obedience afterwards in a second place he commands the same for God as who should say they be both Gods alike and the definitions are but one in sence and signification he that honors his father and mother honours God and he that honours God by an infallible consequence honoreth his parents also Most certaine it is that when Zenocrates the Philosopher wrote that the Athenians kept most religiously in their Temple of Eleusis three fundamentall precepts whereunto their vse was to reduce all such lawes as euer Treptolemus had made for them the first begins with parents as S. Ierome testifieth writing against Iouinian saying honour thy parents worship thy God abstain from flesh meat And that most diuine Plato who may truly be stiled another Moses after that he had written many things concerning God why saith he these be no lawes but the preambles and prefaces to such lawes as we intend to make for the honor of parents Marke how he that sayes the father must be worshipped deduceth his premisses from God himselfe What an holy speech was this in comparison of that of Telencer who though he knew the nature of this dutie well enough being on a time demanded why the yong men of Lacedemon rose vp and gaue place to their ancients made this answer that being trained vp so in ciuilitie towards strangers they might be more apt to honour their parents also Tertullian in his booke of praier is verily of the opinion that the name of a father is a name of reuerence and authority and he which should attempt to take away dutie from children or gouernment from parents or vpon partialitie leane more to the one than the other he in so doing should take away both and rob parents of that preheminence which the Lawes of God nature and men haue euer inuested them with So then if we must still continue this dutie towards our parents euer be heedful to obserue and keep it why may wee not conclude the same for parents auhoritie ouer vs in this manner Children must alwaies honor their parents ergo parents must euer cōmand their children These sweete louing affections were both iointlie worshipt in one oratorie by the old Romans and in my fancie should not now bee sequestred from being mutuallie dependant one to the other For my better proofe herein I would pray leaue a little to examine an argument of Tertullians and to consider the necessity of his illation wherby he will demonstrate Christ to be God yet not God the father but God the sonne I am not come saith Christ to do mine owne will but the fathers that sent me this did he euer fulfill euen to his death Hereupon he infers the conclusion ergo he was not the father but the sonne Now sir how could this argument follow if the sonnes will should be distinct or any other thā the fathers wil what maiestie or honor were there added vnto God in calling him a father wee haue no name else whereby to know or expresse him if there were no proper or naturall signification for the name to this purpose if there were no more difference betwixt parents children but a nominall distinction and the diuersitie to rest onlie in name but no title of authoritie or iurisdiction but now a daies where can you find anie other difference for fathers at this time to emancipate or enfranchize their children is held not necessarie If my sonne could speake as soone as he were borne I thinke this would be his language Sir I acknowledge you thus far foorth for my father as to giue me maintenance and bring me vp I came a free man into the world and if I liue but one welue or fourteene yeers to an end I hope to sue out my liuerie for my wardship If I can but keepe my hands from doing violence to your person I am sure though in other matters I proue respectiue or vndutifull no man will much complaine of me The power and authoritie of you parents is cleane reuersed and abrogated Now should you threaten him with some curse or reuenge that would follow vpon this contempt this answer would be t is a long while ere that comes Sir and I shall loose nothing by the forbearance But if so be this thorow perswasion did sinke into mens hearts that he that offended his father offended God that to be excluded from the fathers presence were aboue all other punishments the chiefest in briefe if the sonne could be made to to vnderstand how dreadfull the bitter curse of a father were whereof we may chance to speake somewhat more at large hereafter why these might be sufficient props to defend and keepe vp this excellent fabrique of rule and authoritie which in these daies is so much ruinated and decaied But now such is our corruption all this will not serue the turne that ancient seueritie of the Romanes would better preuaile with them that is they should neuer be brought to anieiudiciall trial for the matter but be condemned and neuer heard speake which is a course of proceeding that Halicarnesseus and Quintilian oftentimes mention And why because a common-wealth is nothing else but a bodie incorporate of so many priuate families and so founded begun by parents that as me thinks the resemblance were not much vnfit to terme a family the nurse the wombe and the roote of a common wealth contrariwise a common wealth a swarme or colonie deduced from a priuate familie He therefore that will gouerne a common wealth in good fashion and banish al loose dissolute behauiour thence and all crimes and exorbitant offences let him looke first to good order at home If he can make them lowlie sober and dutifull within doores they will come into the world so nurtered so taught so affected well may they change their homes they will be sure neuer to leaue their old manners Contrariwise let him looke careleslie to it let him but once suffer the reines to be at libertie presentlie shall you see treasons murders rapes adulteries gush out in large swelling streames and surround the countrrie And this is the cause if I be not mistaken why in ancient time they appropriated to priuate families peculiar gods taking it for good policie to countenance the infirmitie of domesticall iurisdiction with the authoritie of diuine religion that both these two like mighty cable ankors might hold them in all tempest fast to their obedience That euen as the tender infant ledde and guided by the little finger is able afterwards of himselfe to walke without a guide so comming to mans estate the meanes of this priuate education might awe and order him in the Common wealth to carrie a due respect to the Magistrate but not to dread his person as hauing the sword borne before him to grace his office withall not to terrifie well-doers But verily in mine opinion there can bee nothing more absurd or incongruous than once to thinke that Religion is any way assistant to
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
