parents if they should néede yet by lawe and order they are appointed rather to receiue benefites of their Parents than to giue vpwardes For well you wot that loue benefites and all other good thinges are woont to descende Lawe will not that the father bee the sonnes heyre but willeth rather that the father should restore that to his posteritie which himselfe receiued from his auncestors Wherefore sith no guift or token of beneuolence is more fitter for children to bestowe or for the parentes and benefactors to receiue than the benefite of heartie and daily prayer it shall not be much amisse for all dutifull children to remember their debt in that point after the forme of the Grammer case rule Nominatino First to pray for your selfe that you may be so ghostly strengthened that you fall â—ot into mortall sinne by frailtie and that you may haue right knowledge of God by fayth Genitiuo For your Progenitors as Parentes brothers sisters and kinsfolke Datiuo For your benefactors Accusatiuo For your enemies Vocatiuo For them that be in errour or infidelitie that they may come to the right way of their saluation Ablatiuo For them that be absent Saint Paule vnto Timoth. sayth If any man haue not a care for them of his owne familie hee is an infidell And therefore he sayth in an other place Si quid patitur vnum membrum compatiuntur omnia membra If one member be in paine all the rest be not without anguish or griefe O good God who is so harde hearted that will not haue compassion or christian regarde on his parent kinseman or friend if he thought him in the case of straight imprisonment or if he wist he were in any miserable or daungerous state where prayer or friendship might helpe or doe him good The state of a man in misbeléefe infidelitie or securitie in sinning without tokens of repentance and amendment is daungerous God wot and not without néede of assistance by hearty and earnest praier of faithfull friends and naturall children For we must beléeue that God will punish sinne and all other impietie else why doth he threaten sinners so sharpely by that example in the 5. of Matth. Amen dico vobis non exies inde donec solueris nouissimum quadrantem that is Verely I say vnto you thou shalt not depart thence vntill thou hast payd the vttermost farthing I sée not how you can pertake with parents brothers or kinsfolke in nature and haue no féeling of their sinefull life erronious condition or other their pitifull state in your compassion and commiseration But euen as you deale towards them vnto whom ye owe any charitable or naturall dutie so shall they serue you at whose â—euotion you shall happen to stande Then with the same measure ye meate vnto others it is to be doubted will be measured to you againe somewhat according to the wordes of Naomie to Ruth saying cap. 1. Faciat vobiscum Deus misericordiam suam sicut fecistis cum mortuis The seconde part bewrayeth the malignitie of a Stepdame the monstrous transfourming of the Father and the often calamitie of the first children CHAP. VI. Of the vngentle dealing of some stepmothers towards their husbandes first children WHen a Father so little remembreth or regardeth the bond of nature and faithfull dealing of a kinde parent that hée forbeareth not to bring into his family a Stepdame he can not doe a thing of better liking to his foes if he haue any such that foresée it and wish ill betiding vnto him and his For what may bring vnto a Citie or house more harme or inconuenience than discord which diuideth a house and maketh of one Cittie two Intestine diuision is euer counted worse than the malignitie of outwarde foes as warre is accounted worse than peace In discord no man prayseth the Lorde As witnesseth Saint Ambrose What blessing then doe they depriue vs of that take away peace and good agréement Well may some children complaine with the Poet in this case who sayth in his pleasant méeter Sunt tria gaudia pax sapientia copia rerum Haec tria diluit haec tria destruit ars mulierum This Stepmother by the pretence and name of mariage is called in Latine Vxor quasi vnxor a Wife as it were an Annoynter for that the new married Spowse in olde time at her first comming home was wont to annoynt the poastes and principall partes of the house in token that she came to heale and cure all faultes or to remooue sorrow and to plant and encrease gladnesse in the place But I frowe this our Stepdame at this day annoynteth not with the oyle of gladnesse nor with the vnction of the holy spirite by whom so much sorrowe is many times brought in and so many vngodly effectes wrought and encreased Call yée this annoynting she annoynteth in déede but vnhappie be those postes parts of the house where she laieth her vnluckie handes as Euripides sayth Stepdames seeldome with and woâ—ke any good to their