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
vs our fathers or forefathers The charge and cost of funeralls is a publique businesse saith Papinian the sanctuarie of the law whence also Iustinian in his 43. and 59. Nouell manifestlie sheweth that in Constantinople the charge and expences of funeralls was wont to be defraied out of the publique treasurie Why therefore should this celebration hinder the disciple frō following Christ since that it might be done as well by another as by himselfe But yet ther is great difference whether children destitute their parents in malice or pure simplicity This exposition will serue thee against all these arguments wherewith they haue beguiled thee If thy parents be dead that is if they be Iewes if Idolaters if Pagans if Infidels if the son contrariwise be a christian if a Catholique and the father would burie this his sonne with him that is command him to commit idolatrie leaue this father and follow mee saith Christ let the dead burie this dead That these words ought so to be taken and vnderstood is cleare bothout of S. Ambrose when he saith The sonne is not disswaded from his duty towards his fathers but a beleeuer is seuered from the fellowship of an vnbeleeuer And also out of S. Austin as well in that one booke of obseruations on S. Mathew as in his first booke to Marcellian concerning the Baptisme of children Canst thou therefore perswade any man that the Iesuits onlie liue the best kind of life and that we miserable christians because we are of the laitie must be reputed for dead and buried S. Hierome writing vnto Furia thinketh far otherwise whosoeuer beleeueth in Christ saith hee liueth And Tertullian in his booke de carne Christi doth not therefore ranke Marcion among those that were dead because he was not a Monke or an Hermit but because whilst he was an heretique he was not truly and properly a good christian But we fathers poore men though we be euen we are beleeuers we are called the sonnes of God his friends his brethren and coheires with him and wee also are made partakers through him of the holy Ghost As many as haue a true faith and lead an vpright life yea although they worke not miracles nor cast out diuells yet they are holie saith S. Hierome in his 59. Homilie But if you pretend the same yea if thou boast of greater things than these why this also is our benefit this also is our aduantage For if you aske any of vs Christians of what religion we are euerie of vs being taught by you can make you this answer of the same religion whereof our fathers and ancestors were There was no oath more inuiolable than that which wee sware by our fathers faith saith Philo who borrowed this sentence of an ancient Philosopher therefore why thou shouldst so excredinglie despise vs now there is no reason or if thou wilt needs contemne vs doe it then when we can expect nothing from thy hands but our buriall You shall haue in this case if not the meaning yet the words of Christ to his Disciples when our Sauiour Christ said vnto him follow me he well knevv that his father was novv dead saith the same S. Ambrose in this verie place But I beleeue the text in S. Matthewes Gospell hath most seduced thee He that loueth father or mother more than mee is not worthy of me And againe in S. Luke if any man commeth vnto me and hateth not his father and his mother his wife and his children his brethren and his sisters yea and his owne soule he cannot be my disciple These and such like places seem to yeeld thee great and forceable arguments for thy defence but since those reasons and authorities which we haue already brought to the contrarie be as pregnant and forceable to all intents it had been your course to infer that surelie these latter places do require some farther exposition and declaration least God should seem to be contrary or to contradict himselfe For I pray you tell me what manner of doctrine is this or what kind of religion may this be called which teacheth that a man of necessity must hate his father and his mother his wife and his children his brethren and his sisters yea his owne deare soule also that will be Christs disciple if we should sticke vnto the words and not stand vnto the meaning for if he that should hate his father must therefore be a good disciple doubtlesse he that should well beate him were worthy to be a patriarch and hee that should kill him might exceedinglie well deserue to be a Pope See how many absurdities and mischiefes would arise from these words not ill conceiued but il vnderstood So S. Chrysostome in his 36. homily vpon S. Matthews Gospell he did not absolutelie command thee to make inuectiue speeches against thy familiar friends and acquaintance for that were an action sauouring of indiscretion and might procure harme But look how much any other desires to haue thee loue him more than me hate him saith he so much the more I confesse then that we ought rather to loue God than our parents and that is the lesson which Salomon teacheth vs begin your loue with me as Origen witnesseth Which is also spoken by S. Ambrose on S. Luke if men ought to performe dutie to their parents how much more then ought they to render their most bounden dutie to the creator and maker of their parents in yeelding him alwaies thanks that gaue thē parents But I am much mistaken if the consequence hold