nor property in it hee will serue his father with processe he will endite him at the common Assize without asking him any leaue And in a word such is the religion now adaies such is the Churches tradition as men say that let the sonne entet into any kind of life bee married bee a monke or so forth all this may he doe in spight of his fathers teeth and absolutely against his will How then good father Nazianzene or wherein stands that sanction so much inforced by God and nature honor thy father What didst thou see in that authority royall and preheminence of parents when thou vpon a timorous scrupulositie of conscience durst not once so much as to trespasse against it If in the cases before mentioned our children may disobey their parents and yet not be punshed by them put mee some cases out of the old law why they shold not now enioy the like libertie or what be the principall points of this domestique monarchie which the christian religion doth yet retaine and defend for lawfull can it bee possible that heathen parents haue punished euen to the pit of hell a shamelesse and vngratious sonne so far were they in loue with the childrens obedience it is a matter spoken of that father which as Pausanius relateth it in his tenth booke Polignotus drew in a picture of hell taking paines to bee his owne sonnes hangman for a speciall prancke of vndutifulnesse that he had plaid him in his life time And haue christians on the contrary inuented cases to authorise vnnaturall impietie and breach of duty against parents can it be possible as saith Theophilus in his third booke to Eutol that Platoes law for the communitie of wiues was principallie vpon that point disliked because the danger might be that the sonne might somtime honor him that was not his father and vpon ignorance at another time might also doe him no reuerence who was his father indeed a reuerence neuerthelesse so due by the rules of the lawe of nations and in such order marshalled by them that as Pomponius testifieth it is to be ranged in the second place first God after him our parents and then our country and should we vnder colour of religion in that one point principallie offend First and foremost therefore we will speake thus much in generall as men do vse to sell wares in grosse that the position and assertion is very sottish and impious because the gouernment of parents is weakned and rebated in some points and circled within an order that Ergo there is no such matter at all remaining because the preheminence of parents is abrogated to speake in the Romane dialect ergo it must follow there is no duty no naturall reuerence at all left vnto them Then descending to particular dueties wee will take a view whether euery one of them bee so important as that of pure necessitie parents ought to bee obeied in speciall or no Which will be soone found if we take some farther view and make a quire what that was which the ancients did so exactly require of their children when they past ouer such a large iurisdiction and power vnto the parents the case is cleere that they did it not therefore that parents should bee as magistrates to their children and so administer iustice at home to euery one that their children had offended againe as the Praetor did in the Court of the common pleas nor that there should be one authority publique another priuate and domestique For if the crime were publicke and committed without the verge of the fathers house the officer was to order it Nor is it a good conclusion the child hath offended therefore he must haue no other iudge but his father Indeed it is true that there were such fathers in times past at Rome and likewise amongst other nations whereof we haue written in the sixt book of our reports the seuenth Chapter that by vertue of such fatherly authoritie wold take cognisance of such crimes as their children had offended in abroad as Cassius Manlius Torquatus C. Flaminius and some others besides so then this was no occasion that gaue such a prerogatiue to the power of parents but that rather which Halicarnasseus in the life of Romulus alleadgeth that when children did perceiue how they were awed at home and that their subiection vnder their priuate parents was much more strict than vnder the publique Magistrate for they are commanded first to yeeld obedience to their parents after that to their country that the Prince himselfe might scarce doe any thing without iudiciall proceeding But the father might do euery thing at his own will pleasure for so speaks Aristotle in his politiques they might learne to be more dutifull to doe nothing without line and leuell that is without expresse commandement and iniunction from their parents might neither will nor nil ought saue that which proceeded first from their parents pleasure and by his allowance In a word that as the bit spur and switch makes the horse obedient to his rider so the feare of so great chastisements might enforce the sonnes conformity to his father as to a demie God on earth and sole founder of his being And surely had our forefathers meant no other thing hereby then to put a snaffle into youthes mouth to restraine them from such vices as nature is prone vnto why then they would haue determined this their authoritie at some certaine time or age of the sonne vpon some certaine office or honour that might haue befallen or some condition and estate of life whereunto they might possiblie be aduanced But the sonne were he neuer so old bare he neuer so great office yea had it been the high Priesthood was euer notwithstanding vnder his fathers checke And what thinke you was the issue thereof marry sir whatsoeuer the father had once determined concerning his children to what kind of life soeuer he had bound them yea and though it had been to the cart and plough as L. Manlius did vse his sonne why by reason of so eminent a power against which there was no helpe no remedie to be had he must of necessity rest content Hence it was that all the sonnes negotiations had such dependance on the fathers will as you see counterpaines haue that must accord with their originalls or riuers haue that must be fed from their fountaines head And though put case the sonne swaruing some deale from this course of duty as being stubborne and past all shame found his penalty thereupon executed sometime with more rigour sometimes with more clemency though the father by the ordinances of some countries might sentence his sonne to death by others complaine of him to the magistrate and only giue in euidence against him â—ay though by long prescription these domestique censures haue been altogether disused For to small purpose is their instance and God knowes it is a poore one that alleadge why but yong children be still yet vnder their
contained in honour and he that is not bound to obey must neuerthelesse be bound to honor For examples sake if by extremitie and rigour of law you may marry or professe your selfe a monke against my will and that such a vow and mariage is in a sort iustifiable and good yet should you notwithstanding euen by force of that commandement come and aske me first leaue and craue mine aduise in the matter which though it be no obedience in your part yet it is mine honor Lastlie you should haue shewed me what mooued you to this or that course of life whether your owne naturall propension and deliberate inclination or some strange circumuention forraine perswasion But let that dutie and custome be omitted and let the act neuerthelesse be accounted as lawfull as is anie yet where is the honor which God hath prescribed where is that reuerence and dutie which humanitie bindeth you vnto if it be done onelie but for solemnitie why then you must know that solemnity giues the essence to the act Let vs proceed It is storied by Marius Victor that famous orator of Marseiles in his third title of his Commentarie vpon Genesis that God commaunded not Abraham albeit from his youth vp he worshipped the true God with all his soule and abhorred gentilisme to leaue his country and that wicked land and polluted house before that he saw that after his fathers death hee might without offence keepe that commandement which he had giuen him What shall we say thē that the Iesuits haue greater command ouer thee then God had ouer