rather that hee will kill mee And did not Maâ—lius Torquatus proceed in the selfe same manner against Iunius Syllarius of whome the Macedonians complained of for briberie and extortion Because thou hast not saith hee demeaned thy selfe so in thy office as thy woorthy Ancestors haue done before thee therfore I forbid thee from henceforth euer to approach vnto my preâ—â—â—â— surely hee was not able to endure the 〈◊〉 he slew himselfe The like is reported of Marcus Scaurus that when his son returned dishonourably out of the field sent him this message since I heare you are turned base coward let me neuer see you more The message deliuered he fel vpon his sword with more valour and resolution than euer before he had vsed against the enemy And Augustus Caesar when one Tarrius his son was conuented before him for the like offenâ—â— gaue this iudgement that hee was punished with a witnes whom the Father would not endure once to looke vpon Plato yeelds an excellent reason if there bee no shrines in the Temple so beautifull in the eie of the children to looke on as the portraiture of the Gods no treasure so pretious at home as their aged and impotent parents what worse punishment can you deuise against them than so to doom them as to depriue them of their presence that be the patroÌ„ gods of their family neuer to be suffered to touch or to kisse them more If banishment seeme only in this respect a punishment intollerable because it depriues vs of beholding certaine faire buildings and tomb stones which we term monuments what then may we thinke of such a punishment as wherby we shall be bard of their sweet companie that erected such sumptuous buildings for vs nay erected vs that would possesse no more then what they might leaue after their death to vs their children Now concerning the King Augustus Caesars example is at hand to proue it who vppon a reuenge to punish the Athenians chose rather to ariue at the Iland Aegina which was much out of his way than as he thought to do them so much honor as to be seen at Athens The like example haue we in Marcus Antonius the Philosopher that trauailing by Antiochia would not be entreated to come into the City because they took part with Auidius Fresh also is the example of Charles the eight our French king who comming with his army back from the expedition of Naples and rendring his deuout thanks to God at S. Denis for the victory would not so much as endure to come at Paris because they aided him not in his iourny for the wars The third sort of animaduersion which pareÌ„ts euer had and euer shall haue as saith S. Ambrose in that one book of his which he entitles de benedictionibus patriarcharum is that blessing which they giue to their kind and dutifull children and that curse which they denounce against vnnaturall and disobedient ones The fathers blessing as Elias the CretiaÌ„ speaketh is the wages of obedience and therefore S. Gregory that had bin dutifull to his father desires not that he would giue him his blessing but that he would pay it him for his seruice But be it that thou value it not at any such high rate as Iacob or Ioseph or Nazianzene yet I would wish thee stand in feare of the curse Remember Noahs sonnes think on that which is written in Deuteronomy and is second in order of the Comminations Cursed is he that honoureth not his father and mother and all the people shall say Amen Meditate of that which is written in the third of Ecclesiasticus the blessing of the father establisheth the houses of their children but the curse of the mother roots vp the foundatioÌ„s al which you shall find in Antiochus who was himselfe a Monk in his 108. Homilie Look vpon that in Homer his 2. Odissea where Telemachus stands fearefull to cast his mother out of doores because of her curse Call to thy remembrance that which is written by Plato in the eleuenth book of his Lawes how that all those imprecations of Oedipus Amynter and Theseus vttered against their children were entertained and ratified in heauen oh there is nothing in the word saith he so pernicious to a child as the curse of his father Lastly bethinke thou of that which is in Suidas of LeoÌ„tius a Bishop of Tripoly whose praier God almighty heard and that was that his sonne might rather die than that he should see him liue a gracelesse dissolute life The last remedy that parents may vse in this case is the helpe of the Iudge who vpon complaint made seuerely censures or imprisons the offenders and giues such iudgement against them as the parents do require For so Alexander the Emperour answered one that made the like petition All hard measure and rigor would be vsed towards a saucie and malepart sonne though should a stranger so offend the offence I grant were not so hainous And what is the reason mary sir that children might not so much as conceiue that there was any thing in the world more sacred or inuiolable than their parents It is storied in the French Chronicles in the raigne of King Lewis that Steuen Boley Prouost of Paris caused one to be hangd for no other reason but that his mother had complained of him that do what she could do he would neuer leaue filching and stealing To conclude then that may be spoken to you which Ierom hath in his book de honoraÌ„dis parentibus you that wil be fathers hereafter you must honor your fathers and loue your mothers with a tender affection that your wiues after you be married may deserue to be mothers also It remains therfore that if you haue a purpose to free thy selfe from these punishments which as thou seest all lawes do inflict