THE MERCHANT ROYAL. A SERMON PREACHED AT White-Hall before the King's Majesty, at the Nuptials of the Right Honourable the Lord HAY and his Lady, upon the Twelve day last being lanuar. 6. 1607.   sailing ship and two devices or crests above it described in McKerrow, pp. 137-38, at device no. 356: at left, "a garb, or wheatsheaf, on a wreath" (perhaps the crest of the Lord Hay?); at right, the crest of the Denny family (Honora Denny being the Lady referred to in the book title) 
AT LONDON Printed by FELIX KYNGSTON for John Flasket, and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the black Bear. 1607.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD HAY, AND TO HIS late espoused the Lady HONORIA; the Author hereof wisheth all consolation in Christ, continual comfort in marriage, together with a conscionable observance of the contents of this Sermon.  
Lo here (Right Honourable) presented into your hands what lately sounded in your ears. A ship first built in Paradise and for the pleasure of the land, but since repaired for the Merchants use against the troubles of the sea: which since I am enjoined to launch out into the main, and to make public both beyond the merit of the thing, and also beyond mine own meaning, I could find none more fit Unto whom to dedicate it now in the print, than your Honourable selves, for whose sake it was first preached. I hope I shall never make it the last end of my Labours, to please man; yet I find in this, that I have pleased some and displeased other: but why should I look to please all, whereas God himself hath so seldom done it? Therefore they which think me too bitter, must yet remember that I bite nothing but sin; and what reason is there to favour sin, through occasion where of the world was drowned to punish it, the Law was ordained to prevent it, the Son of the highest died to satisfy for it, and the world again must be destroyed to finish it? Yea what reason is there to favour any sin, whereas there is no one which favoureth Us, but all imperilling Us in the hope of salvation, as Eve by her eating Undermined Adam. They again which think that sin should not be derided or corrected in this kind, must also consider that every sin is to be taxed in his proper kind; as in the Scripture sins savouring of error are refelled with arguments, and such as be foul and heinous are beaten downe with judgements, but those which were ridiculous were indeed derided, as Elias the Prophet sported at the Priests of Baal, and job at his foolish comforters. Yea and how plays Esay with the wanton gestures of women, stretching out their necks, mincing and tinkling with their feet, etc. Chap. 3. 16. But Moses more with the niceness of women, Too dainty to venture (not their knees in devotion) but the soles of their feet upon the ground, Deut. 28. 56. no doubt a sore adventure. But nothing so taunting as that in Solomon, where the whore is mocked for a votary, and she that offered herself to other men's lust, yet is set our for a Saint with offerings of peace to God, Prou. 7. 14. I hope therefore all good people will privilege me by these holy precedents; yea I am sure of this that none will find fault with me, but such as first find a fault in themselves, and to such I profess myself indeed a Preacher, and to have preached all this for them, as Christ in the Gospel professed of himself, that he came to call sinners. And thus in my most true and sincerest love I commend you in the midst of your marriage joys to that joy and peace which is in God.  
Your Honours in all Christian devotion, Robert Wilkinson.   

A SERMON PREACHED AT WHITE HALL., UPON THE SIXTH of january 1607. being Twelve day: At the Nuptials of the Right Honourable the Lord HAY and his Lady.  PROV. 31. 14. She is like a Merchant's ship, she bringeth her food from a far. 
THis Scripture, and in effect this whole chapter is a Scripture written for women; and more peculiarly a Scripture written in praise of women; yet not glosingly to make them better than they be, but soberly and truly to show the what they should be; A scripture Wherein as in a glass are set out to our view all the perfections and ornaments, all the dignity, beauty, duty of a virtuous wife and holy woman. The devil at the first began his temptation by praising of the woman, by telling her, that if she knew herself, she wanted but one thing to make her like God; And from the devil (I think) it comes, that so many men since, in every age, have so wanton bestowed their time, their wits, their pens, and sometime their pencils too, either vainly to magnify, or vilely to embase the dignity of women; the causes of which folly I take to be these, either for that generally they did not know them, and then they wrote foolishly, or for that sometime they doted on them, and then they praised immoderately, or else for that sometime they hated them, and then they railed furiously: But there are, to ratify the present discourse and praise of women, three things, first God, by whose spirit it was conceived: secondly Bathsheba a woman, by whose mouth it was taught: thirdly, Solomon a man, yea the wisest of men, by whose pen it was indited, that is to say, God in spired it into the mother, the mother taught it to Solomon her son, and then Solomon her son published it to the world: therefore if we speak of the knowledge of a good woman, who knoweth her better than she herself? who knoweth her better than man that liveth with her? yea who knoweth her so well as God that made her? Again, if in this description any thing might seem too much in praise, it was not a woman, but a man that wrote it; if any thing might seem too grievous or burdensome in precept, it was not a man, but a woman that imposed it; or if any thing might seem either too much, or too little, or other wise than it should be, it was neither man nor woman, but God that first directed it: and thus in one description of a virtuous wife and holy woman (which is not any other author, nor yet elsewhere in any part of Scripture) we have a man, a woman, yea God himself, and all out of one mouth speaking and conspiring; She that hath cares to hearelet her hear.  
