668 Epbe¡fana, ChapoS. V ER. 3G wives; and further, youwives be not onely fubjedl,but learne in your heartsto feare your husbands. Now before we can cometo open the dodtrine, we muff refute the falfe interpretation which ismade, and conclufions which arededu- ced from the former verle. The Papiftswho forge Matrimonie fora Sacrament, will hence proveit, and therefore make this the fènfe ; This I faid ofa man andwomanis a great Sacrament , in as muchas it is ordained to lignifie Chrift and his Church; and they underprop this Conftrudtion with three reafons. 1. From the firftword, this, which is a word that doth point you (faythey) to that whichgoeth before nextof all. z. From the argument ; for here is a new argument fay they that therefore they should liveholily, be in love, becaufe their matrimony is a holy thing, agreat Sacramenr. 3. Becaufe the Apoftle interpreteth, how Matrimony is a Sa- crament in thelaft words. a/ttfw.r. The relativedoth not alwayes point to that which goeth next before, but isoften referred to that which is further off, Gen. s o. 11,12. 2 Sam.z r.19. Heh.9. But if it may ferve tither why doe you take thatwhich is further off rather! vAnfw.i. Becaufc in the marriageofa manthere is no fuch great myfterie. 2. Becaufe in the end the Apoftletelleth what this hee affirmeth to be a myftery, viz. that he faid ofChrift and his Church. But marke this, if [this] be re- ferredto the conjundtionof manand woman ,it is nothingfor their Sa- crament, which is not the bond or conjnnáion : this the heft of them fay isaneffedt ofit,but the Ceremoniall handfafting with thefe words or l,gnes ofequal' force, I takethee,&c. ofwhich the Apoftle never fpake word. s. For the fecond you mull remember, how the argument lyeth, for this is butthe commendingof that former point of Chrift and his Church, which hewould not now follow from the fecrer fpeculation infoldedink, that fo they might ponder it with more attention. And for the third itis plaine, that the Apoftle doth not tell us how Matrimonie may be a Sacrament, but what that is which is affirmed to be agreatmyftery. Ifa man looke through a fpedtacle of grcene glaffe, all is greene, and when the eye of the mindc bath before it a forged Sacrament,all feemeth to make for it, when ifwe come with. out fuch prejudice thefe wordsare moft plaine. This I toldyou before is a great fecrecy, but I fpeake not ofman and woman, but ofChrift and his Church. But fay it were foas they fay,here isno proofe for a Sacrament properly fo called : Marriage is amyftery, therefore a Sa- crament : we may as well reafon, abeaft is acreature, thereforea man: for theword [myftery] is far more large then theword [Sacrament] as we fpeake in Englifh, or as they take it , when they fpeake ofa Sa. crament properly focalled.Concerning Matrimony bythe way I will fet downy three thingswhich we mayhold, andone which weemay not. 1. That
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