation will give unto all that love his appearing. And thus much concerning the Quality of that Reward, which the Apostle, the better to stir up servants to Obedience, propoundeth unto them. The next point is the Person from whom the reward is to be expected, and that is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, From the Lord.  
A sure Paymaster, & one that hath Will, and Power to make good what ere he undertakes. Will, for he never useth either delays, or shifts in the performance of what he promiseth. Twenty years was jacob a Servant unto Laban, during which space by false pretexts and forged Cavillatitions, ten times did he alter and change the Wages, whereon they had agreed. And it is the humour of many Masters to be unmerciful to their servants in this kind. Those of the Apostles time thought it enough to use them, as they did their Beasts. 
Occon. lib. 1 cap. 5.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith the Philosopher, Let them have meat, and it is a sufficient meed. To comfort therefore such, he shows that howe'er they may be neglected of their earthly Lord, they have yet a heavenly Lord, who is liberal and munificent, and will not suffer their Labours to pass without requital, so their obedience to their Masters be hearty, and such as becometh religious and Christian men. And what greater assurance can be looked for? He gives us himself the Character of his bounty, in Gen. 1.29. Ecce dixi, Behold I have said, is that of man's; but, Ecce dedi, Behold I have given, is that of Gods: He openeth his hand, and not his mouth; he shows his works, and not his words. Manifold are his works, saith the Kingly Prophet, 
Ps. 104.24.  and the earth is full of his riches. Man may sometimes peradventure say, Ecce do; Behold I give, as moved thereto by some precedent merit of the party, to whom he gives; But God's Motto is, Ecce dedi, Behold I have given; He provides for us, before we are borne; Fecit, quae fecit, omnia pro homine, prinsquam dixerat, Faciamus hominem; He made all, that he made for man, before ever he had said, Let us make man. He loved us, when yet we had no Being. His Will therefore is not to be doubted of, much less his power; And thus much concerning the person from whom the Reward is to be expected. I come now to the third point, and that is the certainty of receiving it; Ye know ye shall receive—  
Ye know. It is a plain inference, that every true Christian, whether he be bond or free, should be sure of his wages, so long as he performs his work. And indeed there is not the poorest Worm, that crawls upon the earth, but if a Tongue were given it to dispute with man, it might maintain against him, that the hope he hath in Christ jesus only set a part, he is of all Creatures the most miserable. But that unspeakable comfort, which is now locked up in the Bosoms of those that are marked with the Seal of God's Spirit, and have received the adoption of sons, is, that though their present life be full of misery, and vexation, and that themselves are oppressed, and cast down on every side, they know yet, that he who raised up the Lord jesus Christ from the dead, shall also raise up them at the later day, and for all the light and momentany afflictions, which they have endured here, reward them with an exceeding weight of glory; They know it.  
And indeed Faith should be confident; By Faith ye stand, 
2 Cor. 1.  saith the Apostle; And By Faith we live, saith the Prophet; 
Abac. 2.  It is the very soul & Spirit of the inward Man. If we believe not, we are dead to God-ward; and his soul will take no pleasure in us. Woe unto him, saith the Wise man, that hath a double heart, and to the wicked lips, and faint hands, and to the sinner that goeth two manner of ways. Woe to him that is faint-hearted, for he believeth not; therefore shall he not be defended. It is not the property of faith to waver like a Reed to and fro; nor of the faithful, like a Wave of the Sea, to be ever rolling. We are willed therefore to come to the Throne of Grace with boldness, & not to cast away that confidence, which hath great recompense of reward; but to trust perfectly in that grace, which is brought unto us by the Revelation of JESUS CHRIST.  
Qui dubius est, infidelis erit, saith an eminent Father; Doubt quickly turns into distrust. For they which receive not the love of the Truth, that they may be saved, the Lord shall send them strong delusions, 
2 Thess. 2.  that they shall believe lies. It an honest and virtuous man, saith Saint Cyprian, should promise thee any thing, thou wouldst give credit unto him; And when God doth promise thee immortality, wilt thou be so faithless as to distrust him? this is not to know God at all; but as holy Bernard speaks, Hoc est in Ecclesia constitutum, in domo fidei, fidem non habere; This is to be placed in the Church, that is in the house of Faith, 
Rev. 2.25.  without Faith.  
It was Christ's admonition to the Church of Thyatira; That which ye have already, hold fast till I come. Let us apply it to ourselves, and not suffer the hope & consolation which we have in the mercies of God to be taken from us. The confidence of of a true Christian is an Anchor, which being cast into the launched bosom of our blessed Saviour, may peradventure slip a little, but it will soon take hold again; It is a Sun, 
Tert. de Aanima. c. 41. & cap. 53.  which for a time may be overcast, but on a sudden the cloud shall be dispersed; and it shall appear with greater lustre. It is a Fire, which for a while may lie concealed under the Ashes, but at length it breaketh forth into a brighter flame. Like the Ark, it may be taken by the Philistines; but maugre all their malice, it shall with joy and triumph be returned back to Israel. The sweet persuasions, which the godly have of everlasting happiness, may be often shaken, but can never be shattered; they may be bowed by the violence of the Tempest, but shall never be broken. They shall come again to their former vigour; And howsoever they end their lives; whether by the hand of Tyranny, or by the teeth of wild Beasts; they go away with a sentence of peace in their lips; as Noah Dove, when it reverted with an Olive Branch to the Ark; Christ is my life, and death is my advantage.  