huâ—bands children and too much experience teacheth they be their vtter ouerthrowe and cause of confusion For what be their ordinary practises in manner as principles of then partment pollicy For sooth first and chiefely to bring their husbandes children out of conceipt fauour to frame the matter so that they may be counted disobedient by that meanes to wipe from theÌ„ all good will They thinke they must not suffer so much a let and blocke in their way to their husbandes wealth as the bulworke of loue and concord This is a great eye sore and hardly tollerable with them This they imagine they must assault and assay to batter and beat downe by the best engine they haue they can bend against it Cannon shot of great displeasure they are sufficiently furnished with powder of a malicious and wicked spirite nor want they any shot of quarrelous deuises to perce shake this poore remnant of kindly good will with kindled strife and contention Of this kind they can sharpe them new supplies from time to time specially if they haue their husbandes well tempered to their humour and appetite then may it be sayd of the poore enchanted men as we find it in the Psalme Os habent non lâ—quuntur aures non audiunt oculos non vident They haue mouthes and speake not cares and may not heare eyes and will not see They stande in dread and awe they wot who must be foothed in all thinges or else will followe but colde kissing she claimeth all the loue and goodwill to her selfe and if she vnderstoode Latine she would chuse this good verse for her husbande to measure his loue by it Est tibi plus catus quam Papae Pontificatus She may beare no partaker of her husbands honest loue where she ruleth as Quéene She is to be counted very fauourable if she procure them no hatred or vouchsafe it not her selfe These Stepmothers be against their wils great teachers of
pax homines trux decet iraferas Sure it is that one man is néerest kin vnto an other how may a parent be as a stranger or aduersarie to his owne sonne No man hateth his owne flesh Ephe. I meane such as be in the flesh or liue after the flesh except you will speake of Martyrs and such as set little of the flesh because there is an other thing preferred with them And yet hatred of the flesh in them is rather to be vnderstoode of the vices than of their owne fleshe Saint Paule knowing the vndiscretenesse of many parentes and the ill successe and fruitelesse ende of their bitter spéeches and violent dealing with their children was not vnmindefull of the childrens cause for the fathers instruction in his Epistle Col. 3. Fathers sayth he beware howe yée reuile or rigorously deale with your children least yée put them into a desperate minde therefore wee may say it is good to tender as much as you may the preseruation of kindely loue and good will betwixt yée euen in your childrens tender yeares and whiles they be yet vnder your lawe and correction giue no occasion of disloue or griefe taking for vnkinde wordes or dealing Kéepe out of your house these fire brandes of wrath and anger which prouooke vnto disobedience in wordes or déedes But much rather let not you infirmitie or maliciousnesse bee expressed against them of more than rype yeares for there an vnkindnesse is conceiued more déepely Remember you offende not against the eight commandement which sayeth Non loquaris contra proximâ—â—m tuum falsum testimonium Thou shalt not speake false witnesse against thy neighbour If by your rayling and bitter wordes yée prouooke your children to wrath and from wrath to disobedience some Doctors interpret extreame spéeches and prouocations to mortall falling out so straightly seuerely that they say and write Nihil interest verum ferro an verbo occidas There is no difference whether you slay with weapon or by worde and therefore séeing the amendment of ill manners must come from your selues by your good example of tolleration or forbearing set the coldenesse and experienced iudgement of your yeares and the mildnesse of that nature which pertayneth to Parents against their broyling heate and rashnes Ex duobus contrariis fit optimum temperamentum Of two contraries sayth Philosophie is made a goodly temperature And no doubt the faults of children are sâ—â—ner cured and reformed by gentle wordes and milde perswasions than by furious fits of anger and violence It you sée faultes and imperfections in your children eyther they tooke them of you or else you haue as badde in your selues Crates the Philosopher helde it was impossible to finde any man that is not faulty in some pointes comparing man generally to a Pome granate when he is at best which from thencefoorth hath alwayes some rotten graines like vnto mens faultes and ill qualities which be not cured by wrath and euill wordes but by counsaile and friendly