In the tenth verse of this Chapter, Solomon makes proclamation, Who shall find a virtuous woman? which yet importeth not (as S. Augustine noteth) Inueniendi impossibilitatem, sed difficultatem, Not as if to find a virtuous woman were a matter of impossibility, but yet for all that, a thing of some difficulty; and therefore he crieth her with her marks; She will do her husband good, and not evil; She riseth while it is yet night; She putteth her hands to the wheel; She stretcheth out her hands to the poor; She openeth her mouth with wisdom, etc. Thus showing sometime what she doth, sometime what she is, sometime what she is worth, and sometime what she is like, as here; She is like a ship, etc.  
She is indeed, and yet she scarce is, and therefore because she is so scarce, it was needful to show, not only what she is, but also what she is like too; for how shall he find her, that never saw her, that never had her, that scarce heard of her, how shall he find her, but by some sensible resemblance of her? and therefore as Cantic. s. when the Church cried her husband, (I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my well-beloved, etc.) she described him by resemblance: My well-beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest of ten thousand, his head is like a gold, his eyes like doves, his cheeks like a bed of spices, his lips like lilies, his legs like pillars of marble, every thing was like something; so of the virtuous woman it is said here, that she is like a ship; and Prou. 12. she is like a crown, and in the Canticles sometime like a Rose, sometime like a Lily, sometime like a garden of flowers, sometime like a spring of waters: In a word, she is like to many things, but as it is said vers. 10. Pearls and precious stones are not like to her.  
She is like a ship (saith Solomon) and it may well be, for the world is like the Sea: for so saith S. John, Before the throne there was a sea of glass, Revel. 4. and that was the world, transitory and brittle as glass, tumultuous and troublesome like the sea, wherein as the wind raiseth up the waves, and one wave wallows in the neck of another, so this troublesome life of ours gins in weeping, goes on in sorrow, and the end of one woe is but the entrance of another. O what time might a man ask to set down all the miseries of this life! the fear, the care, the anguish that daily accompanieth the body and soul of man; the labours & sorrows certain, the causualties uncertain, the contentions and unquietness of them that live among us, sharp assaults and oppositions of them that hate us, but chief the unfaithfulness and treachery of them that seem to love us: against these storms to save men from drowning did God ordain the woman, as a ship upon the sea, that as Noah made an Ark, and by that Ark escaped the flood; so man by marrying with the woman might pass through all the labours of this life, unto which doubtless God had respect when he said, It is not good for man to be alone, let Us make him a help meet for him; as much as to say, a ship to save him, therefore he which hath no wife may seem to be like Jonas in the sea, left in the midst of a miserable world to sink or swim, or shift for himself; but then comes a wife like a ship and wastes him home: but ye must still remember that Solomon speaketh here of a good wife, as vers. 10. Who shall find a Virtuous woman? For otherwise if she which was made to comfort in every storm be stormy and troublesome herself, then is she not like a Ship, but like the sea, and then to be so shipped, it were better with jonas to be cast into the sea.  
But if she be good, she is like a Ship indeed, and to nothing so like as to a Ship; for she sits at the stern, and by discretion as by Card and Compass shapes her course; her countenance and conversation are ballased with soberness and gravity; her sails are full of wind, as if some wisdom from above had inspired or blown upon her; she standeth in the shrouds, and casteth out her lead, and when she hath sounded, she telleth (as Michol did to David) of depth and danger. 
1. Sam. 19 11.  If by default she be grounded, she casteth out her anchors (as Rahab did) and by winding 
Joshua 2. 21.  of herself, she gets afloat again. If she spy within her kenning, any trouble to be nigh, either she makes forward, if she find herself able, or else with Pilat's 
Matth. 27. 19  wife she sets sail away; She commands, and countermands each man to his charge, some to their tackling, some to the mast, some to the main top, as if she, and none but she were Captain, Owner, Master of the ship; and yet she is not Master, but the Master's mate; a royal Ship she is, for the King himself takes pleasure in her beauty, Psal. 4s. and if she be a Merchantstoo, then is she the Merchant royal.  