ergo it is more blessed to become a Franciscan Frier or a Iesuit than either to loue or reuerence thy father For christian religion is grounded especiallie vpon faith but doth not depend vpon this or that particular order of religion Nay I may further tell you may a generall Councell haue been summoned that neuer confirmed or approued these orders And if put case it be a degree of more perfection to be a Cleargie man than a lay man I thinke it must not be inferred ergo a sonne need not refraine anie stubborne vndutifull or vngodly behauiour to his parents if he intend to be a Priest rather than a lay man God hath no where that I cā find laid any such precise cōmandemēt on either of vs both to be Priests his especiall charge to thee wards is that thou shouldst doe me honor by all meanes Hast thou then wilfullie done me this open wrong thy sinne is of so hainous a nature that Gods curse mans is vpon thee for it For I tel thee sonne it is a matter of meer indifferency to be one of the Iesuits companie A man may be a good christian and walke in the way of Christ which is the path to euerlasting life and yet neuer turne Iesuit for the matter And therefore it ill became thee to put by an act of absolute necessitie for a proiect of thine owne priuate fancie voluntarie concept as S. Thomas verie wiselie informeth
thee I pray thee tell me if there were two waies to follow Christ in and the one were so faire and plaine that thou mightst loue me and thy sauiour Christ also the other so stonie and craggie that vnlesse thou didst perfectly hate me it were impossible for thee to loue him which of these waies wouldst thou rather chuse but O sonne S. Matthew and S. Luke are so cleer in this point that there is not so much as the least letter which may cast thee into any such labyrinth or intricate maze Read these Euangelists and read them from the beginning to the end thou shalt find it deliuered that if question be of vndergoing martyrdome for Christ which they call to carrie the crosse and follow him and these two should be in tearmes of opposition To denie God before men or to honor and loue ones father it is farre better to hate father yea to hate himselfe and his owne foule than once to distrust the promises of his sweet Sauior Christ So then if I should haue perswaded thee to abiure the Christian baptisme wherunto I first brought thee and might well enough haue beene thy Bishop in it had I aduised thee to cast away that most pretious pearle which S. Iohn the Apostle gaue him that told him where hee might find the woluish God that had yeere by yeere had 12. young children offered vp vnto him for sacrifice had I requested thee to renege Christianitie to entertaine Mahometisme Atheisme or heresie I may not haue thee tell me now with Saluianus that such a time may happen wherein some thing that is not God ought to be preferred before God then mightst thou by vertue of this scripture in these cases haue lawfully refused to do me such duty and reuerence as appertaineth to a father and Saturus or the worthy Lady Victoria would haue been good precedents for thy imitation of whom Victor the Bishop reporteth in his first booke De persecutione Vandalica that they had rather be held from their children parted from their husbands depriued of all their worldly wealth than by any seducements whatsoeuer become Arrians In such a case it would haue been good for thee to haue been without father or mother like Melchisedech who was therefore said to be without both because he was a deuout holy man though his parents were wicked and cruell Canaanites Heathen people loue their natiue country exceedingly and none can haue any part in their loue but their parents Now we saith Pontius S. Cyprians Deacon we detest and abhor our very parents when once they goe about to perswade vs for anie thing against our God But sith we are both good christians and Catholiks who should preuaile more with thee than my selfe that haue done more for thee than all the world besides if any father might be iustlie despised of his childe abused and wronged by him choaked with that text in Leuiticus I am ignorant I know you not certainlie it were such a father as shold dedicate his childrē to strange Gods or aduow them to the worship of the molten Calfe according to that of Moses let thy hand be vpon them and powr foorth their blood which would seduce thee from the truth in which place notwithstanstāding maybe obserued as also out of the 32. of Exodus that although Moses in this case allowes of parricide yet he exemplifieth it in the wife in the sonne in the brother in the sister in the kinsman and friend he makes no mention at all of the father So sacred venerable and inuiolable is that name of a father nothing may lawfullie be attempted against a father Read the Epistle of Moses Maximus Nicostratus Rufinus and other Confessors it is the 77 to Cyprian thou shalt find these words vnderstood in this sence peruse likewise Chrisostome in his 65. homilie vpon S. Matthew where he expounds them These words saith he to my vnderstanding closelie do betoken persecutions For many sonnes haue been drawn to wicked courses by their parents manie husbands by their wiues which whensoeuer they attempt let them neither be respected for wiues nor parents And the author which wrote on the same Euangelist in his 27 homilie It