full sentēce because to smite his parent is to seek the destruction of his efficient cause which act keeps within it so much ingratitude as heauenly Iustice can do no lesse then remoue him who seeks to remoue his begetter it being an inseperable part of holinesse to pay offenders with their own coyne But disinheritance so much exceeds death as it approches to a continued torment Death is so far from misery where men expiate offences as it affoords felicity because it giues a present satisfaction and a present hope to enioy a good portion if penitence and a satisfactorie minde be companions But disinheritance or abdication doth not onely enforce death but makes the circumstance tyrannicall A violent death is but an abridgement of nature but disinheritance doth often bring a violent death and enlarge the wickednesse of nature I see no difference betwixt them in the conclusion for death is an effect cōmonly of disinheritance but no death more excludes all humanitie the case is palpable I giue directions to a traueller he arrogantly contemnes my counsell which doth so much prouoke me as to amend the matter I draw him by compulsion to an apparant ambush in which after many sustained a buses horrible vexations and desperate encounters hee concludes his life with infamie or perhaps blasphemy So currish and cruell parents by disinheritance deale euery way answerable to this similitude The horror of which Athisme is the more amplified by so much as naturall affinitie claimes a more humane president then strangers Banishment or abiuration is tolerable for it takes originall by publicke decree superior counsell and authority of those from whom I can chalenge nothing but iustice whereas disinheritance a Nationall banishment transcending forraine exile in the Cause and Manner proceeds from priuate occurrences that cannot reach so high an affliction because the nature of it is equall to nay aboue publicke iustice Our law hath prouidently dislik'd the dealing for it appeares by Glanuile chiefe iustice in the raigne of Henry the Second Lib. 7. Cap. 2. fol. 44. That if a man had lands descended to him and hauing many sonnes desired to bestowe some portion of it on some of the younger this could not be accōplished without his elder sons agreement only for this reason saith Glanutle that the ◅ather who did oftentimes most doa◅e vpon the you◅ger sons should not disinherit his eldest Now it may well be esteemed inhumane when parents punish with rigor where the Lawe condemnes not because in euery offence highly punishable the Law is open if that condemnes the Parents loue may a little bee excused though he doth not excuse his sonnes accu◅ation but where himselfe exceedes the Lawes rigor when the Law is silent and becomes Accuser Iudge and Executioner wee may discouer a damnable flintie heart apt enough for massacre seeing he first playes the tyrant with his owne image Parents therefore cannot argue and say except Disinheritance they haue no remedie for disobedience seeing there is no crime that may deserue so great satisfaction but the Law is all-sufficient to render Iustice and saue them vnpreiudiced in the aspersion of Vnnaturall which title Disinheritance draws with it inseperate For if we take a view of those impulsiue causes which breed occasion we shall perceiue how accessary Parents be to all their childrens vices and by the consequent how culpable they are to punish that so strictly of which themselues be Authors Shall the best man liuing suppose himselfe an author of things simply good though in the strength of wisdome religion and thoughts rectified he doth performe them And shall wee not then say that a Father is the impotēt cause of error when hee cannot perform a worke of goodnes in his own-begotten or why shal any man expect things differing frō his end and by the consequent why shall any man expect vertuous children for if the wisest religious man could be examin'd I know he would confesse that either Lust or a vain-glory or both together haue inter-mixt themselues with his most pious end of generation so that if children haue any goodnes they cannot thanke their parents as the authors But if they doe abound with mischiefe they may thanke their parents chiefly Is it not therefore a strict dealing when parents will not recompence an iniury by a forgiuenes of that corruption which they themselues imparted Setting aside the position which makes Children participate with Parents in vices liable to constitution we may without these demonstrate how guilty they are of each notorious crime in Children through a pouertye of rectified education ◅or as in naturall productions nothing is so absurd from which Art cannot extract a deer quintessence so among naturall men and