Knowing, that is, being thoroughly assured, that they shall receive from the Lord a Reward of Inheritance. That servants therefore may be the better induced, freely and fully to tender their obedience to those that are their Masters according to the flesh, notwithstanding any cruel usage, or unjust neglect, the Apostle propounds a Retribution, whereof he would not have them doubt, but with a settled assurance expect it from the Lord. Servants, saith he, obey your Masters in all things, knowing that ye shall receive from, etc.  
And shall the base & secular works of poor and miserable servants than be thus rewarded? why this must animate and encourage us, not to grow weary of well doing, but to go on in all holy & religious courses; For surely the great works of piety in God's service shall be more highly rewarded. Again, shall the works of servants be rewarded? Here is matter then of comfort for them, and matter of reproof for those, who being the children of God, are many times yet so overborne by unbelief, that they distrust the acceptation of their prayers, and good endeavours. For God will have them know, that they shall receive from him a Reward of Inheritance; than which nothing is surer a man's own.  
And thus much of the third point, The certainty of receiving that which Christ hath promised. I come now to the fourth and last, and that is the Reason, whereupon this certainty is grounded; For ye serve the Lord Christ.  
Wages and Works are Relatives. And therefore Equity requireth, that from him a Reward should be expected, to whom our labour is exhibited.  
But how may some say, Can it be deemed a credible, and likely thing, that they which undergo base offices for men here upon earth should be said herein to serve Christ, who is now all glorious, and hath his residence in the highest heavens, where he hath the full ministry of Angels, and needeth not at all the obsequiousness of Man?  
The answer is at hand, and hath already been declared, viz. that whatsoever services are done to men at the command of Christ, and for the glory of Christ, are held as done to Christ himself. For as S. Hierome rightly upon this place, saith, Servit DEO, qui propter Deum servit homini: He may be truly said to serve God, that serveth man for God's sake. Yea Christ verifies it himself, when he saith, 
Mat. 25.40 et v. ult.  In as much as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it to me. And again, In as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me. This is there spoken only of works of charity, as men either do them, or deny them, one to the other; but it may be extended to all such Works of Obedience, as are prescribed, and enjoined us by GOD. For when we do them unto men, we do them unto him, that commanded them to be done and when we deny them unto them, he counts them as denied unto himself, and not without just cause. For he who being commanded by God to obey Men, shall refuse to submit himself to humane authority, would, if he were able, exempt himself withal from that which is divine. When the Israelites therefore would no longer endure the rule of Samuel but would have a King to reign over them; 
1 Sam. 7.7.  They have not, saith God, cast thee away, but they have cast me away, that I should not reign over them.  
Now from hence we may learn.  
1. That there is no servitude, or Bondage, which is not honourable, if men demesne themselves, therein honestly, and faithfully. For they which are such, are servants unto Christ; and to retain to him, is the very noone-point of all dignity.  
2. That there is no rule or principality, that can vindicate a wicked man from shame and from disgrace. For such are servants to the Devil, which is the very depth of misery and dishonour. And thus much concerning the first inducement, by which the Apostle would stir up servants to Obedience; The promise of Reward. I come now to the second, A threatening of Punishment. But he that doth wrong, shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons.  
Out of this, we will observe.  
1. A Commination denounced against all, that shall prove defective in their duty.  
2. An Anticipation of a secret Objection, which might seem to weaken, infringe the certainty of this punishment, in these words, Neither is there respect of persons.  
As touching the first; Some take it as denounced against tyrannous and unjust Masters, to the comfort of the servant, that is so oppressed. For it is no other than if he should have said; Though Masters be wicked and cruel, do not ye yet suspend your Obedience, but perform that which is your duty, and leave the revenge to God; For at his hands they shall receive what ever wrong they do. Now wicked and imperious Masters may many ways prove injurious to their servants.  
1. By defrauding them of necessary food and raiment.  
2. By denying them their due wages.  
3. By urging them to labours that are above he strength of their Body.  
4. By wounding their very souls with virulent reproaches.  
5. By bruising, and breaking even their Bones with undeserved strokes. All which calamities in a manner happened to the people of God during their servitude in Egypt. That servants therefore may not through impatience rise up against their Lords, or through discouragement neglect the offices, which are imposed upon them, the Apostle tells them, that whosoever he be that shall thus oppress them, He shall receive the wrong that he hath done. i He shall perceive and feel the vengeance of the highest, proportioning his punishment according to his injustice. A proof of this we have upon the Egyptians, whom God afflicted with fare greater plagues, than they were able to afflict his Israelites. As likewise upon Saul, 
2 Sam. 21.9  who was punished in his posterity for the Gibeonites, whom he had slain, thinking to gratify thereby the people, because they were not of the seed of Abraham.  
Other Interpreters refer it unto servants themselves, as if the Apostle should have said, If the hope of a Celestial reward cannot draw you to your duty, let the fear yet of a grievous punishment drive you thereunto: Be not injurious to your Masters either out of stubbornness, or sloth. For GOD the righteous judge will with severity exact the forfeiture of your improbity: and of this we have an example in Gehezi, 2 King. 5.26. But with Saint Hierome, I think that both interpretations are to be conjoined.  