is not to be beleeued saith he that God which commanded thee to honor thy father and mother would bid thee forsake father and mother if therefore thou hast an vnbeleeuing father continue thy obedience to him for in so doing thou shalt receiue the reward of thy dutie and contrariwise he shall find the condemnation of his infidelitie And therefore our Sauior said not he that loueth his father is not worthy of me but he that loueth his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me For as to loue our parents after God it is dutie so to honor them more than God is plaine impietie If therefore he repeats it againe thou hast an vnbelieuing father still obey him but if hee would haue thee swallowed into the gulfe of infidelitie loue God more than thy father for he is the father not of the soule but of thy bodie onlie Howsoeuer yet he doth not require that the sonne vpon any such occasion should desert him by his bodily presence but by dissenting from him in point of religion Marke how these words of the olde law these men saith the Lord haue kept my commaundementes which haue saide vnto father and mother we know you not are expounded by Philostratus sometimes Bishop of Brixia and S. Austins ancient in his booke of heresies You are not to vnderstand hereby to condemne your father for begetting you but to condemne the grosse impietie of your father that would mislead you And this was the opinion of Salonius Bishop of Vienna writing vpon Ecclesiastes For the profession of our faith in Christ wee must contemne yea and hate father and mother and all our kindred when they be anie stops or impediments vnto vs in the way of the Lord as vve read that the holy Martyrs manie times did whence it is that S. Austin in his sermons saith these words seeme to encourage men to martyrdome Finallie Christ Iesus himselfe being readie to giue vp the ghost to speake in the words of Arnold the Abbot that he might superlatiuelie commend this noble and great article of the second table Honour thy father and thy mother and that by al the bonds and leagues of pietie doth giue bequeath it to his mother the blessed virgin woman behold thy sonne and to his best beloued disciple S. Iohn behold thy mother And that S. Iohn was likewise of his masters mind Prochirus relateth Chap. 21. for hauing baptized Chrysippa in the Iland Pathmos and she would thereupon in all speed leaue hir vnbeleeuing husband S. Iohn told her no that is by no meanes to be permitted for God hath not sent me to separate man wife I haue no such commission therfore returne in peace to your owne house For if it were lawfull that a woman might separate her selfe
free and trulie christian manner of liuing And therefore in this pretence they might with much more honestie loose themselues from their kindered and alliance So then let no man father it vpon S. Hierome which makes nothing for his purpose Indeed he went about to solicite some of his fellows to enter into this kind of life with him but euerie one liked it not and among others Paâ—â—machius that was his chiefest friend had least fancie vnto it For his desire was rather to liue married than to be tied to such strict rules of religion Onlie Bonosius followed him and profest himselfe a Monke not passing for mother brother or sisters yet still respecting his father Nay euen S. Hierome himselfe after he had been an Hermite for some time returned backe againe to Rome S. Austin indeed in his 76. Epistle is not throughlie resolued in this point whether a Monke forsaking his cel might afterwards be in holy orders Therfore bethinke now with thy selfe and consider it well whether that assertion of S. Hieromes can be thy iust excuse I say whether it can be any iust excuse for thee that art not yet fiue and twentie yeers of age that hast a father and mother yet liuing that neuer madest any vow to the Iesuits before hand that art not hereupon either to renege Paganisme or to secure thy selfe from persecution or to wander into vast and vncouth wildernesses and there to continue but to be entertained into as delicate and pleasant places and cities as the worlds yeeld any that hast an abbie for thy prison and a good town for thy paradise But make of S. Hieromes speech what can be made make him of what age thou wilt when he wrote this Epistle if notwithstanding all this the name of such a great workmaÌ„ so deeplie with you why may you not for your satisfaction herein parralell Heliodorus example with him why not the example of Letus especiallie if that be S. Austius epistle which is written vnto him who hauing vowed a religious life and that not in his minoritie but at mans estate vpon the sole discontent and griefe which he conceiued afterwards because he had neglected the dutie to his mother in not making her acquainted with this vow returned fairelie home againe to his countrie which before in the hot zeale he bare to a religious life he had abandoned Why may you not oppose S. Iohn Chrysostomes example these men were neuer for all this either the lesse holie or worse Christians most certaine it is there is nothing can be a bar to a godlie life You may not plead pretence that you are maried that you are a father of children that you are a souldier a merchant an artificer a seruant a rich man a begger for so speakes S. Chrysostome in a certaine mariage sermon I tell you one