vpon a disobedient son and if this discourse of mine worke so well with thee that thou come to thy selfe again if there be any goodnesse in thee bethinke thee of thy dutie in Gods name presentlie and out of hand thus doe fulfill Christs parable in me let vs make good chear my friends and be merrie for this my son was dead and is aliue lost and now is found The Church hath her armes alwaies open to embrace the penitent soule it is true yet this mercifull disposition they first learned from parents Before thou canst crie I will heare thee come then and we will bee friends returne vnto me and all shall be well and now will I vse the like words to thee as S. Bernard did to his nephew Against all due proceeding of law I that haue been wronged doe yet withdrawne mine action I haue bin offended and despised yet sue I vnto the scorner I haue been iniuriously dealt withall yet I offer ameÌ„ds vnto him that did me the wrong and in few words I seek vnto him that first should haue besought me Or to vse the speech of Caesarius in his 30. homilie he that is the iudge entreates to pardon the prisoner but if they buz into thy head that when thou shalt once be fiue and twenty yeers old then maist thou be at thy owne disposition and after that age who can challenge thee for thy disobedience I tell thee sonne and tel thee againe though naturall duty can neither be dayde nor yeard nor determined by age or eldership nay the more yeers the more duty whereupon Plato vsed more seueritie to one of thirty then to one vnder fiue and twenty for being vndutifull to his father I tell thee I say hadst thou been with me and so continued to the terme of lawfull age by that time in likelihood I might haue yeelded somwhat vnto thee especially if I had seen a suitable disposition in thee for that kind of life whereunto thou wast addicted But now the case is far otherwise for as a woman child vnder the age of twelue being forced and abused by any man and she after the rape committed abide with the rauisher can not be said all that while to be of yeers and there 's anullity in the mariage if any such be contracted between them as it hath been decreed in the Councel of Trent so what age soeuer thou comest to in that place where thou art kept prisoner much against my will think not that any such aduantage acrues thereby but may be void and frustrate to the intent either of law or religion notwithstanding all your prescription Would you haue a reason why sir because the Iesuits seduced thee and still deteine thee with an euill conscience and a scaÌ„dalous example The excuse wil not serue to say the action was the holy ghosts for surely the holie Ghost hath no hand in a sinful action As stolne goods till they come home to the true owner be still felonious so be the neuer so old and continue with them neuer so long thou shalt neuer be better then felons goods Is there anie tells thee the contrarie tell him againe and say that Plato said it Sir you are much scanted in the faculties and power of your vnderstanding For there is neither God nor good man were he well in his wits that would enueagle any mans child to be vndutifull to his parents FINIS
so highly commendeth maintaine the home discipline if Christians bee the men which especially ouerthrow it But before we passe any further in the discourse let vs satisfie this great Diuine and then consider whether it be true that now a daies there is any authority left vs ouer our children or no and if it bee any and yet but of verie small esteeme whether notwithstanding it bee such or so much as should be exposed to all contempt and wrong Certaine it is that the outragious cruelty which the ancient Lawmakers deuised to improue the power of parents withall was but a cast of policy that so in regard therof either out of pure constraint or of a ready mind children might conforme themselues to better behauiour and at no hand bee withdrawne from that reuerent obeysance which naturall affection and no law nor ordinance of man taught them as they were sucking of their mothers breasts They in their wisedom knew right well that youth was so prone to riot and lust so arrogant and lasciuious in behauiour so hard to bee tamed and menaged that they concluded it to bee a case of meere necessity by way of enacting such terrible punishments to renue and repaire that which was so far corrupted and depraued from natures primitiue institution that as in old time they kept debters to their word by tearing their lims in sunder drawing bloud from them the like so the very shew and representation of such horrible tortures and martyrdomes which parents might inflict vpon their children might lesson them obedience and beare them downe if they should euer attempt or vndertake any thing that past not first by their allowance and leaue by whom they liued had their education but yet thereby no checke was giuen to naturall affection for it was to be intended that although parents might be so tender of their childrens good as to enter into such seuere termes of consultation for them yet the law-makers neuer dreamed it would once so happen which they permitted that is that a son might be sold by the father for a bond-slaue disinherited and then kild Or if perchance it might so fall out that it should be vpon such as had worthily deserued it and with such circumstantiall considerations that iustice her selfe should sne haue giuen iudgement could neither haue said better or done more vprightly But God almighty handles matters otherwise that which he commands is plainly set down not with