the conditions of humanitie nothing is so irregular from which elaborate and true instructiue methode cannot produce a Divine excellence Indeed the disquisition of natures is difficult and much politicke labour belongs to the true si◅ting of a peruerse disposition But questionlesse the worst natured among all bad men are by a true seasoning of minoritie a wise progresse or institution of ripe yeares and an alluring motiue of practises well commended they are capable of goodnesse subdued in mischiefe and apprehensiue in a sufficient measure So that we must not ignorantly impute the curse of Children to a wrong cause seeing it is either the curse of the Parents not to instruct children at all not sufficiently or not in the true manner Examples are infinite Alc◅hiades may include all He a voluptuous and sensuall Swaggerer could neuer be reclaimed by many strong experiments till cōming by chance to the Philosophicall Lecture of Socrates he was sodainely conuerted such a sympathie there was betwixt this Philosophers doctrine and the Disciples attention whereas twenty others might perhappes haue beene frustrate in the same conuersion though their Precepts had beene equall because there is an invisible concordance to make them aequiualent Which manner of instruction respecting the quality and person of method and Tutors be matters onely appertaining to the Parents charge Now if a curse imposed vpon them be a hinderance to them both whereby they neither can be prouided of true Instructors or instructions Shall we accuse the Childe as an Author of the Fathers curse or the Fathers curse now being as an originall of the childes future inconveniences This being concluded we may well inferre concerning disinheritance that parents cur'ses bee the onely causes which prouoke it seeing they might sometimes but doe not and doe not sometimes because they cannot ingraft goodnes by their owne ignorance and being so they resemble Heliogabalus who hauing procured his friends drunkennes would cast the miserable wretches among tame Beares and Lyons to terrifie them when they awaked But herein they differ hee was the voluntary cause of his Friends Parents the vnaduised cause of their Childrens error In stead of which mitigatiō hee threw his friends among tame Beares Lyons Parents by disinheritance throw their issue amōgst
rampant Wolues For besides the perplexed infamy and sorrowfull perturbatioÌ„s of such excluded Cast-awayes what shall wee coniecture touching their desperate resolution Or how shall wee condemn if they bee suddenly ouerthrowne by the full necessity of destruction Seeing their destitute fortune inuites them to imbrace each glistering temptation and to shake handes with calamity I cannot for mine own part comprehend all this without remembrance and pitty of such Parents rnines seeing they caÌ„not discharge all before children haue incurred destruction without them Nothing is written which doth not amplifie our instruction saith Diuinity nothing amongst all is more effectuall then true Obseruations except Diuinity Most ingeneous therefore and full of perswasion may that Morality bee soone collected from insensible creatures They haue an excellent and singular loue each creature in his kinde to nourish vp their weake little ones The hunted Lyonesse dryues her whelpes before The pregnant Beare forsakes not her den vntil she be deliuered neither doe the whelpes come forth vntill they can escape danger The Snake swallowes her young if any disaduantage happens And aboue all most admirable is natures ingenuity touching that forraine creature called Su which being persecuted shuts vpp her Cubbes in a depending scrip so protects them from the Huntsman The multitude of examples would bee tedious â—…riefly therfore it is an obserued note among them they neuer forsake their infantry till it be able euery way like themselues to preuent mischiefe This may rebuke all hasty-minded Parents who notwithstanding the discursiue light of reason can cast off meere Humanity and goe beneath a brutish goodnes of Nature not onely to forsake but to abhorre their issue and leaue them destitute before they bee any way enabled to su staine nature For children bee indeed thus reiected euer because they be vnable Might it be so imagined that our posterity like beastial generation could when they bee at full growth require no houses but the vaile of Heauen no nourishment but the next pasture no cloathing but the Robes of nature no supportation against misery but instinct dulnesse then Parents might forsake and proue vnblameable But excellency and sweet composure demaund in vs a more respected fortune Omitting these indifferent allegations which some may account Sophistry rather then sound precept