vnkinde practise of disheriting séemeth both absurde and vngodly among the people of Christes flocke séeing we are all called to claime our owne birthright and do desire to attaine vnto that inheritance of the kingdome of heauen which is but one If one brother disherite an other contrarie to the will of the father may not the father by common equitie thereupon pretend cause of disheriting the disheritor We are all brothers and the sonnes of one heauenly father We are all so fraile and giuen to offende that we are not fit to disherite but rather should feare to be disherited Neither néede we to bring foorth any written examples aunswerable in this place sith wee haue eye testimonie in manner of common experience in many who haue disherited vndermined or defrauded others and thereby haue giuen an example howe other men should deale towardes them or theirs and so at length haue bought with the same measure they solde vnto others A learned Doctor of this age writing vpon the matter of Testamentes or Willes making hath these wordes worthie recitall Prudentia bonorum virorum consilia aliquando suadebunt liberos malos non omnino exheredes scribendos esse sed in eis honorandum esse naturam legittima portione a iure prescripta Illi vero parentes non digni sunt aut parentum nomine aut qui hac luce fruantur qui partes suas a se proijcere exponere audent Wisedome and the counsaile of good men sayth he will at one time or other perswade that euill children are not at all to bee disherited but that nature be honored in them by letting them haue their lawefull portion appointed by the lawe But those Parents who cast off their children from them are not worthy the name of Parentes nor scarse to haue the fruition of this life If this iudgement be such according to laws ecclesiasticall and diuine towards sonnes lewdly enclined or of ill behauiour how impious and vniust doth he thinke to be the disheriting of such as be honestly giuen or rather make testimonie of some vertue and valure Yee haue heard before that by someout of Imperiall lawe asses and dogges were not to be cast out of the doores and shall christen men cast out their owne sons to the reproch and scorning of the worlde Asses may beare the waight and griefe of such burdens and dogges may away to digest such bones but with the most sorte of men they are eyther taken as heauie at the heart as mil-stones or as venomous in the intrailes as poison some haue yéelded themselues vnto desparation of minde and therevppon haue runne madde Others haue addicted themselues vnto damnable trades as of robbery piracie coniuration treason and others in hatred of that bad vnkinde mind of their parents haue forsaken true Religion and fallen into Mahometisme or other peruerse reprobate sence of doctrine Others that haue béene of more credite or power haue entred into most bloody facts of warre and conspiracies wherof haue ensued vncharitable broiles and more then vnchristian contentions all procéeding from the roote of stomaching the like iniurie or more rather from the Iustice of GOD who would not leaue so high an example of iniustice and wrong dooing vnpunished And although the acte of Disherison is rare and monstrous among good men yet such as put it in practise will thinke they may the rather doe it because others haue done it before them Vnto whome Seneca answereth saying There is no wickednes which a man may not finde taught by example if he be so ready to followe it Some other fathers there be who being caried away into partiality and wrong iudgement by the perswasion of women of whose partes and practise you haue sufficiently heard will pretende and lay vnto their sonnes charge the accusation of ill Religion Let such Parents take héed least bearing the name of Christians they be found persecuters of the same It is a more then fault to render euill for good or to reward vertue with punishment Therefore it is not safetie for any father of meane knowledge him selfe to condemne his sonne to disherison in a difficult cause so much he may be deceiued and blinded by the wrong perswasions of a woman and by other fine flatterie of supposed friends But if it would please such a father as is enclined by anie manner of meanes to disherite his sonne to looke vnto him selfe and setting apart affection in matters of controuersie to weigh his owne euill with his owne good no doubt hée would confesse and say with the Poet Peccantem damnare caue nam labimur omnes Condemne not him that offendeth for we al do offend He might sée that in his life he hath done but little good as he should do No works of vertue none of charitie none of true godlinesse little of kindenesse none of chastitie litle of trueth none of true faith but rather all to the contrary laying aside mercie and refusing to vouchsafe and performe the effectes of forgiuenesse vnto his owne sonne so much is his vnderstanding peruerted and his heart hardened which I feare me may boade vnto anie father little good sith it is the saying of Saint Bernard Nemo vnquam cordis duri bonum habuit nisi forte commiserans Deus abstulit cor lapideum contulit carneum that is Neuer any man gotte any good by his hard heart vnles peraduenture when it pleaseth GOD of his infinite mercie to take from him his stonie heart and giue vnto him a heart of flesh then well hée sée his owne ouersight in omitting to giue good examples of naturall loue and affection to his children therwithal perceiue what had fruits he hath reapt by his examples of vnkindees hard dealing and peruerting of order in his family Then will be find what ghostly comfort a peaceable charitable mind haue in auoiding the dangerous flames of wrath inward disquietnes Then it will appéere howe beneficiall and happie it had beene for his children and how godly and séemely for him selfe if hee had followed sound counsaile and the prompting of grace in disobeying those his lusts and wilfull liking the seruing and pleasing whereof hath heaped vpon him those euils which he findedeth now so hardly to be remembred And further that gay-shew of a womans loue which first was founded either vpon the hope and opinion of his wealth or of purpose to defraude and depriue his first children of inwarde affection or outward possibility now will séeme vading and vanishing like the moone before her change Now wil tourne to his remembrance those causes of sorrow and griefe which were giuen to his own children by her malignity in bringing tâ—eÌ„ out of his fauour into hatred and displeasure then will remorse of wrong doing specially in supplanting and disheriting if any be compas him on euery side On the right haÌ„d to see how hée hath continued and cast from him the due regard and worthinesse of the first mariage On the left hand