fetches and deuices For hee needs no compassing or prefacing to perswade that to be iust and good which he once requires he is so essentially good of himselfe and hath such a prerogatiue of iustice and equity cōsubstantiall to him as his bare command necessarily enforceth our precise obedience Religion keeps men more in aw than feare for were the son loose or dishonest of conuersation and for that cause oftentimes turnd out of doores nay lastly refused of the parents for their child because no gentle meanes preuailed ought with him Why if once he were conuerted to christianity presently saith Septimius he became to liue in good order and good counsell regaind him to duty and obedience Doubtlesse though God vnto these lawes of men and nature inserted also his heauenly behest yet did he nothing thereby preiudice those former lawes he commanded obedience but neuer abrogated any part of their authority Nay long time after Christs passion the commission of life and death which parents might exercise vpon their children was still currant amongst Christians and though the more ancient of them reproued some things amongst the Pagans as the murdering of yong infants the bloudy fencing of sword players yet against that terrible authority of parents they spake not a word And howsoeuer God in bare termes pronounced this Commandement honour thy father and thy mother yet notwithstanding for two reasons especiallie it farre exceeds the lawes of men The one is because what he commands is constant and perpetuall but our lawes bee mutable and repealeable if anything please vs to day to morrow we are out of loue with it a patterne whereof wee may see in that verie lawe which Romulus ordained For at first without all exception or bar it was free for a father to put his child to death Afterwards it might not bee done but vpon the assistance and aduice of others then the cause must bee heard iudiciallie lastlie the magistrate might decide it but no priuate iurisdiction nay in conclusion that rigorous lawe vtterlie vanished and became voide the other is because if the iniunction of a Consull bee greater than the Pretors and the Pretors greater than an order of the Edilis it will necessarilie follow in good proportion that the lawe of God is to bee preferred before any ordinance of man whatsoeuer And why so because men in their wisedomes may erre and therupon be of meane reputation by reason of such escapes ouer sights as saith the same Tertullian In God there is no such matter so then S. Gregory who vnderstood this well enough and was of opinion that this precept of our Lord God should be left at large and neuer concluded by any limitation when he had forsaken the world against the will and expresse commandement of his father and had betaken himselfe to a monastery and had refused a Bishopricke which before was his fathers yet at length he began to be toucht with a sence of inward regreeting and can I saith he be vndutifull and disobedient vnto so good a father and be blameles can I endure to be accused for a stubborne and contemptuous sonne to be guilty of violating and distaining my natural obedience vnto my father and thereupon leauing the solitary life he gets him home accepts the sea and Bishopricke which had been before his fathers and all this doe I saith he more for God almighties commandement sake than for any feare of mortall men therefore now good father I pray giue me your blessing And in this sence you see may S. Gregory be well vnderstood For euen S. Chrysostome in his eleuenth booke against such as discommend the monasticall life writes in this manner Thy son loues and obserues and honors thee not because the law of nature enioynes him so to doe but much more for that in so doing hee may testifie his duetie to the commandements of almighty God for whose loue he hath perfitly despised and relinquisht all the world But if notwithstanding all this it be true that now a dayes there be no trace left of this fatherly power which we so much hunt after and if this home bred authority be scarce remaining in shadow or shew among vs how may S. Gregory be then defended the power of life and death long since hath bin discontinued by an immemoriall custome to the contrary as before we mentioned you cannot pawne or sell your sonne much adoe you will haue to disinherit him If he get any thing it is for himselfe his father hath no part
to disproue the will of her father which somtimes had borne the office of a Pretor there for that he had bequeathed vnreasonable legacies to her stepmother there came to the hearing of the cause so many fathers together with their children vpon a feare and expectation of which side the fathers or the daugters the sentence should passe that the Iudges as Plinie reports like wise men left the matter as they found it For no other occasion than this least peraduenture if iudgement had been giuen for the daughter other children by her example might in time presume to contest with their parents But to come neerer to the matter in these like questions I would faine learne whom we should follow prophane Philosophers or the blessed Apostle Saint Paul who in his Epistle to the Colossians aduiceth thus Children obey your parents in all things for this is pleasing with God where when he expresly setteth downe in all things hath he not vtterly excluded those two parts of the distinction In some things you must obey in some things you may chuse whether you will obey or no and the conclusion withall we be not bound to obey nay but why did God the father of all parents