admonition And herein a father ought to shewe him selfe like a Phisition who doth not vse to handle his cures with raging and rayling but rather bethinketh him what hée may minister best for their health finding for the most part euery intemperate humour or cause best to be cured by his contrarie CHAP. IV. That Fathers ought to deale kindely and faythfully and not preiudicially or fraudulently towards their children A Certaine friend admonished Agesilans the Lacedemonian King as yet but newly come to the dignitie that he would now remember his preeminent state and lay aside some part of his hard manner of liuing and vse some more maiestie and delicatenesse in his dyet lodging and apparrell he answered nay not so I will be alwayes one manner of man because fortune is so chaungeable Such was the constancie and faithfull heart of this wise Prince towardes his subiects that hee could hardly be brought to any inwarde or outwarde alteration though the chaunge of his estate did in a manner forbid him to continue his former course But this is alwayes founde to be true looke where there is loue there is also fayth and trustinesse Hee was nowe become the vniuersall Parent of his Countrie and therefore néedes must hée loue and deseruing the name of a louing Parent howe may hée become vnfaithfull Truly there be many in whome the lawe of nature and the loue of GOD both take so little holde and worketh so small and slender effectes of kindenesse or christianitie that they may scarce shrowde or shew themselues vnder the name of true friends or friendship such is their hollownesse of heart dissembling in wordes and fraude in dealings I will not say that such be counterfeitors of friendship because that is a fault woorse then the forging of false money For he that taketh a little forged coyne for good his dammage is not great but to take or haue a fained friend in steade of one true constant and faithfull the hurte must néedes bée great and the griefe more Well may we complaine with the Poet in this verse Heu quam parua fides reperitur nunc apud ciues Trustie faithfulnesse in many parents decayeth whose wordes by the rule and example of good men ought to bée as much woorthie in credite and accompt as the othes of strangers Such as in their workes and examples declare themselues inconstant in fatherly loue and so double in their actions are iustly measured by this rule of Salomon Prouerbs the twelfe A true mouth is euer constant but a dissembling tongue is soone changed O howe soone are many fathers altered from the naturall loue and inward affection towardes their children if they fall once to be entertained wyth the gléekes of gallant glosers and to bee wantonlie wrapped in loue and liking of newe spowses of Bigamie What will they not doe to please their appetites Whom will they not hate to gaine their dissembled fauours The waight of a Kingdome coulde not alter or change Agesilaus from béeing one manner of man vnto hys familie and such as were vnder him but the waight of a woman can counterpoise woonderfully wyth some of these and weigh them quite from the ground of nature and honest constancie But no maruell sith it is of olde experience that loue maketh great alteration and conquest according vnto this plaine Latine verse Caecat amor mentes interdumsapientes Loue blindeth mindes â— ad sometimes makes wsse men to dote Saint Bernarb writing vnto his parents saieth He can not come néere vnto wisedome that geueth himselfe to sléepe or to dote and they doe sléepe or dote that doe giue themselues ouer to sensualitie daily forgoing good counsell and gifts of grace which is the best tresure they haue Samson sléeping in Dalidas lappe lost his strength May those hushands or parentes trowe you be déemed rulers of themselues and their forces that with so small resistance yéelde them to the dominion and tyranny of amorous follie making shipwracke of their reason and whatsoeuer
Philosophy but their lucke is ill in making sew good Philosophers The cause is for that they for the most part wish and would that all their husbandes children were rather fooles than wittie or well deseruing so well it would make for their part and purpose And because they be themselues parties of so good merise one Callimachus mentioneth in an Epigram that a young fellow whose Stepdame was lately deceased would haue placed ouer her Toome or Hearse I wot not of what mourning intent a fresh and faire garlande it happended so that by moouing or medling with the Hearse or Toomestone it fell on his legges and did him such hurt that hée neuer recouered it after By which example Stepdames are to bee feared and taken héede of euen when they bée dead What shoulde I saye there is in Stepdames so much wylinesse and boldnesse to attempt euen the vtter most meaâ—es of exterminating