Geraseens to precipitate them into the lake of a thousand brutal actions and after into the pool of fire and brimstone of everlasting death It is certible to hear Isaye 1. 14. Malac. 2. 3. with what execration God speaks of holy days so Prophaned my soul hateth your Solemnityes I will cast upon your faces the dung of them 6. Let us say then with the Psalmist Turn ô my Soul into thy rest becaus our Lord hath don good to thee Psal 114. 7. Turn ô my Soul convert your self entirely to God on the sunday at least It is instituted for this end and it is called the day of our Lord becaus if we have been turned to our selves and to our affaires the other dayes we must at least turn to God and to his service this day which He hath reserv'd to himself It seems an usurpation of anothers goods and a sort of sacriledg to rob him of this day and to employ it prophanly against his will Turn ô my Soul into thy rest It is a great crime to refuse Obedience to a commandement so sweet other Masters urge their servants and cry out to them worke work ha God says to his my children I will not that you weary out your selves give some respit to your selves from labours rest in me who am the Center of your hearts and the true rest of your soules He calls this day by his Prophet The delicate or delicious Sabbath His Isaiah 58. 13. delights are to be and to convers with us why should we not then make it our delights to be and convers with Him Turne into thy rest becaus our Lord hath don well to thee The Sunday was instituted that we might have opertunity to serve God and more leasure to thanke Him for our Creation Preservation Redemption Sanctification and Vocation to his Service for all graces and good workes which He gives us for preserving us from a thousand infirmities miseries deaths and from so many occasions of sin He hath delivered says the Prophet my soul from death my eyes from teares my feet from sliding if we are grateful for benefits receiv'd we shal give him occasion to give us new if we employ weâ—l the time design'd for the service of God He will bless the time granted us to make provision for our selves and families do then the workes of God on holy dayes and He will do yours on other days and moreover make you pass from the figure to the Verity from the shadow to the light from the symbole to the reality and from the temporal rest of this life to the eternal repose of glory Amen DISCOVRS XXXII OF THE FOURTH COMMANDEMENT Honour thy Father and thy Mother AS the Commandements written in the first Table tend immediately to the honour and glory of the Creatour recommending ro us Piety and devotion towards Him So these of the second Table tend immediately to the salvation and the utility of men and recommend to us charity and justice towards all our neighbours that each one doing his duty in his state and condition the families and communites of Christians may be well ordered and disposed The most important of these dutyes is that of children towards their Parents and therefore it is exacted by the first commandement of the second Table and to move them more to it recompence is herein promised to those that shal honour their Parents with the triple honour of Reverence Obedience and Assistance 2. First with the honor of Reverence for our Parents are the images of God whose authority is a Ray of his Paternity they are Sources and Causes of our life after Him Organs and Instruments which He uses to give and preserve our Being Hence it comes that we ought to honor them be they whatsoever though your Father be vicious and deboist he is stil your Father a cause of your life an instrument of God and an image of his Paternity And becaus the chief part of this honour consists in the interiour you must esteem your Parents in your heart acknowledg them your Superiours respect and reverence their Authority And becaus they know not your interiour you are oblig'd to testify by exterior signes the honor which you have for them to speak to them humbly of them to others honourably to give them respect and reverence and to do nothing that savours of neglect or contempt The Queen Bethsabee was not of the Royal blood but of mean extraction and nevertheless the wise Salomon her Son though a great and powerfull Monark and sitting in the Throne of Iustice rose out of it to meet and reverence her and placed her in a Throne at the right hand of his Majesty This wise King was the figure of our Saviour who being King of kings and God of infinite Majesty disdained not on earth to be subject to his holy Mother and who elevated and placed her in heaven at Psal 44. his right hand Astitit Regina a dextris tuis 3. To honour your Parents you must moreover consult them before you undertake any thinge of consequence when you would marry commence a suit undertake a far journey or engage your self in any other thing of importance aske their counsell and follow it this shews you esteem their prudence and God blesses this proceeding the young Tobias had a great blessing was assisted by an Angel deliver'd from all danger replenished with riches and prosperity in his journey becaus he undertook it by the advice and direction of his Father 4 The second honour of our Parents exacted by this Commandement is that of Obedience This honor S. Paul often recommends to us and in the Epistle to the Ephesians he proves it by this commandement to be their due Obey your Parents in our Ephes. 6. Lord For this is just Honour thy Father and thy Mother He adds In our Lord For if they command you any thing against the commandements of God or of his Church or if they would avert you from Religion and his service S. Bernard tells you that Epist 104. 't is Piety to neglect them for the love of IESUS-CHRIST for He that sayd Honor your Father and your Mother says to you also He that loves his father or his mother more than me is not worthy of me But when they command just and lawfull things you must obey them they are your Superiours and the Causes of your Being they then as Superiours ought to move you and as Causes of your Being to be also the Authours of your operations And if a servant be oblig'd to obey his Master for a little nourishment and a smal salary he receives how much more a child his Mother who nourished him with her own substance and his Father who laboured so much to bring him up and endeavours to provide for him 5. I find in the holy scripture that your obedience to be perfect ought to have three conditions at the least it ought to be blind cordial and
