The Obedience of a Christian Man, Part 1 – Part 3
¶The obedience of all degrees proved by Gods worde and first of childern vntounto there elders.
GOd (which worketh all in all thinges) for a secret iudgement and purpose and for his godly pleasure / provided an houre that thy father and mother shuld come to gether / to make the thorow them. He was present with them thy mothers wombe and facioned the and brethed lyfe in to the / and for the greate love he had vntounto the / provided milke in thy mothers brestes for the agaynst thou were borne: moved also thy father and mother and all other to love the / to pitie the and to care for the.
And as he made ye thorow thē / so hath he cast ye vnd er the power and auctorite of thē / to obeye & serve thē Oure fathers and mothers are to vsus in Gods stede.in his stede sayēge: honour thy father & mother. Exodi. xx. Which is not to be vnderstonde in bowinge the kne & puttinge of the cappe only / but yt thou love thē with all thine herte & feare and drede them & wayte on theyr commaundemētes and seke theyr worsheppe / pleasure will and profit in all thinges / & geve thy life for them countinge thē worthy of all honoure / remē bringe that thou art their good and possession / an… that thou owest vntounto thē thine awne selfe ād all that thou art able / yee and moare then thou art able to doo.
what we doo to oure fathe… and mothers that we do to God.Vnderstond also that what soever thou doest vntounto them (be it good or badde) thou doest vntounto God. When thow pleasest them thou pleasest God: whē thou displeasest thē thou displeasest God: when they are angre with the / God is angre with ye / nether is it possible for the to come vntounto the favoure of God agayne (no though all ye Angels of hevē praie for ye) vntill thou have submitted thi selfe vntounto thy father & mother agayne.
Iff thou obeye (though it be but carnally (eyther for feare / for vayne glorie or profit) thy blessinge shalbe longe life vppon the erth.The rewarde of obediēce For he sayth / honoure thy father & mother / yt thou mayst live longe vponupon the erth. Exodi. xx. The rewarde of disobedience.Contrary wise if thou disobeye them / thy life shalbe shortned vpō the erth. For it foloweth. Exodi. xxj. He yt smyteth his father or mother shalbe put to deeth for it. And he that curseth (that is to saye / rayleth or dishonoureth his father or mother with opprobrious wordes) shalbe slayne for it. And Deuteronomion. xxj. If any mā have a sonne stoburne & disobediēt which hereth not ye voyce of his father and the voyce of his mother / so yt they have taught hī nurtoure & he regardeth thē not / thē let his father & mother take hī & bringe hī forth vntounto the seniours or elders of y• cite & vntounto ye gate of ye same place. And let thē saye vntounto ye seniours of yt cite: this oure sonne is stoburne & disobediēt. He will not heare vntounto oure voyce: he is a rioter & a drōkerd. Thē let all the mē of yt cite stone hī with stones vntounto deeth so shall ye put awaye wekednesse frō amōge you & all Israell shall heare ād shall feare.
And though yt ye tēporall officers (to their awne dānaciō) be negligēt in punishinge soch disobediēce (as the spirituall officers are to teach it) & wīke at it or loke on it thorow the fingers: yet shall they not scape vnpunished.God avēgeth disobedience him selfe though the officer will not. For ye vēgeaūce of God shall accō panie thē (as thou maist se deuteronomion xxviij) With all misfortune & evill lucke / and shall not departe from them vntill they be murdred / drounde or hāgaed / ether vntill by one mischaunce or a nother they be vtterly brought to nought. Yee and the world often tymes hangeth many a man for yt they never deserved / but God hāgeth thē because they wold not obeye ād herken vntounto their elders: as ye consciēces of many well finde when they come vntounto ye galowes. There cā they preach & teach other / yt which they thē selves wolde not lerne in season.
The maryage also of the childern perteyneth vntounto their elders / Maryage▪as thou mayst se j. Corinthiorū. vij. & thorow out all the scripture / by the auctorite of the said commaundement / childe obeye father and mother. Which thinge ye hethē and gētyls have … er kepte and to this daye kepe / vntounto the great shame & rebuke of vsus christen: in as moch as the weddinges of oure virgyns (shame it is to speake it) ar moare like vntounto the saute of a Covetosnes maketh oure spiritualte that they cannot se that which a turke is asshamed ofbitche / then the marienge of a reasonable creature. Se not we daily .iij. or iiij. calengynge one womā before the Cōmissary or officeall / of which not one hath the consent of her father and mother. And yet he yt hath most money / hath best right and shall have her in the dispite of all her frendes and in diffiaūce of Gods ordinaūces.
Moare over when she is gevē b… ye iudge vntounto the one patie and also maried even then oftymes shall the contrarie parte sue before an hier iudge or an other yt succeadeth the same and for money devorce her agayne So shamfully doeth ye covetousnes & ambicion of oure prelates mocke with ye lawes of God. I passe over with silence how many yeres they will prolonge the sentēce with cavillacions & suttelte / if they be well monyed on both parties / & if a dāsell promise .ij. how shāfull coūcell they will geve ye Gete hir with child: saye they. so shall thy cause be best.secō de & also how the religious of satā doo seperate vnseperable matrimonie For after thou art lawfully maryed at the cōmaundemēte of father and mother & with the consent of all thy frēdes: Gods cōmaundementes breake they thorow their awne traditionsyet if thou wilt be disgysed like vntounto one of thē and swere obediēce vntounto their tradiciōs / thou mayst disobeye father and mother / breake ye othe which thou hast sworne to God before his holi cōgregacion and with draw love & charite ye hiest of Gods cōmaūdmētes ād yt dutye & service which thou owest vntounto thy wife: where of Christ cā not dispēce with ye. For Christ is not agaīst god / but with god & came not to breake gods ordinaūces / but to fulfill thē. That is he came to overcome y• with kīdnes & to make y• to do of veri love y• thynge which the law cōpelleth y• to do. For love only and to do service vntounto thy neyboure is ye fulfillinge of ye law in ye sight of god. To be a mōke or a frere / thou maist thus forsake thy wife before thou hast ly…e with her / but not to be a seculer prest. Money maketh marchaundiceAnd yet after thou art professed / the Pope for money will dispēce with the / both for thy cote & all thy obediēce / ād make a seculer prest of ye: lyke wise as it is simonye to sell a benefice (as they call it) but to resigne apon a pēcion & thē to redeme the same / is no simony at all. Oh crastie iugelers & mockers with the worde of God.Iugulars
¶The obedienie of wives vntounto their husbandes.