and vndooing of their husbandes children that in all ages and degrées there haue béene sonne in lawes brought to ruine and destruction by them I wot not whether I should impute it more to the husbands effeminatenesse and follie than to the womans wylie woorking and dexteritie Iuno though a goddesse counted afterwardes bearing the like loue to her husbands some Hercules whiles he was yet but in his cradle vouchsafed to shift into him two venemous adders in stéed of two pretie birds for the litle boy to play with but by the mercy and prouidence of God who defendeth innocentes which are sine macula ante thronum Dei the poore childe was sounde safe without hurt clipping fast the two snakes in ech hand one But this was not all she skath and sorrow she wrought him for besides this when he came to mans state and perfection those monstrous toyles which were called Hercules labours were deuised by her and enioyned to him to performe and accomplish The Britaine King Vortimer the sonne of Vortiger was poysoned by Rawen his Stepdame The Saxon King Edward the sonne of Edgar was killed on his horsebacke by procurement of Elphreda his deceased Fathers wife because she would haue her sonne Etheldred King But might there be no more examples brought foorth of the like bad dealinges in former ages then such as are onely registred of Kinges Or be there not in our present age many meaner mischieuous dealings of as bad testimonie for this purpose No doubt yes but this is enough to enforce any indifferent man to be of this opinion that as an euill man may bee compared with manie woemen that be counted good so doth a Stepdame little differ from the iust proportion of an euill woeman And often times the hatred both of the one and the other is borne against them that be good euen for truth or goodnesse sake Truely enough it may bée sayde after the sentence of some wise men There is no euill more greeuous than a Step-mother It was therefore ordayned as a lawe by Charondas a lawe giuer among the Grecians that Whosoeuer brought vnto his children a Stepmother the same father should be without the fauour and reputation of bearing anie office in the common wealth Neyther was his iudgement or opinion héerein to be thought singular or priuate which was receiueb as an inuiolable lawe to a wise Nation And of the like minde was Euripides the Philosopher a man counted of no lesse wisedome and fame when hee sayde Qui liberis suis Nouercam superinduxit non honore dignus sed infamis sit vipote dissentionis author that is to say who so bringeth a Stepdame vppon his children lette him not bee worthy of worship or reputation but rather counted infamous Phineus King of Arcadia bringing a Stepdame vnto his children shée wrought so that in shorte space shée procured the eyes of some of them to bée put out For the which acte God was displeased wyth him and depriued the King of his owne sight and for a worse punishment when soeuer he shoulde go to his meate there did vsually come certaine cruell birdes or spirites like Harepies to scratch the meate out of his handes and mouth whereby hée was so vexed and pined in his diet that hée liued not long tyme after The worde Stepdame is not of vnkinde calling but of harde and iniurious dealing For we can not truely call her a mother who sheweth her selfe rather a persecuter then a Nurse and comforter It is a saying or resolute Sentence of hym that yée call Maister of the Sentences Non sunt filij sanctorum qui loca tenent sanctorum sed qui imitantur opera sanctorum These be not the somes of holy men or successors of holy Bishops that occupie their Seates and places but such as followe their steppes and doings Likewise we may say these be not mothers because they be coupled with fathers but such are to be called mothers as succéede them in motherly dealing and kindenesse But that is not agréeable vnto the nature and propertie of a stepmother who for the most part is enclined rather vnder the shape and milde looks of a Doue to beare at length the stinging tayle of a Scorpion Then what is the remedie Euen as there be manie euilles done or borne with vnder the name of Iustice so I wote not howe we may resist or auoide these sundrie inconueniences hatched and shrowded vnder the name and solemnitie of marriage But this is to be wished that fathers in such case shoulde somewhat striue to maister their owne fleshly affections that they doe auoide such mischiefs as he ouer déere bought Ecclesiast saieth A wise man hath his eyes in his head and not in the ground nor below the girdle that is to say he hath regarde to soule health and concorde of his house and other ghostly good of his samilie if he will Which otherwise doth redounde the more vnto his blame and sinnefull defaulte It is a saying of Saint Gregorie Non potest