1. Because the Apostle speaks generally to all.  
2. Because this Commination is inserted betwixt the duties of servants and Masters, that so it might seem equally to appertain to both. So that this I take to be the meaning of the Apostle, He that doth wrong, whether it be the Master, in misusing of his servant; or the servant in defrauding, and despising of his Master, either shall receive from God, the wrong that he hath done. We must learn from hence then;  
1. That every sin shall meet with punishment from God, though peradventure it may scape the severity of men; and what will it avail us to have avoided their hands, when we shall fall into his?  
2. That earthly Lords, how great soever they may be in power, are no way privileged or permitted to make litter for their ambitious feet, of those that are under their authority. For even they themselves are under God; And as the Trigaedian speaks, Omne sub regno majore regnum est; No power so great, but it is subject to a greater. All must be countable to God.  
3. That those men of all others are the most miserable, that count it their happiness to tyrannize over others, as Sylla did; for they shall receive the wrong they do.  
4. And lastly, Eye-servers and Men-pleasers such as by a deceitful show of industry, gain the good opinion of their Masters are here taught, that they lie still exposed to the wrath of God. For he, who is their heavenly Lord discerns their fraud, and their hypocrisy. Quaecunque facio, ante te facio, saith S. Augustine, & illud quicquid est quod facio, melius tu vides, quam ego, qui facio; Whatsoever OH Lord, I do, I do it before thee; and it is more apparent to thy eyes, than to mine that do it. It behoves every one therefore to have a care, that what he doth be well done. And thus much of the Commination. The Anticipation followeth, And there is no respect of persons.  
Master's might object and say; Who shall call us into judgement for the ill usage of a slave? The very Law affirms, that no injury can be done to them. But say we should be questioned about them; we will evade either by favour out of the hands of justice, or by force; or if not so, a Bribe shall charm the uprightness of the judge. The Apostle meets with these conceits; and shows that it is otherwise with divine judgement, than with humane. Earthly Tribunals are like spider's webs, the harmless Fly sticks fast, while the hurtful Hornet breaketh through. But this great judge of heaven and earth, will not be terrified by any power of the wicked, nor yet made flexible by favour, He accepteth not, 
job 34.19.  as Elihu speaks, the persons of Princes, neither regardeth he the rich more, than the poor; for they be all the works of his hands. And suitable to this is that of S. Ambrose justus Index est dominus, causas discernit, 
In Eph. 6.  non personas; The Lord is a righteous judge, and regardeth not the Person, but the Plea. He hears the complaints of the prisoners, and hath a listening ear to the cries of those that are appointed unto death; nor shall the wrong they suffer scape the fury of his vengeance. I read in profane Story of one Autronius Maximus, 
Macrob. l. 1. Saturn.  who having first of all most inhumanely whipped one of his slaves, did afterwards fasten him to a Gibbet, and on a solemn Festival before the beginning of their shows, did cause him in that miserable plight to be carried up and down the place, as if he had intended him, like an Antic to a Mask, the Comical praeludium to their ensuing sports. A cruelty so barbarous, and void of all humanity, that jupiter, offended with the spectacle, appeared in the night to one Annio, willing him to let the Senate understand, that he did much abhor it; and without some speedy expiation of the crime, would visit them and their state with extraordinary judgement, which he neglecting, the one and only Son he had was taken from him by sudden death; afterwards being warned hereof again, for the like carelessness, himself was strucken with a weakness throughout his whole body; so that in the end, by the advice of his friends, he was carried in a Litter to the Senate-house, where he had no sooner related what had been discovered unto him, but his health was presently restored, and he went on foot out of the Court back to his own home; out of which he came not but by the help of other. It is attributed to jupiter, but was the Act of the true God, whose eyes, and ears are always open to the afflicted; the remembrance of it may serve as a Bridle to curb the arrogance of masters, and to keep them from all insolent oppression.  
Again, servants might likewise object and say; What though we obey not our earthly Masters hearty? And what though we deceive them sometimes, as occasion shall be offered; will GOD take vengeance for it upon us poor silly souls? Great is the burden of our sorrows, and many be the miseries, which we endure by reason of their imperious haughtiness. God will not therefore surely add unto our grief by any exercise of his severity, but will rather make us taste of his mercy. The Apostle therefore to cut off this vain hope likewise even in them, shows, that God is just, and will not be moved out of pity to favour the poor, nor out of envy to detract from the rich. He hath expressly prohibited this respect of Persons in others, and cannot therefore practise it himself. In Exod. 23.3. Thou shalt not esteem, saith he, the poor man in his cause. And in Levit. 19.15. Ye shall not do unjustly in judgement. Thou shalt not favour the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty; but thou shalt judge thy neighbour justly. So that with him there is no respect of Persons.  
From hence then we may learn,  
1. That not only the wrongs and injuries, which are done to Kings and men of high pre-eminence, but likewise those which are offered to subjects, I & to the basest slaves, have God for their revenger. It behoves therefore the king & the subject; the master and the slave to demean themselves ●prightly one toward the other considering that both are equally liable to God's divine examination.  