Abraham he was 75. yeere old and his parents were dead before God commanded him that he should leaue his country and goe vp vnto the land of Canaan dost thou which art yet but 16. yeers old my selfe and thy mother yet liuing forsake me thy countrie because the Iesuits bid thee if thou dost it for the keeping of anothers vow yet that dutie which both by the law of God and nature thou owest me is greater But Marius of Marseiles for your learning liued in the time of Theodosius and Valence the Emperors and the Iesuits were not heard of there were no such creatures till the raign of Francis the first our King Moreouer why did God command the same Abraham to sacrifice vnto him his owne sonne and to be the Priest himself but because he thought the counsell of the fathers was expedient to be vsed in euerie cause that concerned their children if it had been all one vnto God who had offered vp Isacke vnto him and if the sacrifice should haue been as gratefull and acceptable vnto him being offered by another man as by the hands of his owne father why surelie he would haue commanded this office to some other rather than to his father Abraham For religion is not the holier or the more sanctified because it is ioined with parricide what then God would haue Isaacke offered vp vnto him But because this oblation was to proceed from his father he commanded him to doe it who by reason of his fatherlie authoritie could not offend in slaying him A father is not guilty of parricide saith Aelius Martianus the great counsellor at the Ciuill law If thou wilt say that in Isack Samuel the cause why it was necessarie that their parents should offer them to the Lord was by reason of their minoritie in regard they were yong vnder age why the daughter of Iephthe for certaine was sacrificed by her father as was Praxithea by Erictheus and Calpurnia by her father Marius after the Cimbrian war when she was fit for mariage Moreouer what might be obiected against Eliseus he being called to the office of a Prophet which was a regular and strict kind of life as appeared both by their vnction mantell and abstinence albeit he was an elder in yeers and called thereunto by the Prophet Elias and that by a speciall command from God made this answer I pray thee let me goe kisse my father and my mother and then I will follow thee The kisse was the fathers benediction the leaue was that which he desired so much of the Prophet to take before his departure what said Elias Goe and return for what was my dutie I haue done vnto thee As if he should haue said that which remaineth to be done belongeth to thy parents For although God expreslie commanded me that I should annoint thee to be a Prophet in my roome after me yet how could this be done if these second Gods our parents should haue gaine said it therefore afterwards when the Prophet had cast his mantell on him forthwith Elizeus left his plough and followed Elias But he departed not from his father before he had first taken his leaue of him Certaine it is that in the time of the old law personall vowes were ransomed by monie and the vowes of the Nazarites endured but for a time But in the thirtieth Chapter of Numbers it is so manifestlie set downe what ought to be obserued concerning the daughter that it were shame for a mā to vouch anie thing to the contrarie If a woman saith Moses vowe a vowe and bind her selfe with an oath being in her fathers house her vowe shall stand except she hath done it against her fathers consent But least her youth might be pretended for an excuse the same is written of a wife also whether she as yet remaine in her fathers house or whether she be brought vnto her husbands her vowe should not stand if her husband consented not vnto it Moses excepted none besides a woman diuorced or a widdow whence was this because Gods power was lessened by reason the fathers or husbands consent concurred with his surelie no. But because those very powers which they haue are from God and by establishing theirs he confirmeth his owne But those exceptions of widdowhood or matrimonie vere not necessarie in a sonne For as soone as he was out of his fathers command there was no doubt if he were at mans state but he might lawfullie bind himselfe with any of those vowes which were admitted in the old law For except it were with the vowe of fasting or abstinence from meates they scarce bound themselues with anie other But a woman as at Rome was in perpetuall wardship sometimes of her father sometimes of her husband and sometimes also of her brother if her father died before she was married Wherefore if the woman voweda vowe there the lawgiuer you may see was more cautelous and difficult But of the sonne so long as he remained in his fathers house who euer douted in that case but that he was of the same condition with his sister vowed he the gift of anie peece of monie why it was anothers monie vowed he his owne person vvhy he had no right to it that was subiect vnto another How then could he vvhich vvas not at his owne disposall bind himselfe and vvrong his father vvho had all dominion and
they that obey the will of God All which words are thought to bee spoken of him in some contempt of his mother because wheras shee was properly called blessed others in opposition of her by him were tearmed blessed also But now since this most holy Virgin was chosen for the conception and birth of our Sauiour Christ how came it to passs that shee was accounted vnworthie to be called blessed Here Iustin Martyr maketh this answere These words what haue I to doe with thee were not spoken by way of obiurgation but as if he should haue saide in other tearmes I am not such a one as haue vndertaken the care of wine which is spent in marriages yet notwithstanding if your desire bee that there bee no want of wine bid the seruants doe whatsoeuer I shall say vnto you and you shall easily perceiue there shall bee no want of Wine which as he spake so it fell out Therefore it is not likely that he did checke his mother in wordes that did so much honour her in deedes As for other places Christ spake not so as if hee would depriue her of that honour which was due vnto a mother but he taught her how she was entituled to true blessednesse For if hee that heareth the word of God and keepeth it bee Christs brother sister and mother and Christs mother hath done both these then it is cleare that Mary in this respect ought rather to be called blessed And because God chose not an ordinary woman to be the mother of Christ but such a one that was 〈◊〉 other the most excellent in perfection and vertues therefore Christ would that his mother should bee most commended for that vertue which gaue her preheminence aboue all women that a Virgine should become his mother Moreouer Luke the Euangelist testifieth that Christ neuer did any thing in contempt or disgrace of his parents when he saith Hee went downe with Ioseph and Mary to Ierusalem and was obedient to them euen to his death And so also saith S. Augustine interpreting these wordes in his booke De Sancta Virginit Now Christ after that hee began to preach to the people and withall perceiued that the Scribes and Pharisies did erre most grosly in this commandement whereof we treat and retorted the same against their parents vnder this colour that forsooth they might performe any thing else in stead of their bounden duety so they did that which they thought to be as iust and holy said Why doe you transgresse the law of God by your tradition for God hath said Honour thy father and