esse pastoris excusatio si lupus oues commedit pastor nescit It can not bée a sufficient excuse for a Pastour or Gouernour when his flocke is deuoured by the Woolfe to saie hée knewe not of it And when children are infected wyth grudging mallice dissention and disobedience brought quite out of kindelie loue and fauour and depriued of such comforte and benefite as otherwise might come vnto them it is not a full excuse for the father to saie It was her dooing and not mine I founde best ease or contentment by suffering her for to beare the sway and for to haue her owne will Or thus It was my fortune and who may resiste the ordinance of GOD Forsooth a goodlie excuse by a gay glose when hée doth blame GOD for his owne fancie and follie and imputeth the faulte of his farewell to Fortune which wrought no more in his matter then the Crosse in Cheape side or the Pasquill at Rome Well dooth hée deserue the reprehension of Chaweer in this péece of méeter following He that buildeth his
hatred of heart in his family the Sonne of pronesse vnto euill and to imitation of his Fathers steps will not bee so ready to extinguish and quenche this kindled mischiefe but rather adde stickes thereto and augment it by obseruing a badde tradition from his auncestors passing that iniurie ouer to others which he receiued himselfe namely when by want of good example in the parent the regarde and awe of lawe and good order is taken away and a gappe opened to the actions of infidelitie and inhumanitie I say infidelity seeing the life of a Christian consisteth of two partes vidz faith and good workes of his faith I wil not iudge but let his good workes bée the meetest triall which are commanded and required to the glory of God to the profite of our neighbour or to taming of the fleshe and brideling of the fleshly appetites Here is no glory of God regarded where his will taketh no place and as little good to come to our neighbour where he vouchsafeth so much hurt to his owne children What should I say in this case aboue all the fleshly will and appetite is followed and preferred without forsight of the inconueniences to come thereby or any indeuour to auoide them And surely if either wée were so good Christians as wée pretend or did carrie in vs the minde of naturall and kinde parentes or but the constant and heartie affection of a true friende wée shoulde be as ready to make hast to put out and extinguishe an iniurie as wée woulde bee to put out fire taking holde in our neighbours house and ready to flame forth and consume it For if an iniury bee not redressed and taken away in the beginning it groweth and increaseth to infinite rage of furie But what shoulde I speake of these thinges that bee matters of Christian charity and workes of faith where vnto men are not so readily inclined to performe them as to talke of them bidding him blowe the coale that is a colde euerie man posteth it ouer and thinketh it pertayneth not to him because it belōgeth as much to others And therefore in some places of Christendome these and the like offices of Christian charitie are appointed vnto sundry companies or fraternities of men Vnto one sorte is committed the care and regarde of prisoners vppon life and death that by their trauaile and charitable industrie the wretched and infortunat creatures may make a happie ende and recompence their sorrowes and misfortune with the blisfull estate of penitent and clensed soules Vnto others is committed the charge of reconciling open or priuy enemies and aduersaries Some are appointed to be workers of reconcilement betweene men and their vnlawful wiues liuing a parte without iust cause of seperation or diuorce Others there hee that are enioined to trauaile and perswade women of loose and lewde life to remember themselues and their soules health and after their going astray to returne home vnto the honesty of their parentes and duetie of good Christians and from thenceforth to liue an honest and vnsuspected life These and such like bee weake and ruinous places ofte in the walles of some states that might bee repaired if charitie were not so colde and the workes of faith so much decayed in apparaunce chiefly through ill examples giuen whereof the account will bee somewhat heauy and grieuous to discharge Aske the Lawiers De iniuriis damno dato If any man open a Cesterne or maketh a pit and doe not couer it and in the mean space an Oxe Cow or some other cattle faleth therein I thinke they will say hee is bounde to make satisfaction O but howe much more if the soules of thy children fall by thy ill example If wee looke into the bequeathed examples of some Fathers what a Chaoe and disorder might there bee noted either wrought by their peruerse dealing or by the malice and vnhappinesse of a woman peruerting al. Strifes and iarres