2. Magistrates & such as are God's Vicegerents upon earth, have here a pattern for their imitation, teaching them, all respect of persons being laid aside, to give unto every one his due Astrea whom the Poets feigned to be the Goddess of justice, being forced by the iniquity of men to forsake the earth, did fly immediately to heaven, and there took up her seat inter Leonem, & Libram, betwixt those two of the twelve Signs, which are called the LYON and the Balance, where she sits as the Egyptians painted her, with her head hidden amongst the Stars, to show that Magistrates in the administration of justice, should like the Areopagites have their eyes canopied up from all such objects as might sway their judgement beyond the rule and line of equity; a judge and an Altar, said Architas, are both one. Men fly to both in case of danger, and necessity. That he may be therefore both, he must know it is his duty to protect the Peasant, as well as the Peer; the slave as well as the superior. And thus I here break off the thread of this discourse, in which if any chance to tax me for the length, I must unburden myself upon the Apostles method, which gave me the occasion. It was my resolution at the first, fully to pond and examine every word of his, that from them I might derive the greater weight unto mine own. In handling therefore of the two first combinations, I followed his conciseness; and here where he took a larger field, I was forced to do the like.  
But why may some demand, was he so brief in those, and did so much enlarge himself in this?  
I answer, the reason may be threefold.  
1. Because the property of Pagan servants was to cousin and defraud their Masters, and in their absence, like so many traitors, as Cato termed them, feloniously to curse, and speak evil both of their persons, and proceed. Witness that speech of one in the Comedy— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. He thought himself overjoyed, wh●n he could get but any opportunity to rail in secret upon his Master: and howsoever they to whom he then spoke were converted to Christianity, it was but newly yet, and any little discontentment offered them by their Masters, might have made them with the d●g return to their vomit; for the prevention whereof he seeks by strong enforcements to tie them to their duty.  
A second reason may be to express the riches of God's mercy, who despiseth not the very slave that is despised of all; but seeks to make even him a lively stone for the building up of his most glorious Jerusalem: and because husbands are willing to inform their Wives, parents careful to teach their Children; whereas Masters utterly neglect their Servants; God to supply the defect, doth here afford them a large Volume of instructions.  
The third reason is for the comfort of servants, who by this pressing of their duty, may well resolve themselves of God's affection. The lover never thinks his mind sufficiently vented, and is therefore still courting the Object of his love. And so it is here with God; he doth dilate himself in drawing them, to show, that he doth much desire them.  
A fourth and last reason may be, the intimation of his own humanity. The Physician, when he meets with a needy Patient, tells him in brief, that Kitchen physic must be his only remedy. And so the Lawyer when he lights upon a Threadbare Client, to shake him off the sooner, makes him believe his cause will not be worth the trial. S. Paul teacheth them charity, venting his counsel and advise more freely, & more fully in the behalf of those, whose inheritance in this world was nothing but the extremity of misery, than he had done for them, that were of better quality, as if the saving of one of those had been a thing more meritorious than the other. And thus having apologized for my tediousness in this point, I leave the servant, and come to the Master.   

The Ground of the second Book of the third TOME.  
Master's give unto your servants that which is just, and equal, knowing that ye also have a Master in Heaven.  
TOM. III. LIB. II.  
THis VERSE which is made the first of the fourth Chapter, I cannot liken better than to a Tree, that by the violence of some earthquake is removed out of one man's ground into an others. For it should be the period of the former: and so not only the matter of it, which is economical, and the fame with that in the eight Verses immediately going before, but that likewise of the Verse following, which is of a differing strain, doth plainly show it. chrysostom therefore, Aquinas, Hugo, Illyricus, Musculus, Zanchius, etc. dispose of it no otherwise; and we subscribing to their opinion, will assume it as a part and parcel of the precedent: thus than it divideth itself into two branches. In the former he shows, how Masters are to carry themselves towards their servants: Ye Masters, saith he, do unto your servants that which is just and equal. In the latter he allegeth a Motive to induce them thereunto; Knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.  
As touching the first; In that he doth apply himself now to masters, we are taught that every true dispenser of God's Word, should not only bend his endeavours to the fashioning of servants, & those of Inferior rank, but should also instruct, exhort and edify Masters and Magistrates, together with all those, that have submitted their necks to the yoke of Christ. Again, howsoever it be usual with Superiors, and that not without just cause, to complain of the faults of their inferiors; themselves yet are seldom free from taint, and from corruption. The Apostle therefore would have neither Masters nor servants to upbraid each other with their imperfections; but every one to amend his own.  