Again, as she is like a ship, considered in herself, and in her proper virtues, so is she likewife, being compared with her owner too: She is like a Ship indeed, for first who soever marries, ventures; he ventures his estate, he ventures his peace, he ventures his liberty, yea many men by marriage adventure their souls too: for which cause the Israelites were forbidden to match their daughters with the Canaanites, lest they should turn them from God, to serve other gods, Deut. 7. which Solomon notwithstanding did, and therefore made (as some men thought) a shrewd adventure of his soul. And therefore (even to prevent too much adventure likewise) is marriage compared to a ship, which of all artificial creatures, is the most deliberative, for she sails not, but by sounding, lest by her unheedines she run herself aground: In like manner, neither man nor woman will at any time (if they be wise) resolve either of marriage, or of any thing in marriage, but upon the weightiest deliberation. He is set out for the image of a fool that said, Villam emi, etc. I have bought a farm, and I 
Luk. 14. 18.  must needs go out to see it, for he should have seen it first and bought it after; as it is said of the virtuous woman here, She considereth a field and gets it, vers. 16. that is, she thinks of it first, and makes her purchase after; and when either man or woman forget this in marriage, they purchase joy enough for the day of their marriage, and repentance enough for all the time after. It is said of jeptha's daughter, judg. 11. that she went out to bewail the days of her virginity; but in truth many men's daughters may go out to bewail the days of their marriage, yea and many men too look back to the single life, as the Egyptians in the red sea looked back to the land; 
Exod. 14.  and so they are punished with late repentance, like those foolish mariners Act. 27. who, because they took not counsel in the haven, were forced to advise upon a wrack: and what is the cause of this? lack of forecast, because they sound not first whether it be fit to marry, or yet to marry, or whether he be fit, or she be fit, fit in degree, in disposition, in religion: and therefore as Solomon saith of vowing, so say we of marrying, Be not rash with thy mouth; but sound first and sail after, that is, deliberate first, and marry after.  
Again, she is like a ship for her universal use: A house is indeed to dwell in, but not to travail in, but a ship is both to travail in, and as it were to dwell in too, to eat, and drink, and sleep, and labour, and meditate, and pray too; as if to be in a ship were to be in another earth, the water-world: In like manner a man hath a friend for pleasure, a servant for profit, and sor uses to Godward a spiritual instructor too, but a wife serves for all these, that is, for pleasure, for profit, and (if she be good) to bring her husband to good too.  
Again, of all these same Vtensilia, (I mean of movable instruments) a ship is the hugest and the greatest, and yet commanded (as ye see) by the helm or stern, a small piece of wood; so ought the wife (though a great commander in the house) yet to be turned and ruled by a word of her husband. Solomon saith not, she is like a house (as many women be, as good remove a house as to dissuade or wean them from their wills) but like a ship; not like Vashti the wife of Assuerus, whom all the power of the kingdom could not move to come to her husband, no not to the King himself, Ester 1. but she must follow her husband, as the Israelites followed the cloudy pillar in the wilderness, which 
Numb. 9  when it stood, they stayed, and when it went they followed, and so must she.  
Lastly, lest any man dote too much upon this heavenly ship of earthly joys, we must remember, that as a ship is not a place of continual habitation, but only for passage, so is the society of the wife, though comfortable and joyful for the time, yet lasting only for a time, a help to hold him up & comfort him, during this transitory, short, and troublesome pilgrimage; but then there is another, a happier, a more lasting marriage with the Lamb, which neither departure, divorce, nor death can separate, and for this we must forsake father, mother, wife, children, goods, lands, etc. for this the living must renounce his life, the King must leave his crown, the Bridegroom must leave his Bride, and the Bride must leave her bed, because for this the Saints do cry, Come Lord Jesus, come quickly.  
But as the saying is in the schools, Similitudo non currit quatuor pedibus: Many things may be like, yet nothing like in all things. Therefore though a woman in many things be like a ship, yet in some things she must be unlike, and some qualities of a ship she must not have: As for example, one ship may belong to many Merchants, and one Merchant may be owner in many ships; yet neither may one woman divide her love to many men, nor one man divide himself to many women, therefore Lamech spoke with great incongruity, yea it was like false Latin when he said, Hear ye wives of Lamech, Genes 4. 23. for wives admitno plurality when they be construed with one husband, because (as the Prophet saith) though God at the first had abundance of spirit, yet he made but one; Mal. 2. but one woman of one rib, for the help and comfort of one man.  