increased the child then that is gratefull for the life he hath receiv'd from his Parents deserves that it be polong'd and preserv'd If then we see good natured and obedient children dye young it is that the providence of God foresaw that temptation would chang them and put them in danger of damnation and in recompence of their obedience he gives them eternal life in lieu of temporal He was taken away says the holy Wisd 4. 11. Ghost lest malice should change his understanding or lest any guile might deceive his soul or God calls them to himself that they may not see and feel the publick afflictions and calamities of the times Isay 57. 1. The â—ust is taken away from the face of evill sayd the Prophet Isaiah 12. S. Paul says that Piety serves not only to merit a long life but to obtain all other grace and favour of God the salvation of the soul health of body a happy posterity with an abundance also of temporalls if they are profitable to the Spiritual Tim. 2. 4. and 8. The Wiseman had taught this long before assuring us He heaps up treasure that honours his Mother and he that honours his Father shal joy in children and in the day of his prayer shal be heard Ecclus. 3. 13. Honor them then as Ecclesiasticus there bids you by words by actions and by patience Speak to them and of them ro others always with respect do nothing to offend them with your workes and if they give you yet occasion of sufferance or discontent endure and bear it patiently so you wil be the children of God fruits of benediction and coheires of IESUS-CHRIST in the possession of the kingdom of heaven Amen DISCOVRS XXXIII of the Duty of Parents IT is a Question in Divinity Why God hath not in the Decalogue recommended to Parents their Duty in respect of children S. Chrysostom answers that it was not necessary since nature does teach it clearly and the great love they have for their children does sufficiently incline Parents to have a care of them Whence S. Paul takes occasion to draw this consequence He who hath not care of his own and especially of his domesticks is wors then an infidell becaus he does not violate only the lawes of Christianity but transgresses also the law of nature so deeply imprinted in the hearts of all men And if according to the Gospell they that are not more vertuous than Pagans shal not enter into the kingdom of heaven what salvation may they hope Nay what damnation should they not expect who as the Apostle says are wors than Infidells To avoyd this then Parents must pay exactly four debts they owe to children Nourishment Instruction good Example and Correction 2. First Nourishment For Parents that deny them this debt are not only wors then Infidells but more unnatural and cruel than savage beasts It is God himself that complains of it by Hieremiah Lamiae nudaverunt mammam lactaverunt catulos suos filia populi mei crudelis ut struthio instead of lamiae there is in the hebrew Thren 4. 3. Tanim dragons wild doggs There is no beast so cruel but hath care to nourish its young the dragons themselves and the wild doggs do it and there are many amongst my people who are cruel as the ostritch the ostritch you know is a very greedy and devouring foule cast to it iron peuter silver it swallows all it degests all to nourish its own self but towards its young it is most cruel for as holy Iob says she Iob. 39. 13. is content to lay her eggs she does not cover or sit upon them and if any one by the heat of the Sun does bring forth a young one and it cryout to the mother for a little nourishment she is deaf to this mournfull voice she is hardened against her young as if it were not her own Many fathers do the same they are as revenous and cruel as this bird they consume silver peuter iron linnen which they sell to defray the charges of theyr disorders they content themselves to people the world to have children and take no care to breed them up Whilst they make good cheer in Taverns these poor innocents cry for hunger they lament and say as Micheas we make mourning as it were of ostritches Mich 1. 8 3. There are others who fail in this first duty by a disposition quite contrary to profusion by a spirit of avarice and unsatiable covetousnes they love so much their money that they will not employ a little for the good education and salvation of their children they choose rather to see them ignorant rude and vicious then to disburse money for a good Instructor to send them to school to buy them spiritual books and to make them learn something in which they may profitably employ the time of their life and improve the Talents God hath given them in defect whereof they are miserable both in regard of this life and the other they fear says S. Austin to lose the image of the King engraven on the money in their purs and they fear not at all to lose the Image of God imprinted in the souls of children of whom He hath given them charge 4. They ought not also to do as the Ape which often kills its young by hugging them too much they ought not to do as Agrippa who being told that her Son should be Emperour imperious and take away her life I care not said she so that he do reign occidat modo imperet Say in like manner to another you are ill advised to accustome your daughter to go so richly cloathed to kill your self in body and soul to marry her so richly what need is there that she should be better then you when she shall be elevated she will laugh at you despise you look upon you as below herself be ashamed to accompany you and to shew that you are her mother this will make you dye with regret occidat modo imperet I care not so that she be great say to this father after S. Austin that it is not to have care of your children but to stifle them to burden them so with riches gotten by the ruine of the Poore to make them swim thus in the teares of widdows and orphans whose goods you hold this will draw downe the malediction of God upon them and upon you eternal damnation I care not provided that he be great Say to him your elder Son is ignorant he hath neither judgement nor vertue and is uncapable of that office if you resigne it to him or obtain it for him he will do therein a thousand injustices your younger Son is not called to an Ecclesiastical state he hath not the gift of continence nor any devotion if you obtaine for him that Benefice he will damne himself therein and will damne many other and you will be responsible for all occidat modo imperet I care not provided that