2. Concerning the persons in whose behalf this duty is here prescribed, servants; They may observe to their endless comfort, the great solicitude and care, which God hath of their welfare. He respecteth both their souls and bodies. For touching their souls; No Monarch hath a greater interest in the Kingdom of heaven than they, if in Singleness of Heart they discharge those duties which he in his diviner wisdom thought good to impose upon them. As fair a recompense attends the one, as the other; and therefore the Apostle delivereth it with a kind of Emphasis; Servants be obedient to your masters, knowing that ye also shall receive—  
Again, as if he were enamoured of the one; he seems to Court their affections with the proffer of his choicest Treasure, and so to draw them to his Will; whereas the other, if ye read and mark the Scriptures, are usually driven thereunto by his most grievous plagues, and deadliest punishments Esay must tell the King, that Tophet is prepared for him of old, and it is deep and large; that the burning of it is fire and much wood, and the breath of the Lord, like a River of brimstone doth kindle it. Eliiah must threaten Ahab, that the Dogs shall eat him of his Stock that dyeth in the City; and him that dyeth in the fields shall the Fowls of the air devour. He calls to the one in storm and tempest; but in a soft & still voice to the other. Boanerges the Sons of Thunder are sent to shake the Cedar; but Barionah, the son of Consolation must hearten up the Shrub. The state and condition of a servant in the Apostles time was enough to bruise the very heart. God therefore seeks not to break it, but to bind it up. Servants, saith he, be obedient to your masters, knowing that ye also shall receive—  
Again, to comfort servants in their distress a little farther; as he shows himself there tender over their souls, so doth he here over their Bodies. And because it is an easy thing for any man to abuse the power and authority which he hath over another, and that there is not a more pernicious Creature, than a tyrannical and cruel master, he limits even their proceed with his precepts; charging them to use those that are under their government with justice and Equity. Ye masters do that which is—  
To come then to the duty itself; it consisteth of two particulars.  
1. Master's must do to their servants that which is just. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. And in this is included whatsoever may be due to servants by any legal Tie; or according to the positive Laws, it excludes whatsoever may redound with hurt and prejudice unto them. It hath reference then both to their souls and Bodies. Master's must do that which is just to their Servants, in regard of their Souls.  
1. By using all possible means to help them unto Grace, as by training them up in the fear of God, by prayer, instruction, and other both public and private ways.  
2. Having by God's blessing, and his own industry brought them to some perfection in this kind, to prevent a future relapse, they must be very wary to choose such for their associates in the family as be just. For if it be an injury to bring a Servant into the house, that hath either the Plague, or some other Contagious Ulcer running upon his body, and shall appoint him to work amongst the rest, whereby to endanger also them; It must be an injury beyond compare, to bring in a lewd servant, that hath the Plague-soare of sin upon his soul. For the infection of such a one is fare more dangerous than the other.  
Now for their Bodies; Aristotle propounds three things so necessary for servants, that they may be accounted due; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Work, ●od, and Correction. To these we will add a fourth, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and and that is the hire, which is due to our servants, who are not slaves, like those of former times. Now it pertains to the justice of the Master, to see, as occasion shall be offered, that all these things be exhibited unto them in a due measure: and it is madness in him to do otherwise. For in imposing his tasks, if he tie them, as the Egyptians did the Israelites to more, than they are able to undergo, they will soon grow faint and feeble; if to less, sluggish and idle.  
2. In giving them Food; if he detract and withhold that which is needful and convenient, he pines them.  
Again, if he feed them delicately, he makes them insolent.  
3. In using correction; if he be too outrageous, & will punish them beyond the quality of the fault; he may kill their bodies; Again, if he be too remiss, and will suffer them, whatsoever they commit, to pass uncensured, he destroys their very souls.  
4. In the allowance of their wages, he that is too pinching may dishearten them from doing well; and again, he that is too prodigal, may the more enable them to do ill. So that in every one of these there is a mean required, that Masters may do unto their servants, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, That which is just.  
1. Then that he may not err in the first; let him know, that every man is not a joseph to manage himself alone the business of a whole Family; Even Moses when the burden is too great, must have a jethro help him to support it. Let him therefore put a hand unto the Plough himself; and as Solomon speaks, 
Pro. 27.23.  let him be diligent to know the state of his own flock.  
2. As touching the second; He that pampereth his Horse shall find him restife, when he would use him; so he that travels him, and will not feed him, shall be forced for the ending of his journey to make a Hackney of his own legs. Let him provide therefore a portion, and give them their Ordinary in due season.  
3. To avoid the third; Let him wink at slight faults; and for such as are gross and palpable, let him punish them as Plato did, by Deputy; or if he will needs do it of himself, let him stay till the violence of his passion be allayed, that he may do it with instruction, and moderation, and in such a manner as may be profitable to them, and his whole Family.  
4. And lastly, that he may not prove unjust in the fourth, he must allow them such a competency of wages for their work, that they may not only be able to furnish themselves with things necessary for the present; but have also some remnant in store for the future. It was jacobs' diligence, which looked for this; and it was Laban's duty to afford it; Chi been serve, assai dimanda, saith the Italian Adage. And thus much for the first particular. Master's do that which is just.  
The second follows, And equal to your servants; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith the Original, which signifies Equality, or equability. But we are not so to understand it, as if masters were bound to exhibit to their servants the like honour, and observance, that is exacted from them. For as Plato well, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Equal things cease to be equal, when we apply them to those that are unequal. This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore doth not denote unto us the works and offices of servants and Masters; which are indeed so differing, that they are plainly opposite; but it is referred to the mind, and manner of working, which in a kind of an analogical proportion should be the like in both. As for example; the proper office of a servant is to obey, that of a Master to command. Now these in no wise must be changed, for they be particular kinds of duties, and diversely appropriated; but to do that which we do in singleness of heart, and with all alacrity and cheerfulness, as servants unto Christ; these are duties equally common unto both. And in this look how the Master would have his servants demean themselves towards him; so must he demean himself towards his servant. If he would have them to obey him in sincerity & t●e fear of God; his care must be to command them in sincerity, and the fear of God; if he would have them to serve hearty, & with good will, he must be sure to govern them with a mild & fatherly affection. So shall he truly render unto them this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, this Equality, which is here enjoined.  