lefte in steede of kindly accorde hatred and maliciousnes occupying the place of brotherly loue wrangling and wresting one from another in stéede of helping and comforting Socrates did bid young men to looke in a glasse to the ende that finding themselues wel formed and of good shape they might beware to doe any thing that was vnséemely for that naturall grace and if they were of ill shape they might endeuour to supply and recompence their bodily defect with some vertue and qualitie of the minde Euen so would I wishe that some parentes shoulde looke into the example of the best sort as into a glasse and it the finde thēselues deformed and blemished by any vnkinde actions or naughtie examples they may recompence it with beneuolent and Fatherlie dealings CHAP. III. That Fathers ought not to prouoke their children to wrath and disobedience COtys King of Thrace a man inclined by nature to bee angry and wrathfull and therewithall a seuere corrector of such as chaunced to offende or committe a fault in seruing him on a time a straunger brought him for a present certaine fine vesselles of earth glased very curiously wrought and delicate to beholde He rewarded the bringer but straight wayes cast the vesselles against the wall Others about him maruailing that he did so marry quoth he I doe it because they shall not make mee angry with them that shall happen to breake them He knewe his owne disease and therefore wisely preuented the hurt and displeasure likely to happen by auoyding the meanes and occasion Now for as much as wrath is an immoderate perturbation that hardeneth the affection and maketh the forces of a man violent being sometimes the cause of manslaughter and sometimes of other calamitie yea some times the originall and beginning of treason and if it flie not so high the best that commeth of it is disquiet losse or discredite who would not by possible meanes auoyde the prouoking of an affection so troublesome and so bad in an other mans house or with them with whom he hath nothing to doe much rather ought he to kéepe such a guest out of his owne house which is the greatest enemie a man can haue For it maketh a man that should séeme reasonable and of decent behauiour and doings to shew like a trée set a fire which is like neuer after to beare good fruit or otherwise he may be likened to a barke or shippe subiected to the rage of a cruell storme and thereby in great hazard of perishing The Apostle S. Paule Hebr. 12. knowing such an infirmitie to beare sway in many persons gaue a ghestly admonition to preuent it saying See that no man be destitute of the grace of God and that no roote of bitternes spring vp trouble you for thereby many be defiled But Valerius Marimus excéedeth some what the modestie of this sentence and sayth that wrath and hatred doe stirre vp great floudes in the heartes of men for whom such disguising passions be most vnséemely as may appeare by this verse of the Poet Candida
of GOD because he is full of good dooing Wherof comes the prouerb Homo homini deus maÌ„ is a god to 〈◊〉 Yea iustice is so naturall erpedient in humaine dealings that it is obserued and religiously regarded euen towardes enemies and not without good cause sith as Saint Chrisostome sayth Iustitia est radix vitae Rightfull dealing is the roote of mans life Which as it deserueth commendation and is of all mankinde to be embraced so the contrarie thereof which is iniury and wrong-doing is no lesse to be eschewed For according to the saying of S. August lib. 2. Ciu. Dei Nihil homini tam inimicum quam iniustitia There is nothing so much an enemie to man as is Iniustice and dooing of wrong Then is it verie vnméete that one man should vse it towardes an other But howe much more inconuenient for a Parent to shewe and perfor ne towardes his owne sonne But perchaunce you will say that a Father hath eyther such authoritie ouer his son or suâ—h interest in that which he possesseth and is counted his owne that in such behalfe hee cannot doe his sonne wrong which is to be préeued to the contrarie and the wrong to be so much the greater as there is betwéene them proximiâ—ie and néerenesse of friendship constitute and appointed by the lawe of nature And therefore as that law decréeeth iâ— all sortes of thinges that the first sowen should be first ripe and the first set first to flourish or waxe gréene so the law of reason willeth that he that first coÌ„meth should be first sped séeing by nature he is enioyned first to depart And as nature in all her workes for the most part séemeth to make some one thing to be chiefe before all the rest whereby the same is and the rather continueth so reason in the order of a family which is an imitation of a state ciuile or bodie polliticke perswadeth of experience necessitie that there be one before the