Secondly, of all the goods which men possess, only a ship cannot be housed: a man hath a shop for his wares, a barn for his corn, a chest for his money, & a house wherein to hide his head, but no case to cover a ship; but so must not a virtuous woman be, for it is a note of the unchaste woman, that her feet cannot abide in her house, but now she is without, now in the street, and lies in wait at every corner, Prou. 7. 11. 12. So as who so seethe her seethe her always gadding, that he may salute her, as men salute at sea, Whither are ye bound? But Rachel and Leach are noted to be in the house while jacob was abroad in the field, Genes. 31. only Dinah was a straggler, and set up sail to Shichem, but she came home with shame, and made an ill voyage.  
Thirdly, a ship of all things is movable, and carried with the wind; but so must not a good woman be, for of the ill woman it is said, Proverbs 5. Herpaths are movable, thou canst not know them: She is inconstant, light headed, and vain, now she loves, anon she hates, now she obeys, anon she rebels; gentle and Kind to day, crooked and unkind to morrow; for she sails but by gusts, that all her goodness takes her by fits, like the good days of an ague: and whereas Ruth showed more 
Ruth 3.  goodness at her latter end than at her beginning, an ill wise showeth more goodness in one day of her beginning, than in seven years of her latter end: therefore such must remember what Solomon saith of the good woman here, she girdeth her loins with slrength, that is, her mind with staidness and constancy, ver. 17. and vers. 12. more plainly, She Will do her husband good, and not evil, all the days of her life, that is, she is as obedient and tractable after twenty years trial, as at the day of her marriage.  
But of all qualities a woman must not have one quality of a ship, and that is, too much rigging. Oh what a wonder it is to see a ship under sail, with her tackle, and her masts, and her tops, and top gallants, with her upper decks, and her neither decks, and so bedecked; with her streams, flags, and ensigns, and I know not what; yea but a world of wonders it is to see a woman created in God's image so miscreate oft times & deformed, with her French, her Spanish, and her foolish fashions, that he that made her when he looks upon her shall hardly Know her, with her plumes, her fans, and a silken vizard, with a ruff like a sail, yea a ruff like a rainbow, with a feather in her cap like a flag in her top, to tell (I think) which way the wind will blow. Esay made a proffer in the third of his prophecy to set out by enumeration the shop of these vanities, Their bonnets, and their bracelets, and their tablets, their slippers, and their mufflers, their veils, their wimples, and their crisping pings; of some where of if one should say to me as Philip sometime said to the Eunuch, Understandest thou What thou readest? Act. 8. I might answer with the Eunuch again, How can I without a guide? that is, unlessc some Gentlewoman would comment on the text. But Esay was then, and we are now; now that fancy hath multiplied the text of fashions with the time; so as what was then but a shop, is now increased to a ship of vanities. But what saith the Scripture? The King's daughter is all glorious within, Psal. 45. and as ships which are the fairest in show, yet are not always the fittest for use; so neither are women the more to be esteemed, but the more to be suspected for their fair trappings. Yet we condemn not in greater personages the use of ornaments; yea we teach that silver, silks, and gold were created not only for the necessity, but also for the ornament of the Saints, in the practice where of Rebeccah a holy woman is noted to have received from Jsaac a holy man even earrings, abilments, and bracelets of gold, Genes. 24. Therefore this it is we teach for rules of Christian sobriety, that if a woman exceed neither decency in fashion, nor the limits of her state & degree, and that she be proud of nothing, we see no reason, but she may wear any thing.  
It followeth: She is like a ship. But what ship? a ship of Merchants; no doubt a great commendation. For the kingdom of heaven is like a Merchant, Mat. 13. and Merchants have been Princes, Esay 23. and Princes are Gods, Psal. 82. The Merchant is of all men the most laborious for his life, the most adventurous in his labour, the most peaceable upon the sea, the most profitable to the land, yea the Merchant is the combination and union of lands and countries. She is like a ship of Merchants; there fore first to be reckoned (as ye see) among the Laity; not like a fisherman's boat, not like S. Peter's ship, for Christ did call no she Apostles. Indeed it is commendable in a woman when she is able by her wisdom to instruct her children, and to give at opportunities good counsel to her husband: but when women shall take upon them (as many do) to build Churches, and to chalk out discipline for the Church, this is neither commendable nor tolerable, for her hands (saith Solomon) must handle the spindle, vers. 19 the spindle or the cradle, but neither the Altar nor the Temple: for S. John commendeth even to the elect Lady not so much her talking, as her walking in the commandments, 2. loh. 5. 6. Therefore to such preaching women it may be answered, as S. Bernard sometime answered the Image of the blessed Virgin at the great Church at Spire in Germany; Bernard was no sooner come into the Church, but the Image strait saluted him, and bade him, God morrow Bernard. Whereat Bernard, well knowing the juggling of the Friars, made answer again out of S. Paul, Oh (saith he) your Ladyship hath forgot yourself, It is not lawful for women to speak in the Church.  