Briefly then to epitomise the difference, which is betwixt these terms. That may be said here in this place to be just, which the law requireth; or which is due to a servant by any Legal Obligation; and on the other side, that to be equal, which charity and Christian mildness doth exact, & which is du● unto them by a moral obligation. Now the special works of this Equality in a Master are these.  
1. To account of his Servant, as one made of the same mould, and partaker of the same grace with himself. Not as many do, with a proud and lofty mind so to vilify and contemn him, as if his eye were too good to behold so base an object. For howsoever Master and servant be words implying a difference of condition; man, and man yet are names denoting the same Nature. Fortune saith Plato, hath distinguished the one from the other; but nature is the same in both. Eisdem seminibus orti eodem fruuntur coelo; aequè vivunt, aequè moriuntur: Both consist of the same Elements, and are enlivened by the same principle. Their coming into the World, and their going out is alike in both. This considered, Saint Paul in his Epistle to Philemon commands him to receive Onesimus, being converted to the Faith, No more as a servant, but above a servant, even as a brother beloved.  
And in this we may find matter of comfort for Inferiors, and again matter of Humiliation and Moderation for Superiors. For the Servant is Christ's freeman; 
1 Cor. 7.  and the Master is Christ's servant. Let then the brother of low degree rejoice in this, That he is exalted in Christ, 
jam. 1.  to be equal with the greatest Prince that ever swayed a Sceptre in the World; yea to be fare above him, if he be out of Christ. Again, according to Saint james advise in the same place; Let the Brother of high degree rejoice in his Humility; even in this, That in Christ, he maketh equal with himself the meanest. Let him not glory in any outward preeminency he hath over them; but let his rejoicing bee, that such a poor and silly Beggar is his Fellow. And sure this can be no disgrace, or shame to any. For if God acknowledge them to be his sons, what disparagement can it be to us, if we acknowledge them for our Brethren? Nay, it is a credit, as Saint james shows, a matter to be boasted in; for if they be our Brethren, then is God our Father.  
Let no man therefore of what rank or calling soever he be, fear to admit the poorest Christian for his Brother, though he were his own bondslave, but let him do unto him, That which is just and equal. Let not the pride of his heart so puff him up in regard of his outward condition in the world, as to make him forget his Inferior, and so to carry himself towards him, as if he were not his Brother of the same Crhistian profession, and of the same precious faith with himself. And that he may the better do this, let him champ a little upon the various changes and alterations, whereunto all humane affairs are liable. Cuivis accidere potest, quod cuipiam potest, saith the Mimik. Whatsoever we see happen to any man, may happen unto us. joseph was free borne, and yet became a slave. And who can promise to himself an exemption from the like fortune? Res Deus nostras celeri citatas  

Sen. Herc. sur.  Turbine versat— saith the Tragedian. We are driven with a Whirlwind out of one state into another; and no security is to be looked for in the best Quem saepe transit casus, aliquando invenit; The Pit her may go often to the water, and yet at length come broken home. He knows not at what years Hecuba began to serve; nor when it was that Croesus, the mother of Darius Diogenes, I and Plato himself, were made to subject their necks to the yoke of Bondage; that waxeth insolent upon his own liberty. But here I would have no man to mistake me; as if Superiors, might not lawfully maintain the Superiority and Authority which they have over their Inferiors. My meaning only is, That no inequality in their civil Calling, should make them forget the equality in the Christian. We must so temper our carriage, that as our equality in Christ may not make us forget our inequality in the world; so on the other side, our inequality in the world, should not make us forget our Equality in Christ. Master's must do unto their servants that which is just and equal.  
The second operation of this Equality, is so to deal with our servants in all occurrences, as when Reason shall require it, to give way unto them. 
Esa. 40.  God is absolute in his Empire, and yet he saith not, like a Tyrant, Sic volo sic iubeo— Nor as the sons of Eli; By fair means, or by foul, 
1 Sam. 2.17  I will have as much as my heart desireth; But, Quod expedit facere, faciam; He will do that only, which is meet to be done. And so must Masters to their Servants. It is an equality, which holy job professeth to have exhibited always unto his; and should he not have done it, he should have been obnoxious to the wrath of GOD; If I did contemn, saith he, the judgement of my servant, or of my maid, when they did contend with me; what shall I do when God standeth up? and when he shall visit me, what shall I answer?  
The third is out of a due consideration of humane frailty, mercifully and gently to entreat our Servants, and with all benignity and love to cherish them, when either age, sickness, or any other calamity shall have enfeebled their strength, and made them altogether unable for employments. And for this very cause it seems to me, that a Master was called by the ancient Romans Pater-familias, 
Macrob. Saturn. lib. 1.  The Father of the family, because with a fatherly tenderness he was to look to all those of the household, as being committed to his trust, and custody. The Centurion shown himself to be truly such a one: First, In that he took the pains to come himself unto Christ for the recovery of his diseased Servant. Secondly, In that he counted him as a child; Lord, said he, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, my Child lieth sick at home of a palsy, 
Mat. 8.6.  and is greevously tormented.  