because they beleeue nothing but what Scripture makes apparant nor that can be accepted among them vnlesse no Christian contradicts it neither can that which all acknowledge win oftentimes any more then weake beleefe It shall bee therefore sufficient to confute this error in question by the soundest proofe and then the vnbeliefe of Humorists will serue to multiply their condemnations Wee cannot where things be left vntouched in Scripture assume a safer patterne then the most absolute quallities of our Maker First then that Metaphoricall affinitie of Father and Son which himselfe hath pleased to entertaine betwixt Himselfe and his Elected may serue to instruct Parents without question in all degrees of duty and inseparate relation Now all agree vpon this principle that whomsoeuer God hath once loued him hee hath loued euerlastingly It is impossible therefore if at any time there hath been Amity bttwixt Father and Sonne that this being obserued it should fal away to disinheritaÌ„ce For if Gods Maiestie descend so lowe as to continue his loue alwaies where He hath begun to Loue shall not imitation hereof be requisite in fathers who bee commanded to loue their children and in whom nature exacts more proportion then in the least degree can be imagined betwixt holinesse and frâ—…ilty each circumstance appeares so manifest as I knowe not how Sophisters can colourably distinguish A second instance may confirme this president God neuer hath forsaken the most wicked Reprobates till they haue voluntarily forsaken him first The prodigall demanded his portion left his father and yet the father willingly accepts him being conuerted This becomes farre opposite to the practise of our age so violent is the humor of disinheriting parents as they forget common charity refuse loue with an extreame scorne of reconcilement As for the pretended causes which commonly prouoke parents I cannot any way cuniecture that they be either halfe so infinite or in the least degree so terrible as those with which all parents prouoke Omnipotence therfore I cannot well see how such fathers can claime the petition of forgiuenesse when they cannot forgiue their own issue The heire of a Kingdome entitles himselfe not more iustly to his Crowne then eldest sons do to their homely inheritance Now I obserue that whersoeuer hath beene a succeeding gouerment there weake-braind ryotous tyrannicall and lewd Princes haue been admitted to their dignities without contradiction And doth not the bloud of common heires answere to a Kings priuiledge in the Title of Legitimate Why then shall wee not be prouoked with such iniustice If children should receiue no more then they deserue or if they should claime loues respect no longer then merits make a full proportion how should the liberality of parents and the prerogatiue of children appeare or what obedience may Fathers aske from such Children more then from good Apprentices 〈◊〉 could intombe his Mares when they purchased credite in the swift races of Olimpiades Xanthippus could bewaile his dogges death which had followed his Maister from Calamina Alexander could erect a Citty in the honor of Bucephalus when he had been long defended by him in many battailes The Asse may well among the Heathen be adorned with Lillies Violets and Garlands when their Goddesse Vesta by an Asses voyce aâ—…oyded the rape of Priapus If merits therefore should onely challenge the loue of parents nothing might make a difference betwixt sons and bond slaues Seeing bare Humanitye and the Lawe of Nations hath accounted the honours of One worthy to bee honoured nothing but equall and necessarie thankes Nay in all ages so bountifull and respectiue hath authority been to true merits as euen the desertlesse children haue mette with dignitie to remunerate the fathers worthinesse Thus did the Athenians bestow great wages vpon Lysimachus to gratisie the seruice of Arâ—…stides And thus the Romans preferred the cause of Marcus Brutus because his Ancestors had tooke the Countries quarrell against tyrants Shall fathers then esteeme it such a bad custome to dignifie their owne begotten issue though desertlesse seeing strangers haue done this to congratulate good fathers Two examples there bee ancient and moderne worth our memory that shew the practise of our Theam in question and affoord singular obseruation The first is euident in the raigne of Agis a Lacedemonian King In whose principall Citty of Sparta the custome had prohibited alienations that preiudice the Heire The custome grew to bee a confirmed Law After continuance there sell a difference betwixt one of the highest Magistrates and his eldest sonne The father was so actually prouoked that hee exhibites a Decree to licence Disinheritance the Decree was established And afterward saith Plutarch couetousnesse