mother and hee that curseth father or mother let him die the death but yee say Whosoeuer shall say vnto his father or mother by the gift that is offered by mee thou mayest haue profite though hee honour not his Father and Mother he shall bee safe O yee hypocrites yee worship God in vain preferring mans precepts before Gods Why spake Christ this so seuerely was it because the Pharisies so greatly abused those offerings and that sacred treasure which they called Corban or was it because those oblations which were destinated vnto the Temple were by them misapplyed to themselues and to their owne lusts and not vnto God surelie no for then hee would haue noted onely their luxurie and abuse But hee checked the priests because they made comparison of precepts and preferred their owne which were otherwise good before Gods And because they tooke occasion by their gift howsoeuer holy to contemne their domesticke rites and lawes of piety and that bond of naturall duty which is more ancient thā any whatsoeuer And yet there is somwhat more in it then so For the first commandement that you stand so much vpon and the fifth you so lightly regard are both Gods commandements they both issue from the same Author and the same Law-maker It is necessary therfore that either the one hinder the other or that the latter be abrogated by the former which is against all law that euer I could reade or else that both of thē be kept as well the first pertaining vnto God as the fifth pertaining vnto parents But the truth is that some precepts are immutable and they are sayeth Hildebert in his last Epistle such as the eternall decree of God hath established Of which sort saith the Archbishop of Towres are these Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soule and thy neighbour as thy selfe And honour thy Father and thy mother and such like Other precepts are mutable which the eternall Law of God hath not decreede but the wisdome and policy of some later wittes haue inuented for some conuenience and vse not so principally tending to saluation And of this sort it is to be a Iesuite Certaine I am that the law whereby thou standest bounde vnto mee is perpetuall and vnchangeable But what if here we be bolde to say that God himselfe is lesse sollicitous for his owne honour than for our parents honor And therfore of those two commandements the latter in a sort is to be preferred before the former And shall yet these Pharisies please thee more than Christ It was not without a misterie that God gaue those commandements concerning his owne honour simply without imposition of punishment if any brake them or proposall of rewarde if any kept them but when he gaue this commandement concerning our duty towards our parents he added this clause that thy dayes may be long vpon earth For albeit hereby it bee clearely euident that nature cannot suffer that he should liue long vpon the earth that respectes not these of whom he hath receiued life nor endure that it should goe well with him any where that will hide himselfe for no other end but that he may not shew himselfe gratefull vnto them that with so great care and trouble after they had giuen him life haue nourished and sustained him yet that which wee so principally intend appeares from thence For he sayth that he is full of iealousie if a man worshippe strange and false gods but if he worshippe his parents God is so farre from enuying it that by all meanes possible he wils and commāds it that with such a reward which of mankind is most desired Why presseth he all these things so earnestly because when parents these second gods are honoured whom hee so much acceptes and so well accounteth of whatsoeuer is done vnto them he taketh it done vnto himselfe but if any duety bee left vndone vnto them let vs worship him in the best manner wee can deuise yet doth it not excuse vs. And perhappes this may be the reason that God if I may so speake is not so hard to please in that honour and worship which wee owe vnto him as euery man is curious in the duetie which is to bee done vnto him God is reuerenced as sufficiently as he would be if euerie one according to his sexe age and quality do honour him as
he is able For it is not the Ecclesiasticall dignity that makes a Christian sayth Ierome One man in the Church is an eye another the tongue another the hand and another the foote or the eare In whatsoeuer vocation a man be if therein hee serue God as he is able hee pleaseth God exceeding well For God exacteth not the same obedience of all But in man it is farre otherwise except his sonne be obedient and dutifull at his beeke and at his seruice when hee shall thinke fitte he is by no meanes contented Neither is it much materiall of what condition both of them are for whosoeuer is a father is a father in the same proportion and whosoeuer is a sonne is a sonne in the same degree Therefore that we may honour our parents without exception and beyonde that voluntarie obedience which wee ought to shew them the Lord saith this I will this I commaund and for this duety I prolong thy yeares that thou mayest performe it alwayes What then if Christ did iustly and deseruedly reprehend those Iewish Priestes doest thou thinke especially seeing both of vs professe one Religion that thou being my sonne shouldest addict thy selfe to some certaine Colledge Rule or Societie which say it bee lawfull and holy yet is it but the inuention of men and thereupon contemne and despise mee thy father a sinne which God and Nature hath forbidden thee Excepting that worshippe which wee owe vnto our God such as is adoration and inuocation What is there in religion it selfe more religious and more diuine than to honour and reuerence our parents Sacrifice is a holy worke yet Christ as you may see lesse esteemeth it than the duety and obedience of children It is a holy and religious work for a man to deuote himselfe vnto the Church Ministery and seruice of the brethren Neuerthelesse S Paul commaunds in his first Epistle to Timothy 5. Chapter and 4. verse If widdowes haue children or nephewes let them learne first to shew godlinesse to their owne house and to recompence their parents for that is honest and acceptable before God Certainely if wee ought to choose any to that Ministery hee or shee ought to be chosen who are well reported of for their good works and they are of this kinde if shse hath nourished her children c. Would Paul haue prescribed this so earnestly except hee himselfe being the author had well perceiued that there were some priuate and domesticall duties which of necessity were to bee preferred before all other though sacred and publique the truth is that these latter proceed from those former For when the question is of morall and naturall institution Christians differ in nothing from Pagans He that liues contrary to Nature keepes not Gods commandements as Nilus saith in his institution to certaine Monks And as Athenagoras in his Apologie for Christians obserues that God mooues not man to those things which are against Nature And therefore Saint Paul spake nothing but that which Socrates had spoke before him in Zenophon which the Atheniās had long before thoght vpon and prouided for in their lawes If any one be disobedient to his parents sayth he in his 2. booke de fact dict Socrat. let him be vncapable of all Magistracy For how can he offer pure Sacrifice or sit well at rhe sterne of the common-wealth if hee be a bad liuer at home and if he be vnkind vnnatural and iniurious to the people of his own house