perseverant In the first place blind to the motives of the Command It must propose no whyes no questions and no reasons All your why and all your reason ought to be the will of your Parents representing to you the will of God Be subject says S. Paul in all things pleasing not contradicting or murmuring Tit. 2. 9. Secondly your obedience ought to be amorous and to proceed out of a filial heart when you do the things commanded out of humane considerations out of servil fear or with a mercenary spirit you lose the fatte of your sacrifice the grace of your action and the merit of your good worke You must offer marrowie sacrifices you must obey your Superiours with a good will says S. Paul with a sincere and cordial affection acknowledging and honouring in them the soveraignity of God Thirdly your obedience must be perseverant it must continue to the end of your life 'T is true that Iustinian in his Institutes and after him other Lawyers have taught divers wayes by which a child may be emancipated But there is no civil Law nor humane power that can free a child from the obligation he hath by this commandement and by the Law of nature to honor and obey his Father and Mother unto the last moment of his life Wherefore Venerable Tobias thinking that Tob. 4. 4. he should die amongst other admonitions which he gave his Son sayd to him with great tendernes Thou shalt honor thy mother all the days of her life Is it not then deplorable to see children who during their minority are humble respectfull and obedient to their parents But being becom men or women married and elevated to offices when they thinke they have no more need of them forget and neglect disdain and contemn them our Saviour does not so He being elevated to the Throne of glory to the right hand of the Father adored by all the celestial Powers forgets not his mother He honors her more than ever accomplishes her desires favours and assists those who honor and invocate her and works more miracles for the honor of her than for the honor of his own Body there is no Kingdom Nation or Province in the Catholick world where there are Churches or Chappell 's consecrated to God in honor of the Virgin that God does not render famous by certaine miracles 6. In fine this Commandement obliges us to honor Parents by helping succouring and assisting them Wherefore Christ Matth. 15. S. Hierom and. S. Bede Tim. 5. 3. reprehended the Pharisees as transgressors of this Commandement for denying them this honor And the holy Fathers have truly noted that the word Honour in the Scriptures signifys not so much salutations and profers of services as giving alms and making presents Honour Widows that are truly Widows says S. Paul to his disciple Timothy that is nourish them with alms and recommending to him Priests Let them that rule well especially they Tim. 5. 17. that labor in word and doctrine be esteemed worthy of double honour that is of a greater recompence or reward than others 7. If then we will observe this Commandement we ought not to content our selves with Ceremonies we must not thinke it enough to say that we honor and respect our Parents but we must shew it them in effect We must recompence them says the holy Ghost by the mouth of Ecclesiasticus Them who brought us Ecclus. 7. 31. into the world who have loved us so long so cordially and effectually When then they are broken with old age think it not a burden to entertain them be not more voyd of reason than animals that have none you who are humane creatures and by your nature ought to have humanity you who are Christians and by this quality ought to have charity be not less charitable than storkes that nourish their parents in old age have not less piety then a pagan woman who depriv'd her child of nourishment to give it to her father say no more we have children we fear they will want we cannot nourish Parents without injuring our families For Divinity also teaches you to D. Tho. 2. 2. q. 26. ar 9. ad 3 m. Coloss 3. 21. let your children dye with famine to assist your Parents in extream necessity 8. To excite Children to acquit themselves worthily of these dutyes S. Paul proposes three motives to them The first is that by so doing they please God and we see this clearly by the benedictions which God bestows upon those that are respectfull and obedient But would you believe that God worked miracles also amongst Infidells to approve this piety of children Aristotle in the book of the wonders of the world and in the abridgment of Philosophy which he sent to Alexander the Great reports that a raging fire devided and gave passage to a young man that retarded his flight and neglected his own life to save his aged father and reunited it self upon those that ran before them 9. On the contrary the impiety of a child is so abominable in the sight of God that in the ancâ—ent Testament He condemn'd him to death not only if he killed or beat but if he cursed them or was notably rebellious or disobedient Exod 21. 17. Deut. 21. 18. Ephs 6. 10 Secondly the holy Apostle tells us that it is just to honor them Consider I pray what languishings what faintings what loathings and incommodities your poor Mother suffered for you whilst She did bear you in her womb what paines what dangers and what feares of death she had in bringing you into the world what uneasy nights what toyles what vexations she had and what ordures cryes and importunities she suffered to nurse and nourish you Consider what cares what troubles what watches what journeys what suits what labours your poor Father hath embraced to get and keep a few goods for you God willing to afflict the son of Pharao sayd by Moses to this king I will send my plagues upon thy heart becaus a father and a mother love their children as their hearts you will be never able to return the tendernesses which they had for you when you were sick they were ill when you were contented they were joyfull when you discontented they sorrowfull and after so many testimonies of affection not to love them not to rejoyce them not to comfort and content them to the utmost of your power but to be the cause of their sorrow and affliction is not this to be more cruell than Tigers and more monstrous than monsters themselves 11. But if your duty and the strict obligations that you have to them do not touch you let at least the love of your own selves and your proper interest move you through hope of the promises which God hath made you He promises you long and happy life if you honor your Father and Mother S. Thomas says he that is gratefull for a benefit merits to have it continued Ephes. 6. and