honour By which means Seruius Sulpitius Tribune of the people hauing framed a Law that none among the Senators should run in debt aboue a thousand Drachmaes thought it a safe Licence for himselfe to exceed the quantitie and therfore was he found in debt after his death aboue three hundred Myriads amounting to three hundred times ten thousand Drachmaes The totall dutie of men greatly-noble is by the Laconian Prince deliuered in two precepts the knowle◅ge to command the knowledge to submit They should represent the Lyon who is noted aboue all to carry a most valiant head and a Maiesticke countenance imita◅ing the apparant and inuisible potencie of high spirits Besides that I may continue this Mythologie the ◅ecke of a Lyon hath no ioynts whereby he cannot looke backwards vnlesse hee turnes his body Neither can Princes without scandall to their integrity seem one thing and doe another not turne there faces vpon vertue and yet be fugitiue in their motion The backe of Lyons carries a magnanimous bredth And all the noble deedes of Ancestors historicall examples of Monarchs with infinite renowned precepts of former ages make but one broad backe-president to strengthen the wisedome of Princes The bones of a Lyon haue lesse marrow then others for lasciuious fuell ◅iminisheth valour The want ot pith there fore makes Oke more durable then Eldar and contempt of wantonnesse moues Princes to a more settled resolution Lyons haue an exquisite propertie to smell out their owne aduantage For it is reported the male knowes when the Lyonesse hath been adulterous with the Panther by a peculiar sence of smelling And the wisest part of men worthily descended is to betray their owne abuses for men of this ranck are incident to strong delusions A Lyon sleeps and yet his eies are open So prouident high Statesmen that possesse much cannot haue eyes too many or too watchful Neither may absolute man incurre security When Lyons deuoure famine doth inforce them And when Kings take the sword a zealous appetite to satisfie forgotten vertue should prouoke them Neither may generous Natures bee nobly offended except as by an impulsiue or sufficient cause they ouercome So by a Heroyicke scorne to malice they can both swallowe and digest the cause with the conquest Howsoeuer it may bee fictitiously reported that Lyons haue by a miraculous feeling beene defensiue to condemned Martyrs yet may the obseruatiō affoord thus much morality That as a true Noble man may by no meanes receiue a more excellent moderation of spirit and spur to greatly-good actions then by a religious feare so cannot this bee any way expressed better himselfe being so eminent then in protection of Diuine Iustice good mens causes It is admirable if true to see how generously Lyons haue scorned to be base debtors Insomuch that it is memorably reported How Androcles a vagabond captiue cured a Lyons paw In gratification whereof the Lyon afterwards when Androcles was among the Romane Spectacles to bee deuoured spares and protects him against a Rampant Pardall Which carrieth a double precept for generous natures First a preseruitiue against ingratitude where followers haue beene seruiceable Then a contempt to bee a slauish debtor if meanes can auoide it especially to base-minded Trades men who vpon single debts inforce a double ingagement Both of credite and restitution For if you remaine in their bookes for a commodity you must remaine likewise in their fauour to auoide scandall reiterations and commemora tions among all societies Such is the cōmon treacherous b◅senes of their conditions though they protest otherwise Which may exhort any Noble minde to beleeue this Maxime true Hee hath discharged halfe his reputation among men that scornes the cr◅dite of a Cittizen or indeede any man Another singular note is fi◅ed vpon this magnanimous beast aboue writtē his wrath extends no further then the prouocatiō And therfore when the Arabian Souldier charging a Lyon with his Speare was disapointed of the obiect and ouer-threw himselfe with violence The Lyon returned and onely nipping his head little for his presumption departed quietly This being confirmed with many famous examples I may inferre thus much If it may seeme conuenient or honorable for Nobility offended to punish not respecting penitent submissiō which may without high offences seem tyrannicall yet if the punishment exceed the crime we may confidently accompt it beastial and worse Againe it is notably remembred that Lyons neuer run away except they can priuately withdrawe being ouercome with multitude into a secure Mountaine or Wildernes And I obserue that it ill becoms a braue resolutiō to enter himselfe