Again, the Merchant is a profitable ship, to teach a wife in all things to endeavour her husband's profit: but many women are like water-pageants, made only for show, like pictures in a table, good for nothing but to please the eye, no longer to be liked than they be looked on, yea so unprositable and dissolute in the house, as no man would think them to be wives, but that at meals he finds them sitting at the upper end of the table: whereas of the good wife it is said here, that she will do her husband good, and not evil, vers. 12.  
Again, the Merchant is a painful ship, and she must be a painful wife; not like a running pinnace to scour from coast to coast, from house to house, as many Athenian women do, who give themselves to nothing, but idly & wanton to hear and tell news; for he that hath such a wife may think himself married to an Intelligencer; whereas S. Paul adviseth such busy bodies to govern their own houses, 1. Tim. 5. as if intermeddling with other men's did make them idle in their own.  
Again, being like a Merchant's ship, that is, he being the Merchant and she the ship, she must needs conclude she was made for him, and therefore a ship of traffic to enrich him, but not a pirate to spoil and rob him. To spoil and rob? as if a woman could rob her husband? Indeed it hath  been held a question disputable, though I in truth have little mind to dispute it; yet I hear what is said to that purpose from the mouth of Eve, We eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, genes. 3. We, therefore she puts in herself; and she eats of the trees indefinitely, therefore of all the trees in the garden, and therefore all was hers as well as adam's, and the woman's in right as well as the man's. To which I answer, that all is hers in participation to use, but Adam's only in discretion to dispose, which appeareth by two reasons, first, because the beasts were named by Adam and not by Eve, and to name is a note of dominion and authority: as when Joseph became Pharaohs servant, and Daniel a captive to the Chaldeans, they received from them other names; and we in our baptism receive our names to acknowledge that we belong in right to Christ. Secondly, the whole world was given to Adam before Eve was made, so as hers was but an after-right, and if she have any tenure at all, she holds in Capite, & she hath no title but by her husband: she therefore that usurpeth absolute authority in the house, is no Merchant, but a pirate to the Merchant.  
Lastly, she is like a Merchant's ship, that is, a friendly fellow and peaceable companion to him, but not a man of war to contend with him. For he that made her never built her for battle sure; she was built for peace, and not for war, for Merchants weep to think of war: therefore she must not for every angry word of her husband betake herself into the gunne-roome ftraight and there to thunder, to charge & discharge upon him with broad words, or as mariners say at sea, to turn the broad side; like Zipporah the wife of Moses, to rail upon him, Thou art indeed a bloody husband, Exod. 4. this is no ship of Merchants, this is the Spite, I think: and therefore no marucile, if many men thus shipped do wish themselves a shore, and that untimely death might take such a wife for a prize. When Eliezer went a wooing for Isaac his master's son, the trial by which he proposed to prove a fit wife for Jsaac was this, that if (saith he) when I say to a maid, Give me drink, she say again, Drink, and I will give thy Camels also, she without more ado should be a wife for Isaac, Genes. 24. that is, as Theodoret expoundeth it, If she were gentle; not like that woman joh. 4. Christ asked her water and she called him jew: How is it that thou a Jew askest water of me a Samaritane? For though there be many sins incident to women (as there be (to speak unpartially) as many to men) yet no vice in a woman so unwomanly as this; yet if Adam had been furious the matter had been less, for he was made of earth, the mother of iron and steel, the murdering metals; but the woman she that was made of so tender metal to become so terrible, the weaker vessel so strong in passion, yea to look so fair and speak so foul, what a contrariety is this? There was great reason sure to compare a good woman to a snail, not only for her silence and continual keeping of her house, but also for a certain commendable timorousness of her nature, which at the least shaking of the air shrinks back into her shell; and so ought the wife to do, if her husband but speak to play all hid and under hatches, and to put out a flag of truce as Abigail did to David, and to say to her husband, as Rachel to her father, Let not my Lord be angry, Gen. 31. Like a lily among thorns (saith Solomon) so is my love among the daughters, Cantic. 2. Like a lily first, not like a nettle: again, like a lily among thorns, as showing patience in the sorest povocation. Sara indeed was peaceable, and so were many more, yet their praise was less, in as much as they had meek husbands, for she is a monster that liveth not meekly with a meek husband, but she that is yoked with a Nabal, a churl, a fool, as Abigail was, and bears that patiently, she may say with Deborah, in the fifth of the judges, O my soul thou hast marched Valiantly: And there shall more true honour grow to you by such patience, than if soldierlike ye did prevail by fury & violence; and the worse your husbands be, the more shall your virtue shine, which in affliction shineth most, like stars twinkling in the night; & if it be grievous to find matter of patience there where ye looked for comfort and protection, yet it shall have in the end a reward, and in the Interim a singular admiration, and, as Mary saith of herself, All generations shall call such blessed.  