rest as chiefe Whereby may bée conserued that beautie of Vnitie and harmony of concord which the almightie in his creation so woonderfully and diuersely teacheth and our Saniour him selfe so carefully and specially commended to his flocke and hereof séemeth to come that preeminence or more speciall regard which the lawe of God in the olde testament appointed to his people the Israelites to be obserued towardes the first begotten sonne and likewise somwhat concerning other dinnbe creatures which first were brought foorth into the world By the auncient lawe of the Iewes the eldest had dubble so much as the others of the Fathers goods and alone to the eldest pertayned the blessing of the Father wherewith should séeme alwayes the heritage to goe and succéede as appeareth by the will of God in Deut. 21. Thou shalt not make the sonne of the seconde wife heire before him that is first borne though his mother were hated For to him belongeth the right of the first borne The Patriarkes and others the seruantes of God although by diuine reuelation and other notice of the will of God they were certified that they might marry many or sundry wiues at one time yet did they exclude from their heritage and prerogatiue of the blessing all the children of those secondarie and after marriages this appeareth by Gen. 21. The Sonne of the bonde woman shall not be heire with my sonne Isaac Yet he was the eldest but was not the sonne of the first marriage Also an heire is the worke and institution of nature and heritage is dew to the sonne by nature therefore it is so dewe that hee must néedes haue it séeing those thinges which come by nature or be naturall are not mutable or to be chaunged Moreouer this name heire which in a manner with all Nations is the eldest hee is the successor of the lawe Nationall besides the lawes naturall and diuire And that Father who maketh an other heire than is by these authorities appointed can not but expresse himselfe rebell in disobeying contenming so great lawes and authoritie beginning a newe lawe of his owns head contrarie thereunto Then what is more vniust than to doe contrarie to all lawes and therewith to disobey the will of God to peruert the dew order of discent preferring the second mariage before the first dispraysed Bigamy before the mariage best approued honored with the merite of the thirtiefold frute as S. Hierome sayth The younger before the elder the later offpring before primogenitum so much tendered and respected Now as the greatest iniury a Father can do to his sonne is to disherite him so is it the most reprochfull blot or dammage to suffer the infamy discredite of disherison For if he be worthy to be disherited in his fathers house hee may be thought not woorthy to drawe breath out of it for that he ought to be conuinced faulty in those crimes hainous offences which be either repugnant to the dutie of a child or not méete for the profession of a christian Namely if he strike or offer violence to his Father If he oppresseth him with some great wrong If he séeke his death or destruction by poysoning or otherwise If he lye with his fathers wife If he will not suffer his father to make his will If he be not of the true and Catholike sayth but is conuinced to be an Hereticke whereby his life and heritage is in hazard Or if he refuse to succour and deliuer his father out of prison by his suertiship or if hee followe the trade and company of such persons as in the lawe be counted infames as wée say infamous vile and most dishonest as Iuglers Sorcerers Coniurers Théeues and Pirates Or if the Father offering him méete marriage vnder fine and twentie yeares he refuseth it and delighteth to liue continually in whoredome and filthie order of life these be I suppose all the causes that the Ciuill or Ecclesiasticall lawes doe assigne And yet doe some Doctors of the Church make it a question whether a sonne ought to be disherited at all for any of these causes But all doe agrée that séeing disherison is of all others most odious and vtterly contrarie to the office and dutie of nature a man ought not to fall to disheriting nor yet ad preteritionem which is an omitting or putting out of the will except it be for the greatest or worst deseruinges by these causes In which case of disheriting there is noted this sentence or iudgement of the holy Doctor S. Aug. Quicunque vult exheredato filio heredem facere DoctoreÌ„ EcclesiasticuÌ„ quaerat alteruÌ„ qui causam suscipiat non AugustinuÌ„ immo Deo propitio nemineÌ„ inueniet whoso euer sayeth he disheriting his sonne would make an other heire let him séeke an other Doctor of the Church to meddle with the cause and not Augustine but by the grace of God he shall finde none But the iudgement of whome and of the most part of all other good and learned men that