among proiects from which hee must necessarily recoyle except he carries a cautelous eie true circumspection Lastly I may conclude this moralized comparison with Aesops controuersy betwixt a Lyonesse and the Fox The Fox cōmends her owne fruitfull generation seeming to disgrace the Lyons single birth to which this answere doth reioyne I bring forth one and yet that one is a Lyon Which good allusion may remoue the curse which some would cast vpon Nobility because often their children in nūber be inferiour to common prostitutes But I am well resolued that the multitude of children reares vp an obscure family and bringes an ancient stocke to ruine For among many base childrens blessings birth may make variety of fortunes But among much Noble posterity Fortune doth challenge a more vaste partition and makes a discontented Heire fit for all innouating purposes So that one Noble remainder of much antiquity or one true Lyon of a family if Art and Nature can be made operatiue will be a more safe prop to succession then the doubtfull variety of children Men obserue it as an infallible rule that there haue been as many base originals as there haue beene honorable descents For as questionlesse the largest Ri uers bee deriued from lowely Springs So birth and succession haue beene so basely intermingled so casually interrupted so frequently impaired and very often attainted though with absolution that I may well iustifie the first principle and adde further That generally to maintain the noble estate of dead Ancestors requires as much true policy as to erect a new Family For men may clime better by troublesome rough and dangerous passages then stand tottering vpon the eminent spi◅e But to exceed the patterne of heroicke Ancestry deserues perpetuall commendations Which purpose cannot prosper well except they preuent or auoide oppositions They hauing been the ouer-throw of Kingdomes and flourishing Captaines because prosperity is waspish and brooks no competition nor almost assistance The Historian therefore saith well None more deafe to counsell then natures vnthwarted None more obtemperate to bee counselled then men destitute As for that ambitious extasie which makes men indirectly consult of new addition the Fable doth condemne it wisely For like Esops Dog they snatch at shadowes and loose the certainty who dote vpon such couetous desires Ambition being like Amilcars dreame Who at the
For I suppose it a more safe position to say I cannot be the greatest and therefore wil be nothing vertuous then I will be a little vertuous in action but will haue vertuous meaning Of Disinheritance Essay VI. IT is more impossible for an vnnatural Father to bee a true friend then for an abused sonne to be an obedient sonne because I think it is a sound precept That hee whose disposition findes a soone-moued contrariety betwixt himselfe and his vndoubted children must of necessity bee a man who refuses all men except aduantage pleades for them Seeing he neglects those for whom nature pleades if aduantage be absent The same may be inferred concerning all degenerate kinsfolke though in a lesse degree But for the first I haue obserued it generally that hee who was apt for Disinheritance hath been a man alwayes of as many affections as there be faces And as prompt to refuse any as to receiue any if hee might saue by the bargain Howsoeuer subâ—…ects be now growne so tyrannicall that where pretences may accomplish their malice they caÌ„not thinke there is a God or at least they thinke God fauours their proceedings For calumnious pretences and aggrauated trifles haue been the common glosse of Parents cruelty in this kinde Their president is vulgar for tyrants neuer slew without state-Alchimy or multiplicatioÌ„ of preteÌ„ded treasons neither may Alexander lack occasioÌ„ so long as he had a meaning to kill 〈◊〉 The hungry Woolfe may call the Lambe his debtor but a good stomack is the day of payment and the Prouerbe is well verified If thou wouldst beate a Dog heere is a staffe So that although churlish Parents pretend iust causes of disinheritance yet these are quickly found soone allowed and as soone amplyfied From whence you may gather that no sparke of naturall affection but onely a compulsiue maintenance keeps the reference betwixt such Parents and such children For louing nature and affection be tractable of long forbearance much pitty manifest care and keep an establisht forme of affability with which friendes or kinsfolk be vnacquainted This prouokes an eminent reflexe of loue whereas rough carriage begets loue in Curres but a conremptible scorne in Noble Spirits In a milk-white table one blot is more visible then forty in a browne paper And in a continued louing vsage one reproofe is