AFter yt Eve was deceaved of ye serpēt / God said vntounto her Genesis. iij. Thy lust or appetite shall pertayne vntounto thy husbād & he shall rule the or raygne over the. God which created the womā knoweth what is in that weake vessell (as Peter calleth her) ād hath therfore put her vnderunder the obedience of her husband to rule her lustes and wantā appetites. Peter. j. Pet. iij. exhorteth wives to be in subiecciō vntounto their husbandes / after the ensample of the holy wemē which in old tyme trusted in God / ād as Sara obeyed Abrahā and called him lorde. Which Sara before she was maryed / was Abrahās sister ād equall with him: but as sone as she was Mariage altereth the degre of naturemaryed was in subiecciō and became without cōparison inferior. For so is ye nature of wedlock by the ordinaūce of God It were moch better that oure wives folowid ye ēsample of the holy wemē of old tyme in obeyēge their husbādes / thē to worshippe thē with a Pater noster / an A…e & a Credo / or to sticke vp candels before their images. Paul Ephe. v. saith: wemen submitte your selves vntounto your awne husbandes / as vntounto ye lorde. For the husbāde is the wives heed evē as Christ is the heed of the cōgregaciō. Therfore as the cōgregaciō is in subiecciō to christ / like wise let wives be in subiecciō vntounto their husbādes in all thīges. Let ye womā therfore feare her husbād / as Paul saith in ye said place. For her husbād is vntounto her in ye sted of god / y• she obeye hī & wayte ō his cōmaūdmētes. And his cōmaūdmētes are gods commaundmentes.The husbande is to the wife ī Gods sted If she therfore grudge agaynst him or resiste him she grudgeth agenste God and resisteth God.
¶The obedience of Servauntes vntounto their Masters.
SErvauntes obeye your carnall masters with feare & trēblinge in sīglenesse of your hertes as vntounto Christ: not with service in ye eye sight as mē pleasers: but as ye servaūtes of christ doinge ye wil of god frō the herte with good will / evē as though ye served the lorde & not mē. Ephe. vj. And j. Pe. ij. servaūtes obeye your masters with all feare not ōly if they be good & courteous: but also though they be frowarde. For it cometh of grace / if a mā for cōsciēce towarde God endure gr…ffe sofferīge wrōgfully. For what prayse is it if when ye be buffeted for your fautes / ye take it paciētly? But & if whē ye do well / ye s…ffer wrōge & take it paciētly / than is there thanke with God. Here vntounto verely were ye called. For Christ also sofferd for our sakes levynge vsus an example to folowe his steppes. In what so ever kynde therfore thou art a seruaunte / duringe the tyme of thy covenauntes / thy master is vntounto the in ye stede & rowme of God & god thorow hī fedeth the / The master is vntounto the servaunt ī gods sted.clotheth the / ruleth & lerneth the his commaundemētes are Gods cōmaundmentes and thou oughtest to obeye him as God / and in all thinges to seke his pleasure and profit. For thou art his good and possession / as his oxe or his horse in so moch that who so ever doth but desyre the in his herte from him without his love & licēce is cōdēned of God / which sayeth Exodi. xx. se thou once covet not thy neybours servavntes.
Oure spiritualte reteyne mens sarvauntes not to honoure God but there traditions ād ceremomonies only.Paule ye Apostle sent home Onesimus vntounto his master (as thou readest in the pistle of Paul to Philemō) In so moch yt though the said Philemon with his servaunte also was converted by Paul & owed vntounto Paul and to the worde that Paul preached / not his servaunte only / but also him selfe: yee & though that Paul was in necessite and lacked ministers to minister vntounto him in the bō des which he soffered for the Gospels sake: yet wold he not retayne the servaunt necessary vntounto ye furtheraunce of the Gospell without the consent of the master.
Christes doctrine and the popes differ:O how sore differeth ye doctrine of christ and his Apostles from the doctrine of the Pope and of his Apostles. For if any man will obeye nether father ner mother / If thy master please the not shave the selfe a monke a frere or a prest.nether lorde nor master / nether kynge ner prince / ye same nedeth but only to take the marke of the beest / that is / to shave him selfe a monke / a frere or a prest / and is then immediatly fre and exempted fro all service and obediē ce due vntounto man. To obeye no man ys a spirituall thynge.He that will obeye no man (as they will not) is most acceptable vntounto them. The moare disobedient that thou arte vntounto Gods ordinaunces / the moare apte and mete arte thou for theirs. Nether is the professinge / vowinge and sweringe obedience vntounto their ordinaūces any other thinge / then the defienge / denienge and forsweringe obediēce vntounto ye ordinaunces of God.