that dwells in the Citie may com very neer to a Monks deuotion a maried man that liues at home may say his prayers and fast and be penitent for his sinnes as the same Father also affirmes in another place Now that you may not thwart me and say that such precedents were proper onlie for the primitiue Church and that the comparison stood then betwixt gentilisme and Christianity betwixt a religious life in a cloister and an vpright godlie life abroad in the world when this controuersie was treated of I will produce you that verie age wherein S. Bernard liued and lastlie to leaue you without all scruple of doubt I will answer an obiection which is made out of the Emperor Iustinians constitution which in some mens conceipt is verie strong for the libertie of children in dedicating themselues to the seruice of the Church without their parents leaue to the intent that hauing throughlie considered what can bee alleadged of both sides thou thy selfe mayst be iudge and pronounce the senteÌ„ce whether this fact of thine which thou hast thus committed against me be to be termed a fact of honest behauiour or coÌ„trariwise altogether of vnrespectiue demeanour Here then the question consists generallie betweene Catholiques nay in a far more narrow compasse than Catholiques it consists between monkes that holie Abbot had a nephew whose name was Robert his father purposed to make him a Monke of the order of Cluniacenses but he dying before his sonne was tendred Robert profest himself a Cisterian Monke and S. Bernard himselfe adopted him thereunto Soone after this certaine Monkes of the order of Cluniacenses seduced the poore youth and drew him from that Abbie to their owne Heare then began the brige between the two regulars S. Bernard was the first man that accused this their fact and said it was done by meer seducement and enueagling of the youth in that they had vsed fraude flatterie and craftie conueiance to effect this their purpose For they that should seduce his nephew first attempted it by a nouice of their order after that by a Monke that was better able lastlie by one of their greatest Priors amongst them Then hee laid to their charge forceable intrusion in that they had hurt the porters of the Cel and so rescued yong Robert out of his cloister as if they would haue broken a Gaile Without acquainting either the superior of the order withall or the Abbot or his vncle S. Bernard now I pray thee tel me whether thy case and this be all one first because one that was penitentiarie and Confessor there buzd this into thine eare and after him another that was master of the chamber came and told thee that there was no estate of men so blessed as the Regular was and lastlie the prouinciall of the order came said that among al the regular there was none comparable with your society as beeing called after the name of Iesus but marke what S. Bernard alleages and that will sufficientlie refute and condemn your so highly magnified vocation and inspiration there was no suite saith hee made for his admission by his parents which the rule expressely enioyneth as though hee should haue said albeit his Father when he was aliue did much wish to haue his sonne of the order of Cluniacensis but being preuented by death neuer liued to see his desire fulfilled and the common rule expresly requires that he that will enter into a monasterie must bee offered vnto it first by his parents in the view and presence of some witnesses for that is also in the rule this wants in his profession to your order of Cluniacensis but these prouisions were not necessarie or requisite for his admission to the Cistertians because then hee was past his nonage and was at his owne choyce and bestowing Why then exclaymes the good Abbot why then haue you robd me of my nephew why haue you bereft mee of my ioy Why haue yee taken away the fruite of my spirit and the one halfe of my poor soule might he not haue beene saued with me if he had continued with me O nephew saith hee the vizard of
that would offer their children to the Churches seruice and if it were absolutelie necessarie that young men should minister in the Church in Gods name then let religion bee priuiledged to robbe and steale our children from vs as thou wast from me it skills not much by force or policie but whereas there is such a number of Churches and Abbeyes can any man say that there is not plenty enough to supply such places but if and speake what may bee spoken for the contrarie the vow which children make bee good iustifiable without the parents leaue yet me seemes somewhat should bee left vnto their disposition wherein they should beare some stroake as peraduenture to make choice of one Abbey before an other for their children to be profest in and if there be no remedy but that parents must besosleightly put by when the question stands betwixt them and religion yet me thinkes t were well that some few reliques should still remaine of that ancient dutie reuerence which God nature prescribed for parents But the case is farre otherwise now for it comes so short to the businesse in hand that parents in any lawe should bee relinquisht and destituted of their children that euen they which haue written in an high stile for commendation of the solitarie life as most monkes haue done confesse that children may bee dismissed out of their cloyster