As for the lawes of the Athenians you shall finde them in Aeschines against Timarchus in Plutarch in the life of Aeschines but what saith Saint Paul hee as if hee were in some emulation with Socrates sayth If there be any of you that prouideth not for his owne namely for them of his owne houshold hee denieth the faith and is worse than an Infidell Now see what coniecture may be gathered of thee to the contrary Certainely say they he cannot chuse but of necessitie bee most obedient to the generall Prouinciall Presbyters who so resolutely contemnes his Father and so coragiously renounceth him for a stranger and a Publican See my good sonne how far thou art diuerted from the way of the Lorde how exceedingly thou art estranged from his commandements although thou arrogantly thinkest that thou doest know and vnderstand them better than all thy fathers and thy forefathers did yea better than Christ himselfe Without doubt a father and a mother are not to be compared with God yet are they to be beloued with God saith Tertullian against the Gnostickes And in his book of Chastitie he saith you may know by the placing of euery commandement the manner by the order the state and by the end the reward therefore hee which honoureth not his father and mother is worse then an adulterer worse than a murtherer and worse than a theefe But I had rather cōpare vertues with vertues than vices vvith vices vvhat is so good a work in the Church as to giue legacies to charitable vses And yet saith S. Augustine whosoeuer will disinherit his sonne and make the Church his heire let him seeke one that will accept it truly he shall not find that Austin will be his heire and by Gods grace he shall find no man will be And in his 119. Epistle vnto Ecdicias doth he not reprehend her because she vowed continencie not acquainting her husband first with it and when he had afterward consented vnto her vowe doth he not blame her because she tooke vpon her the habite of a Nunne against his will and did he not reproue her because she gaue her goods to two poore Monkes when she had a sonne liuing on whom she might haue bestowed them which I speake not saith he as though I thought that if any of vs should be ill spoken of and scandalized for our good works therefore we should desist from doing them but because in euerie societie the respect we beare to our kindred ought to be one and the respect we shew to strangers another the condition of a christian is one and the condition of an infidel another the duty of parents to their children one and the dutie of children to their parents another Write therefore vnto him a letter of satisfaction and aske him pardon saith he to Eridicea because thou hast sinned against him and disposed of thy goods after thy pleasure without his aduise and contrary to his will not that it repenteth thee that thou didst bestow thy goods on the poor but because thou wert vnwilling that he shold haue any share or part in so charitable a worke Is not the fact memorable which is recorded of Aurelius Bishop of Carthage who restored a deed of gift he had receiued of a father that then had no children vnto him againe when afterwards hee had children For it is not likelie nor to be presumed in any case that he had rather haue another man to be his heire than his owne sonne See here a
far better iudgement of filiall duety than that which those vpstart Pharisies put vpon thee viz. That there is neither sacrifice nor vow nor any oblation that is to be preferred before the obedience which God commands vnto children But let vs proceed and try by examples borrowed from him that is both God and man whether it be true that a man which is desirous to take the ministery or to lead a monastricall life may renounce all kind of obedience and that it is to no purpose for him to aske his fathers consent and iudgement in taking those orders vpon him or no I pray thee whom did Christ call to be his Apostles called he such a one as thou art a yong boy and tell me if they left their ships their nets and all their tackling to follow Christ did they for all that leaue their parents or if they left them did they leaue them without leaue yea which is more did they that were husbands put away their wiues or did they which were fathers for that cause forsake their children Certaine it is that Iames and Iohn were aboue 25. yeers old when they departed from their father But did they further to shew their more impudencie in departing leaue Iudea and trauaile into Italie Lorraine or Spaine or else because themselues were Christians could they not endure to looke vpon their fathers or was his presence speech or conuersation irksome vnto them Had they done so they should haue done otherwise than their Lord and Master had done before who as I said neuer went from Mary and Ioseph But that I may demonstrate vnto thee that they went not out of their country or fathers houses vntill such time as after Christs passion they were to goe into the whole world and that albeit after their calling they accompanied Christ yet neuertheles they were conuersant at home dwelt with their parents It is written that Iesus came to the house of Peter and Andrew where when he saw their mother in law sicke of an ague hee cured her and forthwith she ministred to him and to his disciples Therfore to follow Christ was not to forsake ones friends his parents his wife his children or his household yea which is more Iames and Iohn albeit they were growen in yeeres would not haue followed Christ if Zebedeus their father had not consented thereunto For seeing they were together with their father whē Christ bad them follow him it cannot be but that either Zebedeus did expresse his consent in words or imply it by holding his peace But tell mee whether thou thinkest all vocations be of one kind as well they that proceede expreslie from Gods immediate will as they whereunto the Church calleth vs God knoweth directlie and changeth the hearts of men therefore he is not deceiued But men in their elections doe onlie coniecture and ghesse wherefore they oftentimes exceedinglie erre for to be a man and subiect to error be termes conuertible as to be God and not to be subiect to error what then why we had need vse all diligence and be verie warie in these vocations so that no solemnitie be passed ouer especially the consent good leaue of our parents If I should alleadge that place vnto thee where Christ said vnto his Apostles Suffer little ones to come vnto me thou wouldst say that there he speaketh of such as are yong in age And in very deed you shall find in the Gospell that these little ones were brought vnto Christ and that they came not of their owne accord vnto him therefore he said not Come vnto me but suffer them to come and againe forbid them not to teach that the calling of little ones as well as their Baptisme did depend both vpon their fathers tutors and curators suit and promise made for them But whereas it was said ouer and aboue forbid them not that was not spoken to their parents but to the disciples that found fault with such as brought them vnto Christ and this without doubt is spoken of such as are in their minoritie But that which was before alleadged makes no distinction at all of anie age It is written to all in generall tearmes Honour your parents I know when the sonne is once come to fiue and twenty that then his fathers approbation yea his dissimulation and which is more his very silence such as was that of Zebedeus goeth for his consent But yet that such as it is is verie requisite Neither canst thou depart from thy father or mother if they be vnwilling What said I from thy parents I say thou canst not goe from thy brethren or thy kindred for S. Paul speakes generallie of the whole familie but thou must perforce sinne against God and be guiltie of a cruell and faithlesse conscience But I suppose there is a text alleadged thee to the contrarie that when one of Christs disciples desired him that he would permit him to goe and burie his father before that he followed him Iesus replied vnto him Follow me and suffer the dead to burie their dead whereupon they dispute thus Buriall is a very religious and holie dutie especiallie if it be done to a mans father But Christ neuerthelesse willeth vs rather to attend him than the buriall of our parents Againe lay-men are accounted as dead men for they which are so hampered and entangled in the pleasures of this world that they cannot swim out of them may iustly be esteemed for drowned and dead men Hence saith S. Paul The widdow that liueth in pleasure is dead while she liueth 1. Timoth. 