It followeth in the text: She bringeth her sood from a far. As ye have heard what she is like, so now likewise what she doth too; for being is known by doing, as the tree is known by the fruit. Alas it is a small thing, yea it is nothing to be like, for copper oft times is like good coin, and the devil is like an angel of light, and if evil women were not like to many things, which indeed they are not, they could not deceive so many as they do: therefore the next thing is to consider what she doth; She bringeth her food from a far. she bringeth, first, therefore described peace adver sa non aversa, with her face, not with her back toward: for when a ship goeth forth, every man murmureth for that it carrieth, the Merchant himself feareth jest it miscarry; but when it returneth, there is joy for that it bringeth. And where Solomon saith she bringeth, he meaneth not that she bringeth in with her, as if a wife were to be chosen by her dowry; for the worst wives have many times the best portions, and the best wives (such as Ester was) have oft-times none at all. Indeed the manner of the world is now to seek wives, as Judas betrayed Christ, with Quantum dabis, What will ye give? and if the father chance to say with Peter, Aurum & argentum non est mihi; let her then be as obedient as Sarah, as devout as Anna, as virtuous as the Virgin Mary, yetal this is nothing, Quaerenda pecunia primùm est, other things may mend it, but money makes the match. Therefore this was not it which Solomon meant by bringing: for a good wife though she bring in nothing with her, yet through her wisdom and diligence great things come in by her; she brings in with her hands, for she putteth her hands to the wheel (saith Solomon) vers. 19 and indeed if her work do not countervail her meat, then is every finger of her hand like a these in the house. Again, if she be too high to stain her hands with bodily labour, yet she bringeth in with her eye, for she overseeth the ways of her household (saith Solomon) and eateth not the bread of idleness, vers. 27. Again she bringeth in by her frugality, for she holdeth it a point of conscience, neither to far more daintily, nor to attire herself more trimly, than may stand with her husband's state: for if she waste more than she bring in, & her victualling amount to more than her whole voyage, that Merchant was ill advised that manned her forth, and it had been good for him to be alone. But as the saying is, that many men marry their executors; so is it true likewise, that many men marry their executioners: and as the sin of Adam began at Eve, so the ruin and confusion, the extortion, oppression, gripping of tenants, yea and sacrilege of many men beginneth at the pride of the woman; for now every Lady of the latest edition if her husband have bribed out but an end of an office, yet she revels & plays Rex, and she must have her Coach, though but to cross from the Church-stile to the Church-porch: and whereas those Israelitish women, Exod. 38. when the Instruments of the Tabernacle were to be made, gave in their devotion their very Looking-glasses toward it; yet now the forbidden apple is pulled, the Church is rob and spoiled, a Patron will scarce pass away a poor Parsonage, but with a reservation of his own tithes, and all to maintain French Hoods, Ruffs, Lawns and Looking glasses: whereas of the virtuous wife it is said vers. 11. of the Chapter, that her husband shall have no need of spoil.  
But what bringeth she in? She brings in food; in which word Solomon pointeth her out a houseworke, as she is a housewife, and the work assigned is the feeding of the household: for we read that Abraham fetched a calf from the field, but Sarah had her charge to dress it in the Tent, Genef. 18. and Samuel telleth the people, that their King when they had him, would take not their sons, but their daughters, and make them Cooks and Bakers, 1. Sam. 8. and in the fifteenth verse of this Chapter it is said directly, that she giveth the portion to her household, and the ordinary to her maids. But that which we read food, some translate it bread, she bringeth her bread; and it may well be, for bread is the staff of life, and when like Merchants we have run round about the world to fetch in the riches of every country, yet all is but to cloth the back and feed the belly: therefore having food and raiment, (saith S. Paul) let us there with be content: 1. Tim. 6.  