The fourth is, with a gracious Eye to weigh the merits of a faithful Servant, and to give him out of course, and above his composition, some kind remuneration. For when a Servant in his love and fidelity toward his Master shall have shown himself more than a Servant, equality requireth that the Master in his liberality, and bounty towards him, should show himself more than a Master. Servus sensatus sittibi dilectus quasi anima, saith the Wise man. Love an understanding Servant, as thou wouldst thine own Soul; defraud him not of liberty, neither leave him a poor man. In this he should not so much regard, what law, and humane custom may require, as what Charity, and Christian meekness doth enjoin. For if he perform not those, he shall be counted unjust, even before the Tribunal of men; but if he do not these he shall be arraigned, and condemned of wickedness and cruelty before the judgment-seate of God. There must be an equal, and analogical proceeding amongst all sorts of men; and whatsoever superiors do at any time exact from those that are under them, they must be very careful to return unto them the like, 
Eph. 6.9.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the very same; Si non specie tamen analogia; if not in kind, yet in proportion. For this is that, which is here commanded: Masters do that which is just and equal unto your servants. And thus much of the Precept. The motive alleged by the Apostle for the observation of this precept is the point that followeth. Knowing that ye also have a Master—  
Now this is twofold. For first, they must know that themselves also have a Master.  
Secondly, It is no ordinary master, but a Master in Heaven.  
As touching the first. The only thing which moveth many to be injurious to their Servants is a high conceit of their own absolute power: They think themselves Lords Paramont; and altogether free from the check of any; hence is it, that often times they break forth into bitter outrages, and when a thing is not instantly done according to their mind, as if there w●re no difference betwixt their Servant, and their Dog, they care not with what fury they assault him. The Apostle therefore to bridle this intemperancy, which is nothing but a fruit of our arrogant insulting flesh, would have them know, and remember, that themselves are also Servants under the command of one, and the same Lord, and so consequently, fellow-servants with their servants. Now 'tis altogether dissonant from reason, that a servant, though he be of higher rank, and more honourable place should deal unjustly, and tyrannically with his fellows. For it is an Axiom with God in the government of his household, what measure we meet to others, the same shall be meted unto us again. We may see it exemplified in the Gospel. He that had ten thousand Talents remitted him, 
Mat. 18.32.  and yet was merciless in exacting an hundred pence, O thou evil servant, said the Lord unto him, I forgave thee all thy debt, because thou prayedst me; And oughtest not thou also to have had pity upon thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? So the Lord was wroth, and delivered him to the Tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. It behoveth therefore godly, and religious Masters, so to think of their servants, as to know them for more than servants; And again, so to conceit of themselves, as to know that they are less than Masters, even fellow-labourers with their Servants in the work of the Lord.  
Worldly Greatness doth usually forget her own subordination to a higher power; and is by reason of this so puffed up, with insolency, that in her carriage towards others she heeds nor justice, nor equality; we have it instanced in Pharaoh. Moses and Aaron came unto him with a message from the Lord saving; Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Let my people go, that they may celebrate a feast unto me in the wilderness: And Pharaoh replied, Who is the Lord, that I should hear his voice and let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go: But what event had this his supercilious pride? Did it not bring a miserable ruin and des●●ation upon his whole Kingdom? Master's then, do that, which is Just and equal to your Servants knowing that ye also have a Master, who can, and will exact from you a strict account of your whole carriage and proceed, even towards them. For as it follows in the second place; He is a Heavenly Master.  
That is; one, who is Just, omnipotent, omniscient, and to shut up all in a word, God himself. And this is a special consideration whereby to restrain the cruelty of Masters towards their Servants. For what is the reason, that Masters behave themselves so insolently towards their Servants, but because they see them altogether destitute of any power or faculty to withstand their violence; and are withal persuaded, that there ●s no judge that will enlarge himself so fare in their behalf, as to take upon him the reparation of their wrongs? The Apostle therefore to abolish this conceit, will have Masters to know, that is, assuredly to hold, and believe that they also have a master, and such a one, as is not mortal; but celestial, and will not suffer them to go unpunished, if in any sort they abuse that authority, which by delegation they have received from him over their Servants. Being subject to such a master they ought with all holy respect to observe in every thing, this justice, and equality, which is here prescribed  
For first, this heavenly master is omniscient: and there is no wicked or unjust act can be so closely committed as to lie concealed from his knowledge. His eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the Sun, and there is nothing in Heaven, in Earth, or in the deep, which he doth not see, yea though it were hid, I say not within the Reins and Hearts of our Bodies, but in the Reins and Heart of the lowest destruction. Omnia coram illo nuda saith the Apostle; All things are naked before him. 'tis more than shameless impudence therefore in the fight of such a master to entreat our fellows cruelly and proterviously. For even the worst kind of servants will be sure to afford 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that same eye-service, which was spoken of before. And he of whom we read in the Gospel, never went about to molest or afflict the rest of the household, till hi● Master was gone a great journey, and fare enough removed from his sight; but this heavenly Master hath his eye evermore upon us; and therefore we can at no time safely domineer in an imperious manner, and beyond all justice, and Equality, over those that are under our government and jurisdiction.  