and disclaime their vow to bee attendant on their parents And that this vow is of a greater obligation and much more ancient for continuance then any other vow whatsoeuer it may be prooued out of S. Gregory Nazianzene for he being sent for to come home from his monastery by his Father because he was now growne olde and not able to follow suites in law which came thicke vpon him by reason of a publique charge wherein hee bare office and hauing lost also his other sonne Caesarius forsooke his Couent made speed to returne to his Father Gregorie and his mother Nonna which then to their farther griefe had buried their daughter Gorgonia the same appeares in like manner out of Heliodor of whom wee spake before who left to be an Eremite and left S. Hieromes company to assist and helpe not his Father but his sister and nephew S. Austin holds the same opinion or whosoeuer be the Authour ad fratres in Eremo and will haue no man enforced to returne backe againe to his monastery except his Father bee dead first S. Hierome in an Epistle to Fabiola speakes of this kinde of desertion where hee saith how many monkes haue beene cause of destroying their owne soules in compassionating the estate of their Fathers and Mothers in which wordes hee doth not simply condemne such desertion so it be without frawde to do true seruice to their parents but his meaning is that many monks pretending such manner of excuses doe therby hazard the vtter vndoing of their owne soules Wherefore put case I had beene content and willing to haue made thee a Iesuite couldst thou yet find in thy heart now at this time especiallie to leaue mee and liue apart from me couldest thou holde it for a religious course to lurke in a Cell nay a Gayle for that is Baccharius word for a monasterie where thou mightest sleepe in a whole skinne at pleasure and vnderstand of our ciuil broils or rather lawlesse open robberies that ruine and lay wast thy flourishing natiue countrye nay couldest thou forbeare to repayre home with al speed possible to be helpfull attendant and seruiceable vnto vs to allay and mittigate the surpassing sorrow whereof euerie good mans hart is sensible in this our countries combustion But perhaps they detaine thee by violence Well bee it so for I am more prone to think so then to imagine thou art cleane past all sence of humanitie al good nature gentry chieflie at this time season when Princes ioyn issue in armes not for matter of religion but for a soueraign monarchy but laying aside all prerogatiue of antiquity in our present question if you be so pleased let vs argue the matter by reasō a while wheras it is so that you accōpt marriage for a Sacramēt and for precedence in time the first that euer was ordained in this world how happens it that you giue it no better entertainment amongst you doth it not necessarilie follow that Church and common-wealth both must partake euident losse when either it is so prophanelie polluted or not set by when it is bereft of the fruit of mariage which are children robd of those sweet loue pledges when you vntie that knot which is knit faster than any knot that fire and water bed and boord or plighting of troth did euer tie Why who will take any paines to bring vp his children if after all his care taken and costs bestowed when all is done they must be another mans children and not the fathers If by direct authoritie or indeed rather by a kind of Mahometicall immanitie they be hald and lugd away from their parents if as soone as our wiues be brought to bed and deliuered the shaueling that first can seize vpon our child must haue him for his paines he that robs a father of his child a foster father of his foster sonne or a master of his man in the opinion of Tertullian writing against Marcion commits an act of impietie against God sins against the parent wrongs the foster father and trespasses against the master To take away filiall obedience and dutie to parents is to grub vp nature by the root to windshake all that commerce and societie which is between man man euen from the very groūd plot and foundation Obedience saith S. Cyprian in his booke of the abuses of the world is the mother of all gouernment then farewell all gouernment when parents cannot be obeied And because paritie in honour and estate breeds quarrells and contention therefore hath God made many formes of gouernment many of subiection As husband and wife father and sonne old and yong bond and free Prince and subiect master and scholler as S. Chrysostome speaks in his Epistle to the Romanes take away these subordinations and there is no companie or societie of men can possiblie continue Nay the conclusion cannot be gainsaid doe but once proue disobedient to parents and presentlie you fall downe headlong into Atheisme or heresie as it is deliuered with common consent by all sorts of men as well Christians as heathen and by name by Plutarch in his booke de fraterna amicitia and by the author of a late discourse But it were better to hear the Authors in their owne words There is no man saith Plutarch who though he thinke otherwise in his conscience would not affirme and in words maintaine that the Gods ought to bee worshipped in the first place our parents next to them and that in so large an extent that nothing can be so acceptable to the Gods as when they see children repaying some vsurie