Again, as he is not the best Merchant to the Commonwealth which bringeth in toys and trifles, but he which bringeth in such things as best may serve necessity; so neither is she always the best wife which is most adorned with tricks and qualities, but she that endeavoureth most to that which is most necessary. And I think surely that bread is expressly named here, as to frame her whole conversation, so chief her mouth with sobriety: for many women are of the mind of the Israelites in Egypt, Manna is no meat with them, but they must have Quatles, and all must be dainty, (though to the undoing of all) like Eve the wife of Adam, whom of all the trees in Paradise none might serve, but that which was the bane of her husband, and the less they want, the more wanton and dainty mouthed they be. Now sure if Cyrus had had such a wife he must needs have worshipped her, for he had no other reason to worship the Idol Bell, but only because it spent him so many sheep, so many measures of flower, and so many pots of wine every day: but every meat was not made for every mouth; only bread was made for all; and neither man nor woman have warrant to ask for more than for their daily bread.  
But what meaneth Solomon by that, From a far, she bringeth her food from a far? Surely not to answer that which is Proverbially said, That far fetched and dear bought is fittest for Ladies, as now adays what groweth at home is base and homely, & what every one eats is meat for dogs, and we must have bread from one country, and drink from another, and we must have meat from Spain, and sauce out of Italy: and if we wear any thing, it must be pure Venetian, Roman, or Barbarian; but the fashion of all must be French: and as Seneca saith in another case, Victi Victoribus leges dederunt, we give them the soil, and yet they must give us the fashion. Therefore this was not salomon's meaning, but from a far either hath respect to the time, A longinquo tempore, as it seemeth to be expounded in the very next words, She riseth while it is yet night, and giveth the portion to her household, etc. He doth not say, she meeteth it at the door, as she that riseth to dinner, and then thinks her days work half done, and for every sit of an idle fever betakes her strait to her cabin again, and if her finger but ache, she must have one stand by to feed her with a spoon: This is no ship of Merchants, this is the Mary Slug; but she bringeth it from a far, that is, she taketh care of it, and disposeth of it from the first, yea and before the first hand that toucheth it.  
Or else I take this from a far to be farther yet, even ab ultimis naturae, from the first and furthest principles of nature. As for example, If she will have bread, she must not always buy it, but she must sow it, and reap it, and grind it, and as Sarah did, Gen. 18. she must knead it and make it into bread. Or if she will have cloth, she must not always run to the shop or to the score, but she gins at the seed, she carrieth her seed to the ground, of the ground she gathereth flax, of her flax she spinneth a thread, of her thread she weaveth cloth, and so she comes by her coat: The very words of Solomon vers. 13. of the chapter, She seeketh wool and flax, and laboureth cheerfully with her hands.  
Or else I take this from a far to be farther yet, even from the gates of heaven, from whence by her devotion and godly conversation she draweth down the blessings of God upon her house. The barren Rachel prayed, and so did Anna too, and by their prayers obtained children of the Lord. Now sure if the prayer of a virtuous woman were so powerful, as against the course of nature to derive and fetch children from a barren womb, how much more shall it command the meaner blessings on the house? And therefore as a wicked woman is a sea of evils, so a virtuous woman is a heaven of beauty, and there is none so fair as she that feareth God: nay what speak we of beauty? for favour is deceitful, and beauty is Vanity, vers. 30. of the Chapter: and as the painting of a ship by weather and by water is washed away, so shall all carnal beauty by sorrow, age and sickness even whither and waste into wrinkles; but she that feareth the Lord (saith Solomon) she shall be praised. Praised? yea honoured and admired; The stars in the night, the Sun at noon day shall not shine so bright as she: for he that goes by her door shall point at her, and he that dwells by her shall envy him that hath her; and every man shall say, Blessed be he the that made her, happy is he that begat her, renowned is she that bore her, but most happy, renowned, and rich is he that hath her: and as even now, so I say again, All generations shall call such blessed.  
Well, to make use of this in several 
Application to the King.  kinds; I most humbly beseech your Majesty first to admit of a particular application to yourself. It is said Matth. 12. that the Queen of the South came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, but we may say conversively and truly, that the wisdom of Solomon is come to the King of the North: for your Majesty is to us indeed a royal Merchant, not only for the union of holy marriage, which yokes & couples one sex with another, but as Merchants do by intercourse of traffic, for knitting and combining one kingdom with another. And I will not say it is kingly, but divine and heavenly to unite into one things of divided nature: for thus did God create the world, first he made things, and then he matched them; first he created, and then he coupled them; of man and woman he made one in marriage, of body and soul he made one man, of sea and land he made one earth, of heaven and earth he made one world; but then came the devil upon the stage, and his part was again to divide what God had united, first man from God, than man from man, and that diversly, first in the very bond of blood and kindred, Cain from Abel the brother from the brother; then distinguished by religions, the sons of God and the daughters of men; then dispersed by their several habitations, the Isles of the Gentiles, and the Tents of Sem, and then distracted & torn into divers kingdoms, the kingdom of Judah, and the kingdom of Israel; therefore doubtless a glorious work it were of Judah and Israel again to make one kingdom: for if it be so gracious in God's eyes to do right and justice to a stranger, how much more to love a stranger, but most of all to take away the name of a stranger? The King of Kings be Pilot of your ship, yea thrice blessed and happy be your majesties endeavour therein.  
