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
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
hir sonne For what saith she shall I get at his hands what shall all my little nephewes get when he that hath liued in banishment for 4. yeares together in all that while neuer sent me so much as one letter hath quite forgotten his kindred as well as his natiue countrey which might I speake like a mother most vncurteously and vndeseruedly condemned him Shee notwithanding all this embarkt her selfe in the message and forced him to come in by no other stratagem of war than the name of a mother What thinkest thou art thou more religious than S. Chrysostome more hard harted than was Coriolanus yet he came to meete his mother halfe way thou fliest from thine and eschewest her very presence What fearest thou to write vnto me in Gods name write write without date of day or year Indeed if S. Basil be your countenance for this irreligious deuotion the imputation were the lesse and the fault more excusable on you part I must needs grant But I feare me that we haue little aduantaged our cause all this while by quoting of so many ancient Fathers except it be the filling vp of a long empty catalogue with names Our best way therefore in my iudgement to deale with thee will be with some records and precedents of antiquity And whereas S. Chrysostome hath written some bookes against such as discommend the monasticall life hath giuen counsell to parents to take some care that their children bee trained vp in such speculatiōs rather then to make them swordmen or of the long robe his intent is therby in preferring that kinde of life before any other to aduize men rather to bestow their children in a course of religion than a secular employment but not to make them in any sort disobedient to their friends and in despite of them to abandon cities and inhabite vast mountainous deserts nay hee wills them after some time spent after they haue bene well seasoned in Christianity to repayre home againe to their parents Which makes mee to thinke that the Monkes of that world were not termers for life in their monastery as now they vse to be but at curtesie to return home when they list Againe reade the same S. Chrysostome in his bookes de prouidentia there you shall obserue how hee spends himselfe in comforting Stagyrius the Monke who was therefore vexed with a deuill because that contrary to the aduice of his Father he had cast himselfe into a cloyster and whom for that cause he terms an intruding Frier But Stagyrius was thē of ripe yeares and his father had not expresly forbid him that calling onely hee counselled him otherwise S. Austine himselfe and S. Ambrose in his first booke De Virginibus towards the end proues that parents should not hinder a daughter from consecrating her selfe to theseruice of the Church but yet withall so that a Father may if his pleasure bee peremptorily to forbid it And doth not Saint Austin in his 109 and 110. epistle to Ecdicia plainely say that shee had made a deede of gift of her sonne in her life time whereby to kill him in that his father was not first made acquainted therewith what course of life vpon more maturitie and discretion hee afterwards might follow to bee either a Monke a Priest or a married man therefore till hee came to such an age his fathers voice and consent was absolutelie necessarie thereunto but the conclusion of all is that the son borne in lawfull and holie Wedlocke is more to be in subiection to the Father than to the mother And therefore he cannot be denied him wheresoeuer he be when once hee is lawfullie demanded The same Father in his 233. Epistle to Benenatus doth not he write of a certaine girle that as the report went would faine haue beene a Nunne how hee consulted about the matter with Felix her Aunts Husband and that otherwise he neither could nor would haue giuen way vnto it What would his opinion haue beene thinke you of hir mother whose direction and vvill in bestowing of hir daughter was euer to bee preferred before all others Without doubt if the mothers interest be so much the fathers is a great deale more and so great as he would not haue much demurred vvhether the sonne were vnder yeares or aboue for such a question would neuer haue beene proposed Lastly I appeale to thy conscience good Father Saluianus wast thou a stranger to this newe Church discipline when thou tookest such extraordinary paines to Hepatius and Quieta that they would please to excuse that action of their daughter Palladia for that shee was conuerted from Paganisme to Christianitye without their priuity do I say her action nay to excuse thine owne that after the birth of thy daughter Auspiciola refrainedst the companie of thine owne wife the better to giue thy selfe to fasting and praier hauing no warrant so to doe from thy father in laws permission When they betrothed Palladia to thee they gaue her to a Christian husband and thereby sufficiently exprest their consent that she likewise for hir behalf should become a Christian Yea and certaine it is that a little after this blessed match thy wiues parents that so dearely affected their daughter became Christians also Howsoeuer then they might haue taken it ill at thy hands that vndertookest this without their speciall leaue for what hope could they conceiue of any grand-child to be borne vnder that marriage where the man and wife liued a part what reproache was it vnto them that in a matter of such weighty importance they should not be worthie so much as to be lookt after If they for such an insignious contempt done vnto them should haue said vnto thee Sirra packe out of our sight and write letters vpon letters as long as thou list and it bee seauen yeares together thou shalt receiue not one line from vs in way of answer and yet I must haue tolde you that Palladia now after the enter-marriage belonged not to hir Father but to hir husbands disposition couldst thou in defence of thy selfe haue said that it was a point of feruent zeale to Godwards first to hate and set at naught thy Father Oh but reade his epistles and reade them ouer thou wilt tell me another tale there is nothing but bitter teares pittifull suites and begging pardons although saith he for my part I do not well know how or wherin I haue offended them Now vppon these premises see how I could conclude against thee I haue writtē many letters to thee but neuer receiued any one for answere backe again Thou art not yet come to yeers of discretion thou hast entred into a vow I wil not say of chastitie but of single life and neuer told me of it Poore soule how couldest thou make any vow at that yeares thou canst not defend thy selfe and say why but Father I had your consent though you did not openly expresse it For thou knowest vvell enough that I did mainely
