A14461:721
The Christian disputations, by Master Peter Viret. Divided into three parts, dialogue wiseThe Christian disputations, by Master Peter Viret. Deuided into three partes, dialogue wise
The Christian disputations, by Master Peter Viret. Divided into three parts, dialogue wise: set out with such grace, that it cannot be, but that a man shall take great pleasure in the reading thereof. Translated out of French into English, by John Brooke of AsheThe Christian disputations, by Master Peter Viret. Deuided into three partes, dialogue wise: set out with such grace, that it cannot be, but that a man shall take greate pleasure in the reading thereoff. Translated out of French into English, by Iohn Brooke of Ashe
London: printed by Thomas East, 1579
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.
In like manner also Joel gave not a prefixed day unto 1the Israelites, but admonished and exhorted them ⟨image 151⟩only to return unto the Lord, and to leave off all other things, and to forget all carnal pleasures and delights, for to run unto his mercy through true repentance in fastings & prayers, to the end he may withdraw his beatings and scourgings, the which he had already stretched foo•th ever them, But he compelled no man. Such exhortations and admonitions are very honest and requisite in the Church, chiefly in the times of calamities & miseries, when God threateneth us with his furor & Judgement, But it is more then necessary to follow the moderation the which Saint Paul, in such case hath used, chiefly 2in this time now, for that the world is so much corrupted and depraved, and so much subject unto her carnal affections. The Apostle knowing mans infirmity, durst not forbid marriage to any man, of what quality soever he were off: not only for a day: but admonished and commaū dead, by Gods authority, unto all those who have not the gift of continency and chastity, for to refrain themselves 3without being polluted & defiled, neither in their bodies or souls, through the burning concupiscence and work of the flesh, to marry for to avoid fornication & whoredom, and for to keep their bodies, hearts, and consciences 4in all purity and holiness. And he would not only suffer, that the husband and the wife should separate themselves, the one from the other, except it be but for a small & little time, yea for to watch unto fasting and prayer. And upon such condition, that the separation be not over long, but that by and by they return together again, least that Satan, by that means do find occasion to tempt them, through their incontinency, and to •istame their concupiscence: And that through the fragility of the flesh, the one or the other of the parties do not fall into some fault & inconvenience. And the cause wherefore that holy Apostle hath written after that sort of those matters, that is because (as he saith) he would not put the halter about any