The Obedience of a Christian Man, Part 5 – Part 8
¶ The office of a Father and how he shulde rule.
FAthers move not youre childern vntounto wrath: but bringe them vp in the nurtour and informacion of the lorde. Ephe. vi. and Collos. iij. Fathers rate not youre cheldern / lest they be of desperate mynde / that is / lest you discorage thē. For where the fathers and mothers are weywarde hastie and churlish / ever braulinge and chidinge: there are the childern anone discoraged ād hertelesse and apte for nothinge nether can they doo any thinge aright Bringe them vp in the nurtoure and informacion of the lorde.The righte bringinge vp of childeren. Teach them to know Christe & set Gods ordinaūce before them sayenge: sonne or doghter God hath created ye and made the thorow vsus thy father & mother / and at his commaundmente have we so longe thus kindly brought the vp ād kepte the from all perels he hath cōmaunded the also to obeye vsus sayē ge: childe obeye thy father & mother. yf thou mekely obeye / so shalt thou grow both in the favoure of God and man and knowlege of oure lorde Christe. Yf thou wilt not obeye vsus at his cōmaundmente? then are we charged to correcte the / yee and yf thou repente not and amende thy selfe / God shall sley the by his officers or punesh ye everlastīgly. The destruc…ion ād marrynge of childernNurtoure them not wordly ād with wordli wisdome sayenge: thou shalt come to honoure / dignite … promociō and riches / thou shalt be better then soch & soch / thou shalt have .iij. or .iiij. benefices and be a greate doctoure or a bisshope and have so many men waytinge on the and do no thinge but hauke and hunte and lyve at pleasure / thou shalt not nede to swete / to laboure or to take any payne for thy livinge and so forth / fillinge thē full of pride / disdayne and ambicion and corruptinge their myndes with worldly persuasions. Let the fathers & mothers marke how they themselves were desposed at all ages / and by experience of their awne infirmites helpe their childern and kepe them from occasions. Let them teach their childern to axe maryages of their fathers and mothers. And let there elders provide mariages for them in season: teachinge them also to knowe / that she is not his wife which the sonne taketh ner he her husbāde which ye doghter taketh without ye cōsente & good will of their elders or them yt have auctorite over thē. Yf there frēdes will not mary… thē / thē are they not to blame yf they marye thē selves. Let not ye fathers & mothers always take ye vtte most of their auctorite of their childern / but at a time sofre with thē & beare their weakenesses as Christe doeth oures. Seke Christe in youre childern in youre wives / servauntes and subiectes. Father / mother / sonne / doghter / master / servaunte / kynge and subiecte / be names in the worldly regimēte. In Christe we are all one thīge / none better thē other / all brethern and must all seke Christe and oure brothers profit in Christe.In christ we are all saruauntes and he that hath knowlege ys bounde. And he that hath the knowlege whether he be lorde or kynge / is bounde to submitte hī selfe and serve his brethern and to geve him selfe for them / to winne them to Christe.
¶The office of an husbāde and how he ought to rule.
HVsbādes love youre wives / as Christ loved the cōgregaciō / & gave hī selfe for it / to sāctifie it and clēse it. Men ought to love their wives as their awne bodies. For this cause shall a mā leave father & mother and shall cōtynue with his wife and shalbe made both one flesh. Se that every one of you love his wife evē as his awne bodie: All this sayth Paul. Ephe. v. & Collo. iij. he saith husbādes love youre wives ād be not bitter vntounto thē / & Peter in ye thred Chapter of his first pis…le saith / Men oughte to rule there wives by Gods word.mē dwell with youre wives accordīge to knowlege (that is accordīge to the doctrine of Christe) gevīge reverēce vntounto the wife / as vntounto ye weaker vessell (yt is / helpe hir to beare hir infirmites) & as vntounto thē that are heyres also of ye grace of lyfe / yt youre prayers be not lett. Why the man is strōger thē the woman.In many thīges God hath made ye mē strōger thē ye wemen / not to rage apō thē & to be tyrātes vntounto thē but to helpe thē to beare their weakenes. Be curtes therfore vntounto thē ād wīne thē vntounto Christe & overcome thē with kyndnes / that of love they maye obeye ye ordinaunce that God hath made betwene mā & wife.
¶The office of a master and how he ought to rule.
PAul Ephe. vj. saith / ye masters doo evē ye same thinges vntounto thē (that is / be master after ye exāple & doctrine of Christe / as he before taught the servauntes to obeye vntounto there masters as vntounto Christe) puttinge awaye thretnynges (that is / geve them fayre wordes and exhorte them kyndly to doo their dutye: yee nurtoure them as thine awn sonnes with the lordes Teach thy servaunte to knowe christe and after christis doctrine deale with hīnurtoure / that they maye se in Christe a cause why they ought lovingly to obeye) ād remēbre (saith he) that your master also is in heven. Nether is there any respecte of parsōs with him / that is / he is indifferente and not perciall: as greate in his sight is a seruaūte as a master. And the thride chap. to the Collo. saith he / ye masters do vntounto your servauntes that which is iust & equall / remēbringe that ye also have a master in hevē. Geve your servauntes kynde wordes / fode / raymēte and lernynge. Be not bitter vntounto them / rayle not on them geve thē no cruell countenance: but accordinge to the ensample and doctrine of Christe / deale with thē. And when they laboure sore cherish thē agayne. Whē ye correck them Do all thynge with Gods wordelet Gods worde be by and do it with soch good maner yt they maye se how that ye doo it to amēde thē only / and to brī ge thē vntounto the waye which God biddeth vsus walke in / and not to avenge youre selves or to wreke youre malice on thē. Yf at a tyme thorow hastynes ye exceade measure in punishinge / recompence it a nother waye and pardon them a nother tyme.
¶The dutie of londelordes.
LEt Christen londlordes be contente with their rē te ād olde customes not reysinge the rente or fyens and bringinge vp new customes to oppresse their tenaūtes: nether lettinge .ij. or .iij. tenauntryes vntounto one man Let them not take in their cōmunes nether make parkes nor pastours of hole perishes. For God gave the erth to mē to inhabite / ād not vntounto shepe and wilde deree.God gave the erth to men Be as fathers vntounto youre tenauntes: ye be vntounto thē / as Christe was vntounto vsus / and shew vntounto thē all love / ād kyndnes. What soever busines is amonge them / be not parciall faveringe one moare thē a nother. The complayntes / quarels and strife that are amonge thē / counte diseases of sicke people and as a mercy full phisicion heale them with wisdome and good councell. Be pitifull and tender herted vntounto them and let not one of thy tenaūtes teare out a nothers throte / but iudge their causes indifferently and compell thē to make their diches / hedges / gates & wayes. For even for soch causes were ye made landlordes / and for soch causes payd men rent at the beginninge. For yf soch an order were not one shuld sley a nother & all shuld goo to wast. Yf thy tenaunte shall laboure & toyle all the yere to paye ye thy rēte & whē he hath bestowed all his laboure / his neyboures cattell shall devoure his frutes / how tedyous & bitter shulde his lyfe be? Se therfore that ye doo youre duties agayne ād sofre no man to doo them wronge / save the kynge only. Yf he do wronge / thē must they abyde Gods iudgemente.