A12367:81
A preparative to marriage The sum whereof was spoken at a contract, and enlarged…A preparatiue to mariage The summe whereof was spoken at a contract, and inlarged…
A preparative to marriage The sum whereof was spoken at a contract, and enlarged after. Whereunto is annexed a treatise of the Lords Supper, and another of usury. By Henry Smith.A preparatiue to mariage The summe whereof was spoken at a contract, and inlarged after. Whereunto is annexed a treatise of the Lords Supper, and another of vsurie. By Henrie Smith.
London: printed by Thomas Orwin for Thomas Man, 1591
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Next unto servants instruction and labours, must be considered their corrections. As Paul saith, Fathers provoke not your children to 1wrath: So I may say, Masters provoke not your servants to wrath, that is, use such reproofs, & such corrections, that you do not provoke them, but move them, that you do not exasperate them, but win them; for reviling words and unreasonable fierceness, doth more hurt than good. And therefore the ⟨p. 96⟩law of God did charge the Master that he should not inflict above forty stripes upon his servant, 2least he should seem despised in his eyes. For while a child, or scholar, or servant doth think that he is reproved for love, or beaten with reason, it makes him think of his fault and be ashamed: but when he seeth that he is rebuked with curses and beaten with staves, as though he were hated like a dog, his heart is hardened against the man which correcteth him, and the fault for which he is corrected, & after he becometh desperate, like a horse which turneth upon the striker: and therefore think that GOD even then chides you, whensoever you chide in such rage. For though there be a fault, yet some things must be winked at, & some things forgiven, ⟨p. 97⟩and some things punished with a look; for he which takes the forfeit of every offence shall never rest, but vex himself more than his servant.
Next vnto seruants instruction and labours, must bee considered their corrections. As Paule saith, Fathers prouoke not your children to 1wrath: So I may say, Masters prouoke not your seruants to wrath, that is, vse such reproofes, & such corrections, that you do not prouoke them, but mooue them, that you doo not exasperate them, but win them; for reuiling words and vnreasonable fiercenes, doth more hurt than good. And therefore the ⟨p. 96⟩law of God did charge the Master that hee should not inflict aboue fourtie stripes vppon his seruant,