5.6 The cleargie men on the contrarie may properlie be said to liue For they are the part and portion of the liuing God therefore well may he be said to abstaine from the dead who hath left his father and his mother to follow Christ that is as they make it to be a Iesuit Verie acutelie collected Sir but we haue our answer in a readinesse for you First it followeth not that whatsoeuer was pronounced of Christ must forthwith necessarilie be applied to the Clergie and all such at haue betaken themselues to a regular course of life Indeed all his doctrine was deliuered ouer vnto them but not all power saith Tertullian in his book of Chastitie And verilie it is one thing to embrace Christ and another thing to follow so manie orders of monks as be now adaies yea though there were small ods between them and those of whom Dorotheus spake of old Secondlie when the father of that disciple was once dead that exact reuerence which perhaps he pretended to Christ ceased and was no longer to be performed For it was certaine that he was then no longer a sonne Lastlie the Lord commanded not that the burial should be whollie omitted but that it should be procured to be done by some other and whosouer that was he was said to celebrate his fathers funerall in regard that we commonly call all those which are departed out of this life before
withstand it in a worde whereas thou hast reuolted to the Iesuites companie t is not paganisme that thou hast forsaken but the holy fellowship and Communion of thy Christian brethren Why then dost thou not vpon thy bare knees aske me forgiuenes thou hast more reason so to doe sonne than euer Saluianus had for hee in humility acknowledged his offence but thou canst not be brought to confesse thine Now I pray thee sonne bethink thy selfe how greeuously this holy man would haue bene affrighted with the remorse of his disobedience if hee had offered such wrong I will not say to Idolatrous parents such as they vvere but to beleeuing whereas he takes on so much for being the occasion of their heauinesse which were yet infidells and not his parents by birth but by affinitie only and thought himselfe no good Christian for not honoring them as Gods cōmandement would haue enioined to honour his naturall parents that is without distinction of being good or bad Iew or Gentile faithfull or vnbeleeuer Doubtlesse hee tooke this lesson out of Aristaeus where King Ptolomie asking one of the 72. interpreters how he might be kind and thankfull to his parents receiued this answere that the next way was neuer to grieue or molest them Or else he had read the description of the last iudgement in the Poet where they are ranked among the damned ghosts by Sibyila That do forsake their aged Sires and care not to reward Their parents which did foster them or spitefullie refuse To doe them seruice at their need or them with soornes abuse Certain it is that Bishop Faustus in his first booke De libero arbitrio and the twelfth chapter interpreting those words in the Gospell Let vs nowfeast and bee merry for this my sonne was dead and is aliue lost and now is found expounds the losse to be his departure from his father he was not lost in person saith he but he that forsooke his father and by such his contempt was no better than a dead man by a dutifull desire that he had to come home to his father was againe reuiued and restored to life For as it was a sinne in him to trauaile into a far countrie out of his kind fathers presence so was it a point of his good nature and dutie resolutelie to change his course and to returne with teares to his fathers mercifull embracements And now I take it to be high time to cease to instance any farther by example and directly passe ouer to the decrees and Canons of the Church least happilie it be replied that all which is hitherto alleadged is but for particular ends and not sufficient to proue the generall assertion For albeit I must ingenuouslie confesse an Idolatrous father may be destituted and forsaken by his sonne if hee should offer vpon violence to compel him to Paganisme as Theodoret hath it it his third booke and fourteene and 22. Chapters and Chrysostome in his second booke against such as discommend the retired and solitarie life yet if there be no compulsion vsed I can shew you generall and prouinciall Councels both which haue ordained that neither the father may forsake the sonne nor the sonne the father nor the wife her husband nor the seruant his master for this cause only that they differ in religion Sir it is not your Friars cowle nor Monks habit nor anie order of knighthood that ye can enter into shall euer be able to raz or blot out that fast tie and obligation which in this case God and men haue interchangeablie sealed and deliuered the one to the other It is a fashion well becomming Barbarians and heretiques so saith Bishop Victor in his first booke De persecutione Vandalica to separate husbands from their wiues or children from their parents And when Valentinian the Emperor like a most glorious Prince had authorised the profession of Christian religion and the citie of Carthage whence by reason of Arrianisme it was for a season exiled the first worke that the Bishop did was that al mariages should hold though the parties were of different religion and parents should haue their children againe that the Arrians had forceably taken from them So then to begin our relation with the story of a slaue If he would fall off from his master because he was a Gentile or a Iew might not the fauour of libertie but especiallie of religion plead his excuse the Canons which bee tearmed the Canons of the Apostles flatlie say no. If seruants bee promoted to holie orders without their masters consent ipso facto their masters may challenge them backe againe for slaues it is to be found in the 81. Chapter But if any person of seruile condition be worthie the degree of holy orders as was One simus and the master yeeld therunto after they be enfranchised and made free men it may bee done The Councell of Gangrene which was held An. 324 and somewhat after the Nicene forbids it likewise saying Let him be accursed whosoeuer he be that shall seduce another mans seruant to be vndutifull to his master vnder colour or occasion of his religion and doth not rather teach him to serue him with an honest heart and all due obseruance that so he may be a free man of Christ as Ignatius supplies it let him be accursed Certaine it