more preuaileable then fifty in a vsuall crabbednes For common noyses go not beyond our eares but a sudden clamor startles the whole man It is therefore more commendable to follow the extreame of vertue abounding then defectiue The first partakes with mediocritie in the nature but the last is altogether opposite We may then more safely allow indulgence then austerity because it approcheth neerer to true loue For though indulgence hath made children lofty in behauiour towardes others yet I obserue it breeds a true and vndiuorced affection towards the originall cause It is therefore an excellent rule for children to bee any way restrain'd without the Parents knowledge or at least their taking notice wherby Nature caÌ„not grudge against Nature nor yet want reprehension For howsoeuer Marcus Cato said well That hee had rather be vnrewarded for doing wel then vnpunished for offences Yet we haue naturally a secret spleene against the Iudge though wee account him righteous and impartiall It must be expected then that children doe knowe a difference betwixt Fathers and Maisters which makes them the more implacable when they see Nature impartiall From hence Sertorius a politicke Captaine would not himselfe represse the disobedience of his Souldiers least howsoeuer they deserued ill yet his correction might take away their louing duty Which respect made him suffer the enemyes incursions rather to scourge their insolence whilst they out of a hare-brained lunacie desire battaile And thus the sacred decree of Correction may bee kept vnuiolate and the loue of children vnblemished For I am vnanswerably perswaded that Parents wrath diminisheth the childes loue making him seruile or else refractory to the doctrine of theÌ„selues others because they cannot vndertake with delight so long as frownes and feare be crept into their fancy But affable Parents beget truely affectionate Children who may endure another mans reproofe to mittigate the name of Cockney and yet louingly adore the Father because hee was alwayes louing So then the Fathers diligent loue and a Tutors modest instruction may make a seldome-seene Heire affect his Fathers life without hypocrisie and proue a venerable wise man Without which loue apparant or oftentimes indulgence I see an eldest sonne in stead of the Fathers blessing render backe sweating curses I see another inclining onely to the mother and a third slippe into the disinherited Fortune The comaedian therefore saith well touching a fathers dutie I ouer-passe expences I call not euery thing to a strict account and that which other sonnes labour to keepe secret I doe not bitterly condemne in mine least many things should â—…ee concealed for hee that through a â—…ugged vsage depriues his father by false excuses of a youthfull error will soone deceiue others Indeede mistrust makes children disobedient for I doe make it a most equall question whether more men haue deceiued others because they haue beene distrusted or whether more men haue distrusted others because they haue beene deceiued It is more auailable then to gouerne by liberalitie not base compulsion for he that thus becomes obedient expects onely till he may wanâ—… the witnesse of his actions But the comicall Poet saith truly Patres aequum esse censent nos iam iam a puerisillico nasci senes Now for the danger arising by parents vnkindenesse it hauing beene propounded that want of loue breedes disinheritance I will demonstrate first how horrible second vnlawâ—…ull and third impossible disinheritance may be well accounted The diuorce of mariage is a weighty case much forbidden much controuerted because mariage it selfe is made a strict vnion so farre as Husbands seeme incorporate with their Wiues being both to bee taken as one flesh But this vnion admits many exceptions neither may any thinke their being made one extends further then the rhetoricall aggrauation of vnitie to insinuate how difficult a thing Diuorce will be betwixt two so narrowly vnited but children haue a more exquisite property of indiuorceable because they really partake with parents by existence deriuing a particular true strength of body from the parents body And therfore it seemes the matter of disinheritance is a thing so odious as being held improbable to be acted among the Iewes or any Nation no Law of Scripture contradicts it Indeed rebellious sonnes are by the verdict of Diuine iniunction to suffer death if they shall strike the parents or rise vp against them But for the matter of Disinheritance which farre transcends the punishment of death I haue read no sillable that may giue the tolleration of Diuinity Death indeed coÌ„paratiuely respected may be thoght the best wages of a rebellious son for the act includes his