2. This heavenly Master is just and holy; and all iniquity whatsoever is exceeding hateful unto him. Earthly masters may peradventure now and then, either applaud the improbity of their servants, or at least connive at it, because themselves are faulty and defective in the like kind; But there is no hope that he who dares violate justice and equity, should please his heavenly Master. For both the wicked and their wickedness are hateful to the Lord.  
3. And lastly, This Master, which we have in heaven, is Omnipotent, and able therefore to revenge himself on those whom he abhorreth; nor can any man rescue or deliver himself out of his hands. The Children of Israel, and the sons of Anak; David and Goliath, were unequally matched, yet was it man to man: where if either party be the weaker, it may be redressed in time, either by themselves, or their abettors; or if never, the body alone endures the smart; the soul is not a whit endangered; but this Master is the most mighty Lord, whose face is burning, and whose eyes are full of indignation; he liveth not upon the earth, that can abide his wrath●● For lo! ●he foundations of the Mountains shake, and the Hills do melt away like wax, because of his anger: It extends not only to the kill of the Body; but to the casting both of soul and body into Hell. Behold he breaketh down, and it cannot be built; he shutteth up a man and he cannot be loosened. Woe woe be unto us cried the uncircumcised Philistines, though they were a mighty Army, and stood in battle array, who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty Gods? Erring in the number, but not in the power of the glorious Deity. Who is able to stand before him, cried the men of Bethshemesh? The very Pillars of Heaven, 
2 Sam. 6.  saith job, tremble and quake at his reproof. At his rebuke he drieth up the Sea, and maketh the floods desert: 
Esay 50.  Their fish rot for want of water, and dye for thirst; He clotheth the heavens with darkness, and maketh a Sack their covering.  
How fearful a thing than shall it be for sinful man, whose foundation is but dust, not like those of the Mountains, and the Pillars of his body, but flesh and blood, inferior to the Pillars of Heaven; and all whose moisture in comparison of the Rivers, is but Stilla situlae, the drop of the Bucket, to fall into the hands of the living God, who liveth for all eternity beyond the days of Heaven; and is therefore more able to avenge the neglect, and base contempt of his Commandments. The anger of a Prince, though it seem as dreadful as the Messengers of death unto us, may be pacified; if not, his anger is mortal like himself. His breath is in his nostrils, and promiseth to th●m that fear, an end of his life, & wrath together. The hostility of a deadly foe may be resisted with hostility again; though his Quiver be an open Sepulchre, 
Hier. 5.16.  & they all very strong. If not, he can but eat up our harvest, and our bread, our sons and our daughters; our sheep, and our Bullocks; our Vines, and our Figtrees; and destroy our Cities. But if the anger of the Lord of Hosts be kindled, who can put it out? If he be an enemy, let heaven and earth join hand in hand to work our safety, neither shall avail us; he is the only Lord of all, 
Sap. 6.6.7.  neither shall he fear any greatness: with him the mighty shall be mightily tormented. Let Masters then diligently ponder, and consider these things; as,  
1. That they also have a Master.  
2. That this their Master is a heavenly master, that is, Omniscient, a hater of all injustice: and withal omnipotent, able to put in execution whatsoever he determineth; and this will sufficiently spur them up, daily and duly to exhibit justice and Equity to their servants. For if they would have God be merciful to them, they must be merciful to those. And thus having wrought out my materials I here desist with my Cord, in twisting whereof I must confess strength was rather affected than length. If any therefore shall chance to blame me for my conciseness, and think the worse of my Book, because of the brevity, I will vindicate myself, and it from his illiterate censure, with that of Martial against Gaurus. 
Lib. 9 E. 1    
Ingenium mihi Gaure probas sic esse pusillum,  
Carmina quod faciam, quae brevitate placent;  
Confiteor, sed tu bis denis grandia libris  
Qui scribis Priami praelia, magnus homoes.  
Nos Bruti puerum facimus, nos Lagona vivum,  
Tu magnus luteum Gaure giganta facis.  
Thus provest thou Gaurus, that my Wit is small,  
Because the verses, which I daily make,  
Only for shortness are esteemed of all;  
And I confess in this there's no mistake;  
But thou that dost the great and dreadful wars  
Of Priamus in twenty books set forth,  
Largely discoursing of those bloody jars,  
Art sure a man of rare and mickleworth.  
We Brutus Child do to the life display;  
Thou mighty man makest Giants out of Clay.  
Laus, honour, & gloria Sanctae & Individuae Trinitati.  
FINIS.   

Octob. 9 1635.  
PErlegi hoc opus, cui Titulus S. Pauls Threefold Cord, etc. quod continet paginas 255. aut circiter, in quibus invenio nihil sanae doctrinae aut bonis moribus repugnans, quo minus cum utilitate publicâ imprimatur: sub ea tamen conditions, ut si non intra annum proximè sequentem typis mandetur, haec licentia sit omnino irrita.  
Gulielmus Haywood, Capell. domest. Archiep. Cant.