forbid Adam to eate of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden but that he would trie whether Adam would obey him in all things or no as saith Theophilus to Eutol nor is the obiection worth the standing vpon why but what if the father should command any treasonable practise or attempt against the estate because here is a case put which neuer happens at the hundreds end or so seldome that it would be past ouer in silence and neuer more lookt after Nay contrarie wise as I should thinke the presumption is strong and holds for the father what manner a man soeuer he be good or bad that he will neuer command his sonne that which he in his conscience knowes to be fowle and dishonest Yea let the mother be neuer so lasciuiouslie giuen yet will she traine vp her daughter in chaste and vertuous demeanour Moreouer he that argues this act of a fathers command makes that a reason for his allegation which is mainly against all reason that is he supposes old men doting fooles and yong men graue counsellors he makes the sonne iudge whether the fathers actions be lawfull or against law good in their owne nature or by his construction and surmise And all this can neuer agree to discretion and honesty For so he sowes matter of question and debate where indeed the only vertue should be the vertue so highly esteemed of the noble Lacedemonians to yeeld obedience and that readilie But because error is growne potent and hath giuen such a deepe wound as the scarre will hardlie be couered ouer let vs a little by the way consider what were those neuter and indifferent things which Gellius speaketh of to my remembrance they be these as if saith he thy father bid thee to be a souldier to till his land to be an officer to be an aduocate to marrie a wife to goe vpon his errand come when thou art sent for and such like which in themselues be neither good nor bad but as the intent is and manner of doing them so may they merit blame or commendation For if the father should charge me to marry a wife that were infamous past all shame or disparagious for any enormious crime if he would haue me plead Catiline or Bibulus or Clodius his cause then were his commādement herein not indifferent because here is a troupe of dishonesty one vpon the necke of another So that if his pleasure were to enioin me such actions the question were at an end how far forth I should obey him were it not that the thing which Gellius plainly pronounceth for indifferent as to marrie a wife to enter into this or that kind of life now adaies are taught to be of such nature that consent authoritie of father is nothing thought of or respected in them my sonne may marrie may be a Church man may be a monke not onlie without my leaue but spight of my teeth though I doe expresly forbid him and that which all Vniuersities all Consistories all opinions of learned men without any interruption or impediment haue euer permitted in fauour of naturall dutie that doe these men vnder pretence of faith and religion vtterlie reuerse and disanull But our ensewing discourse shall speciallie in this place be confined within the compasse of religious vowes wherin I must haue leaue to tell thee that either thou art in falt that without any priuity or consent of mine betookest thy selfe thus to the Iesuits order or I am to be blamed that notwithstanding holy Church affoords thee such a libertie grieue and take on for the same For as concerning the argument of mariage the freedom thereof whether parents haue any voice in their childrens bestowing our countriman Paquerius hath written so learnedlie thereof in his Epistles as who should but offer to adde one line to that which he hath written of that subiect might rather preiudice his owne iudgement than any way the picture drawne by the pencill of so curious a workman I must needs confesse that the determination of the Bishops assembled in the Councell of Trent makes much for my contryman his purpose that although clandestine contracts made without the parents aduise and leaue stand for good mariage till the Church disalow them yet neuerthelesse for many weighty and important considerations the Church thought it best altogether to interdict and disauow them It seems she would haue a reseruation in her selfe to determine the controuersie and not permit it ouer to the arbitrement of parents whether such mariages were good and according to lawe or contrarily void and of none effect I must likewise grant that sundry constitutions enacted heretofore by many of our christian Princes in their Diets and Parliaments are pregnant for his purpose namely that such matches are no better than a rape and no mariage at all or if it be they take order to vndoe the mariage knot with the point of an imperiall sword Yet for all that which Paquerius hath written about the question I would pray leaue to adde two notable precedents not with that selfe conceipt or arrogancie as though I meant to confirme or confute ought about the cōtract of maiarge which either the Church or our most illustrious Princes haue beene pleased hitherto in their excellent wisedomes to determine but that our children might hereby know and be well instructed that all that is according to lawe is not therefore by and by according to honestie least perhaps that contempt and neglect which now they measure vnto vs be afterwards by a iust sentence of reuenge written in heauen measured by their children vnto them also The one example is of Rebecca and the woman of Timnath both which although God had appointed the one for Sampson and the