parents correction it will be no good inference to conclude that therefore it is not now any longer iust and reasonable because law had once determined it to be so it will be no good inference to conclude that the law and edict of all nations which decrees an absolute obedience to parents is now clearely vanished and out of vse Lawes be lawes still though they be not penall though there be no losse of life nor forfeiture of goods ensuing as for example adultery though there be smal adoe made about it now adaies yet in its owne nature it is alwaies foule and dishonest If either by negligence or coniuencie it be not sharply punished the law notwithstanding is stil chast and honorable which forbids it And so the law for childrens obedience is euer right conuenient though many times no penaltie ensue This is euident specially out of Moses it is true he would not that a father should put his child to death with his owne hands but rather seeke for it by petition from the magistrate and so haue it executed and that also without any other enquest or euidence than at the fathers suit from whence it is more then probably collected that in the common wealth of the Iewes the father had a soueraigne authority in cases of life and death for although by this order of Moses it were somewhat staid from speedy execution yet the matter is plaine that it is easier for me to bee a petitioner that another man should be executed and die than that I should be his executioner with mine owne hands But howsoeuer I would faine know and learn why and for what offence a father might endite his sonne by this Hebrew Law-makers decree that vpon such conuiction he might be presently stoned to death Was it because he was a murtherer a Church-robber a traitor a theef a fornicator or an vsual offendor against the peace of the King his crown and dignity Let vs heare his owne words deliuered to this purpose If any man haue a sonne that is stubborne and disobedient which will not harken to the voice of his father nor the voice of his mother and they haue chastised him and he would not obey them Then shall his father and his mother take him and bring him out vnto the Elders of his Citie and vnto the gate of the place where hee dwelleth And shall say vnto the Elders of his City this our sonne is stubborne and disobedient and he will not obey our admonition he is a robber and a drunkard Then all the men of the Citie shall stone him with stones vnto death I pray what manner of offences be there herein mentioned be they not trespasses against parents priuate misdemeanours and domesticall hatcht within doores not acted in publique view certainly as by order of military discipline contempt in a souldier is a crime very capitall because there is nothing so far endangers the state of an army as one mutinously disposed so by the same correspondencie of reason it is fit and requisite that all persons belonging to my charge as my seruants my children my wife my cattell all should be at my becke all should be vnder my conduct as the chiefe generall all should be actuated by my motion as hauing surrendred the interest of their liberty into my plenary disposition and authority Aelianus tells vs a story of one Rhaco Mardus who hauing brought his sonne Cartomes like a prisoner with his armes fast pinacled into the presence of King Artaxerxes to receiue iudgement of death vpon suggestion that he was a gracelesse desperate castaway and grew to be very earnest to that point why saith the King of Persia canst thou endure to behold thy sonnes life taken from him his answer was I haue in my garden a lettice rudely ouergrowne with leaues and though they be lims of the bodie yet doe I now and then crop off and prune some of the bitter stalkes and such as may be spared What doth my lettice thinke you die for griefe vpon the matter or doth it mourne because there is a limbe or two lopt off nay it flourisheth the better and such a maim makes him eat a great deale the sweeter In like manner may it please you O King to deeme of me for albeit I shall see and behold the death of this wretched varlot that hurts and anoies my household corrupts by his stubborne and lewde example his poore yong brethren I will neuerthelesse be still of the opinion to speed the better by it yea and rather thriue by such a maim than any waies be endamaged by it and this is sutable to that of Mâ—sâ—s and Halicarnasseus But that I may the better proue this point how is it that this question namelie whether a sonne in some case may lawfullie disobey his father first stepping aside out of priuate mens houses entred into the publique schooles of the vniuersitie to bee disputed and questioned there and after to be decided finallie at the seat of iudgement but that it was neuer in mans memorie heard of before nay the contrarie was euer held for certaine and true that such a question would neuer haue been propounded when Danaus much against his will had matcht his fiftie daughters to Egisthus his grandchildren and had charged the yong virgins that on the mariage day euerie one should murther hir husband with such a sword as to that end he had giuen them the iust like tale may you read in ChalcoÌ„dilas of a Physition of Florence that commanded his daughter to poison Lantislaus King of Naples the first night they should lie together euerie one did as their father had enioined them excepting only Hypermnestra which saued her husband Lynceus his life But what followed hereupon these murderous paricides were so far from being brought to answer the law and plead not guiltie for the matter or that their obedience herein was deemed culpable that contrariwise Hypermnestra for that she had not performed hir fathers behest was thereupon publiquelie arraigned and much adoe to be freed at the common Assisâ—s so that in point of obedience vnto parents no exception wold be taken to haue denied them or to haue doubled with them had vtterlie been vnlawfull The truth is freed she was but the verdict was brought in vpon euen voices with such demurring and so much hazard of life the record is famously knowne by her owne letter in Ouid that as though she had escaped some dangerous shipwracke she built a Temple vnto Venus and Diana and hung vp a table in memoriall of her deliuerie How then should that domestique dutie be blemisht or broken when children though they had offended in obeying their obedience notwithstanding was vnto them their chiefest commendation their refusall a crime vtterlie vnpardonable That great Oracle of the Law Vlpian holds this opinion that he may not properlie be said to haue any will of his owne that liues vnder commaund of a father or master and well worthie
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