is that this is to be ment of the slaues of hethen and the religion there mentioned is to be intended of the Christian But in the Councell held at Orleance vnder King Childebert there is a great deale more for ouer and besides that it disauowes the voluntary oblation of a slaue to the seruice of the Church without his masters knowledge it laies a penalty vpon the Bishop that so admits him to wit that in six months after he is not to celebrate Iustinian in his 123. nouell Constitution apointed a certaine time wherin the master was to recouer his slaue from the Church but Leo the 9 made an act that the challenge should still hold and be perpetuall Yea but if you say the case is altered in a Monk for his estate being regular is more to be priuiledged than a secular priest Charlēmaine as it should appeare by a certaine constitution of his is of a contrarie opinion Let no man saith he entice another mans slaue to become a Priest or a Monk without leaue and license of his master you may read the Act in the 20. and 27. Chapter The primitiue Church obserued as much not that she thought God was any way dishonored by the ministerie of a poore slaue for with God all men are alike how then Tertullian against the heretique Martion will giue you the reason Saith he what action is there more vniust wrongfull and wicked than so to demerit my seruant with your kindnes as that neuer afterwards he shal liue to doe me any more seruice another man shall lay claime to him and let me haue any suit in law he shall produce him for a witnes
Fathers consent Doth all this displease you sir and sticke you yet so close to Iustinian To encounter him I oppose the sixt generall Councell of Constantinople I oppose that great Canon of the Church in both which the heauie sentence of excommunication which the Councell of Gangrene pronounceth against all such kinde of offenders is againe renewed confirmed But in a word to this forraigne Emperour whose lawes haue no authoritie to binde vs I oppose the most excellent and flourishing Princes of our own natiue countrie the decrees constitutions of our French Church the most commō and receiued opinions of al men and the book cases as they were debated and determined in the court of Parliament Charles the great with the aduice and consent of his Lords spirituall and temporall enacted sundrie lawes about Church matters my Author for that which I deliuer is Ansegistus amongst the rest these be some in the fift booke and 95. Chapter Now concerning boies and yong maidens it is flatlie forbidden that either the one should be clipped or the other veiled without leaue of their parents And whosoeuer shall attempt ought against this act shall be liable to that fine and amercement which is mentioned in some of the branches of our temporall lawes and in deed the fine in that Salique law is vnder the title of them which either kill or clip yong boies or maiden children Where it would be principallie noted that in the intent of the law it is absolutelie all one to kill our children and to match them to a monasterie against their parents liking For I pray tell me is it not a kind of murder so to tirannize ouer them that now they must become aliens to their owne parents no kin to their kinsfolke must die intestate leaue no issue keep no companie must neuer see them so long as life lasteth as though they were dead men and out of mind I euer before this thought that the Fabian law had onlie taken order with these purloining companions and man-stealers But now I find that this great Emperor hath brought thē within compasse of the Cornelian law and made them murderers So then to summe vp all in a word what manner of reproofe is this what a strange kind of challenge that such holie and blessed men forsooth our Sauiour Christ should not onlie deem hypocrites the Church accursed miscreants the law manstealers S. Bernard wolues but the Emperor should brand them also for murderers Looke to it in time Sirra and looke to it that such and the like enormeous crimes doe not turne you and your mates one day out of this countrie and all the kings dominions for some such kind of spirituall murder as hereafter you are verie like to haue a hand in And now let vs take a short view of that which remaines whether there be any such statute at this time in force as was that of Charles the great Charles the ninth a Prince of famous memorie in a Parliament holden at Orleance the 19. article makes this order that no parents gardians or kinsmen man or woman should suffer either their children or their wards to enter into any monasticall profession vnlesse the one first were going into fiue and twentie the other into twentie And if anie were professed before such times the parties so professed might neuerthelesse haue power and interest to make and declare their last wills and Testaments euer with this prouiso that they bequeathed nothing therein to their monasterie anie former lavve or custome to the contrarie notwithstanding This constitution is of larger extent than the Councell of Mentz in their 16. and 20. question the third and seuenth Chapters For in case any man before such age should haue shaued his crowne the intendment of the law is that it vvas done in fraude and couin altogether and to satisfie the monkes hungrie couetous humour Furthermore it is so short of permitting children before that age to enter into religion vvithout parents leaue and liking that it expresly forbiddeth parents gardians or kinsmen to giue any such leaue Now if reports and book cases can doe any good with you see here is the iudgement of a parliament assembled both of Lay and Ecclesiasticall persons as it was punctuallie giuen in thy verie case by name a case peraduenture which the Iesuits of purpose haue concealed from thee and it is this that whereas Petrus Aerodius Iustice of the Pleas of the Crowne hath put in a bill of complaint against his yong sonne Renate by the Iesuits fraudulentlie seduced and purloined from him and whereas the Rector and President of Clerement Colledge haue beene cited and brought personallie into the Court about the matter it is therefore ordered and thought good by the Court at the motion of Faius the Kings Atturney general that Aerodius shall haue a commission granted vnto him to enquire and make search after his stolne sonne for had they not stood vpon the negatiue in pleading not guilty the decree would haue been that they must haue laine fast by it till they had rendred thee openlie in Court in the meane while the Court doth straightlie forbid that ought be done to the preiudice of this their order and that the Iesuits entertaine him not into their societie as they will answer to the contrarie and that no excuse of ignorance may be herein pretended by the brethren of that company they charge and require with all that they of Cleremont Colledge certisie so much vnto their seuerall companies wheresouer Giuen at the Parliament the 20. of May. 1586. Happily you shall also in time reade what the states of France assembled at Blois haue humblie besought his maiestie now our king Henry the third in this verie businesse and what he will conclude thereupon after his brother the king deceased I am sure in the Interim his pleasure was that the Pope should bee certified thus much that whereas all good men were much offended heerewith his holinesse would set to his helping hand that it might be reformed and redressed Now sir what can you answere to all these reasons all these lawes and precedents If for this offence of thine or rather thy seducers offence to whome indeede it is more proper I haue bin grieued am I grieued thinkest thou without cause or is it naturall affection flesh bloud that makes me beyond measure passionate or is it my grosse ignorāce that knowes not in the matter of religion what appertaines to pietie honesty or any duty else of great importance I trust you are informed and throughly resolued by this time that bee the religious life good and commendable in it selfe or newter and indifferent it ill beseemed you sonne in making choyce of either so contemptuously to haue neglected me For were it indifferent there 's a necessitie would haue forced you to obedience but had it bene good and commendable it would neuer haue proued the worse for my approbation Indeede if none could bee sound now a daies