Ladies and Gentlewomen, I beseech 
Application to Ladies & Gentlewomen.  you mistake me not, and impute no partiality to me. If I have said anything sharply, yet know that I have said nothing against the good, but all against eeuill women, yea nothing against the sex, but all against the sins of women. To which if any reply: And why not (I pray) aswell against the sins of men? I answer, that he which imposeth so much upon the weaker vessel, importeth much more to the stronger. There is a duty required of the parents to the child, as well as of the child to the parents; yet the speaketh expressly to the child, Honour thy father and mother, but nothing to the panrets, that they being in order of nature and in wisdom superior, might suspect their duty to be written in themselves.  
Again (Right Honourable in both 
Application to the married.  sexes) The cause of this meeting, the joy of this day, yea the mystery and little image of this great intended Union, Let me be bold (I beseech you) in terms of modesty to make application to you. You are here met to be matched, that is, to be married, and marriage (as the Apostle faith) is honourable in all, but thrice honourable in you, first honourable in the institution as in all other: secondly in your personages being honourable above other, but thirdly in your countries the most honourable of all other: for simply to marry joins sex and sex, to marry at home joins house and house, but your marriage joineth land and land, earth and earth, only Christ goes beyond it, who joins heaven and earth.  
Therefore first to you, the honourable 
Application to the Bridegroom.  Merchant of this honourable ship; you have heard what is said, that marriage is a sore adventure, and therefore as mariners upon the sea in the day time look up to the Sun, and in the night to the Pole star, so look you up day and night to God, and God shall give you good shipping therein. A married man (they say) hath the charge of three commonwealths, for he is a husband of a wife, a father of children, and a master of servants, and he hath daily need of God who should guide all these. Therefore first love God, and to prove that love, love also her whom God hath given you: for if (as S. john saith) He that loveth not his brother, etc. how much more, he that loveth not his wife whom he daily seethe, how shall he love GOD whom he never saw? and indeed there is no religion nor goodness in that man that loveth not a faithful and loyal wife. And say not you love, unless you love to the end; for much water cannot quench love, Cantic. 8. for love endureth all things, believeth all things, and suffereth all things: therefore if there grow by the wife any cause of grief, yet you must remember she is the weaker vessel; God therein exerciseth your wisdom in reforming, and your patience in bearing it; and with whom will a man bear, if not with his own wife? If at any time you have occasion to exercise your authority yet you must remember, it is authority tempered with equality; the wife is therefore to be governed with love, not overruled by tyranny. And let all husbands know this for a rule all things, that the wife shall much better do her duty to her husband, when the husband doth his own duty in example before.  
And let me speak one word to you 
Application to the Bride.  this honourable Ship; you are turned by God's providence to the right of a Merchant stranger, yet herein happy, that you need not as Pharaohs daughter to forget either your own people, or your father's house. All the time of your life you have been gathering for this day, therefore learn to practise now, what you have learned before, that is, to honour, to love, and to obey, and then at last you shall come to rule: for a good wife by obeying of her husband rules him; but she that obeyeth not is like the conspiracy of Corah against Moses and Aaron. Besides, remember your badge is not as of that ship Act. 28. not Castor and Pollux, for I find neither superstition nor idolatry in any part of your family, but I find among other things a sheaf of wheat and a handful of wheat adunanced upon your stern, therefore doubtless it will be expected that Plenty, peace and prosperity come in with you I might refer you for patterns of true virtue, as S. Paul sometime referred Timotly, to Lois and Eunica, a grandmother & a mother; and indeed this chapter of Solomon is entitled, The prophecy or lesson which his mother taught him: and if you remember the many good lessons your mother hath taught you, then shall I need to say no more, then shall you be like Rachel and Leah, which twain did build up the house of Israel: then shall you be a ship indeed, for you shall bring yourself and your husband to the haven, even to that which Seamen call Promontorium bonae spit, The hill or haven of good hope, that is, to heaven; and when this marriage is dissolved, you shall marry at last with the Lamb. In the mean time do worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Brittany, live to a hundred, grow into thousands, and your seed possess the gate of his enemy.  
And God almighty who brought us all hither by the institution and help of holy marriage, he bring us at last to that happy and endless society with his Son, to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be ascribed all praise, power and dominion now and for ever, Amen.  
FINIS.