for their parents bounty whereas they be not able to pay the principal Contrariwise that there is no argument so pregnant to conuince them of Atheisme as by despising their parents and trespassing neuer so sleightly against them The other vtters himselfe thus What makes yong men now a daies so soone turne schismatiques why saith he they do not honor their parents as they ought to do as if he should haue said it is no great wonder if they forsake the faith and religion of their forefathers when they once take a taste of contempt and disobedience against their naturall parents Good God if such disloyall behauiour might either be endured or commended what ought this to be a time for such tolleration to be a place where there is scarce to be found any one who by some meanes or other claimes not an immunity from doing his duty to God or the king or the Magistrate or lastly to his Elders why but all these preheminences are to be found in a father all these relations of duty in a son Is it then honest and conuenient for mee to shew any countenance to him that besides his gracelesse neglect of mee is so vngratefull and irreuerent In the latter daies as S. Paul writeth to Timothie there shall come perilous times men shall be louers of themselues blasphemers disobedient to fathers and mothers vngratefull without naturall affection Shouldst thou now replie and say why but good father after I am once profest into religion I will honor you a great deale the more I will esteem of you much more highly than before I tell thee againe duty can neuer spring from disobedience Besides all this I would faine know what colour can be giuen why those grand schoole men as Scotus Durandus Aquinas Paludanus Dominicus Soto and many mo should enter into such serious and deepe disputes whether the children of infidells might lawfullie be baptized against their parents will Thomas absolutelie holds that they may not and saies that the Church neuer permitted such a baptism not Pope Siluester to Constantine the great nor S. Ambrose to Theodosius And yet to make no question of maintaining this doctrine that our children may bind themselues by a religious vow though the father neuer so much protest against it Doubtlesse if the parents be christians the generall tenent is that they may be forceably compelled to initiate their children in the same religion but if it be but a particular rule or couent of Regulars then they hold they may not for that is left to their owne discretions As for example they say that to be baptized in the faith of Christ it is sufficient for any but to be of Dominickes or S. Austins order it is not necessary But were a man Iew or Gentile Saint Thomas peremptorily denies that either in case he bee of full age hee should be violently constrained or being vnder yeares his parents should bee forced to yeeld their consent to his baptisme And the Toletane Councell whereof you shall finde Recorde in Gratians decrees at the fiue and fortith distinction in the chapter of the Iews And Gregory the greate writing to Virgilius and Theodorus Bishoppes of Fraunce in his fiue and fortieth Epistle If you list saith he you may speake him fairelye and aske him whether hee likes better to liue in a cloyster then in the worlde at large But I pray you tell mee is it force or fayre dealing when such a promise as this hath beene extorted from him as to say I will be a monke afterwards to keep him a close prisoner or to lead and driue him vp and downe to the intent he shall neuer light vpon his father or any one of his kinne which might perchance diuert him from that resolution which was put vpon him before hee came to yeares or in the prime of his youth when as Cicero saith counsell and discretion is at the weakest What sir are you become an other Hercules Prodicus that must forsooth by and by be wise as soone as you are eighteene what is there no other course to be held for the furnishing of Churches and monasteries but that children doe presently abiure their parents sight and company as if they were banished persons the Church of God neuer allowed of this course but in the childreÌ„ of the Iews which was to this end that hauing bene once voluntarily Christned they might not afterwards relapse into their parents errors And so it is in the Canon But for one Christian brother to suspect or distrust an other in such a case as this of infidelity or Iudaisme what manner of strange Gospell were this how can any man make this good that whereas by the discipline of the Church Priests may not blesse the married couple if they be not giuen by their parents a Bishop of one Diocese may not giue orders to one of another Diocese without the leaue of his Diocesan A Clarke that is a forrayner may not bee entertained to serue any where without letters dimissoryes or a certificat from him that made him but our sonnes and our daughters may make vowes which shal be admited accepted of though there beno giuing no coÌ„mending of them no aprouing of them yet the vovv must stil be obserued And now at length to conclude all this discourse whatsoeuer hath beene hitherto alleadged against thee reckon thou of it at thy pleasure make as light account of my fatherly authority as thou wilt or rather as they please to command thee to make with whom thou liuest in so blessed and deifying an estate yet such as be well borne not of base kinde will bee of a different opinion from thee and thinke it built vppon foure maine columnes The principal piller which beares vp the fabrique is the indignation of the liuing God that esteemes a wrong done to parents as done to himselfe How ill is the report of him that forsaketh his Father saith the Preacher and accursed of God that is bitter to his mother The second is the iudgement of banishment which the Father pronounceth against him for his vndutifulnesse Depart from me come no more in my sight for albeit as it should appeare thou hast but a very meane conceipt of it yet very certaine it is that Gods seuerity is then greatest when a Father wil not vouchsafe to see his childe a Prince not deigne to looke vpon his subiect nor admit them vnto their presence which ought to be most gladsom cheerfull to them I said Gods seueritie was then greatest for is it not so that euerlasting damnation of body and soule consisteth only in the depriuatioÌ„ of Gods blessed vision and Gods blessed 〈◊〉 the wages and reward that man can 〈◊〉 for from God And men vse to be must seuere likewise in this kind For Dauid punished Absalon so Wherupon after two yeeres space continued in this disgrace oh saith hee if my Father bee yet mindfull of mine iniquity good â—oab be thou a suiter for mee
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