to take delight in her husbands first chirdren Neither commeth this woorde Stepdame of the speakers ill speech or terming but in deede is drawne from the parties ill doing although perhaps the Grammarians will say Nouerca is a compound worde quasi noua furca in english a newe frame of three peeces prepared and set vp for some purpose By that word God forbid I should meane all mothers in lawes of whome I dare vowe and affirme there bee a great number so kindly to their husbandes children that they may well be called mothers The abuse of a fewe sometime maketh all of that sute or sort to be blamed propter paucas inuisa sumus omnes mulieres sayth Terence for a fewe Stepdames sake we are all called Stepmothers To be short I would constantly beseech all mother in lawes in generall to haue this opinion of my meaning that haue aduentured to meddle in this kind of matter chiefely in fauour of the ouerborne motherlesse and of the poore innocents whose Angels be before the throne of God that as we are sure one Crowe pulleth not out anothers eyes so I hope this my Nightcrowe shall spiritually or temporally doe good vnto many euen of them that rightly deserue that name Vale. The Table THat the vertue thriuing and prosperitie of children are for the most part wrought by the fathers good examples and instructions Chap. I. That the vice and other infelicitie of children mostly proceedeth of the fathers ill examples Chap. II. That fathers ought not to prouoke their childrē to wrath or disobedience Chap. III. That fathers ought to deale kindly and faithfully and not preiudicially or fraudulently towards their children Chap. IIII. That fathers or parents ought not to dispose their goods or landes after priuate fancie Chap. V. The second part OF the vngentle dealing of some Stepmothers towardes their husbands children Chap. vj. That stepmothers ought not to be priuate or false accusers of their husbandes children more than of others Chap. vij That Stepmothers ought not to supplant or procure disheriting of their husbandes eldest sonnes Chap. viij That disheriting of the eldest sonne without very great lawfull cause is an act verie wrongfull and vngodly Chap. ix That procurers and counsailors of disherison and all wrong doing ought to make or procure restitution Chap. x. The first part of this treatise surnamed the Night-crowe perswadeth in certaine kindely points pertaining to a natural father the regard whereof may worke a meete preseruatiue or preuention against a womans inchanting or peruerting CHAP. I. That the vertue thriuing and prosperitie of children are for the most parte wrought by the fathers good examples and instructions SOlon that was reputed so wise and prouident a lawe-maker for the Athenians being asked howe a State or Common-wealth might best be kept vpright and longest endure mary saith he if subiects obey their Magistrates and the Magistrates obey the lawes as if hee woulde say It is not enough if the subiects obey the Magistrates neglect the obseruing of laws themselues but these must obey first that the others may learne obedience otherwise they are like to reape such fruits as they sowe by examples As subiects and inferiors are contained within bounds of order and duety by lawes so princes pastors parents and all superiours are subiected to other lawes for the most parte haue a superior Iudge whereby is performed the earthlie Hierarchie so well pleasing vnto God and so much desired of good men whiles they commaund by their owne lawes they stand obliged by no lesse duetie of obedience to the law of God and of nature And specially Parents who are so déepelie bound to loue and tender their children that brute beasts and birds may reproue controll many The thing that is most requisite to be found in them is naturall loue augmented and cōfirmed by the same which Christ so carefully commended to his children to wit charitie Charitie makes one heart of many it is the way of man vnto God and the way of god to man but he that expresseth himselfe in his actions to faile in the duety of naturall loue is not worthy to be counted an obseruer of the bond of Charitie This Charitie or wonderfull newe loue Christ not onely left vnto his children by forme of an expresse commandement but also taught and confirmed the same by the example of himselfe in the vnspeakable mysterie of Sacraments folke are taught better by example of doing then by words and such examples are alwayes to be drawne from the superiour to the inferiour They whom nature or order hath preferred in degrée before others will alwayes bee looked vppon for their examples which therefore had néede to bée good For that which is doone by example the inferiours will thinke they may lawfullie doe the like Good examples doe edifie and vpholde ill examples do destroy and confound Humanitie is taught by the lawe of Nature If parents by their example should teach the contrarie what do they else but indeuour to transfourme men into beasts beginning first to perfourme it in their owne children These will say they bée Christians and of the faithfull and yet Saint Iames saieth Fides sine operibus mortua est Faith without workes is dead They must shewe vs better examples to come from them towardes their children then colde friendship peruerting of order and sowing séedes of dissention in their owne house Good workes generallie tende towardes the clothing of the soules nakednesse but good workes in performing the will of GOD in our owne house may prooue a preseruatiue against the plague or poyson of imputient mindes or more rather remedy against the ruine of Soules descended in our owne osspring Pietie or godlines which is a vertue annexed vnto Iustice besides the fourth expressed Commandement compelleth children to loue and honour their Parentes their kindred and their countrey but yet Parents must not thinke themselues vntouched or vnbound by this commaundement séeing by a secondarie meanes the same willeth and inuiteth Parentes to honour and especiallie to regarde theyr children Which honouring or speciall regarding is to bée perfourmed of eche partie in heart worde and déede As for the loue of people at large it is to bée accounted as mutable as the faire weather or as permanent as the calmes of the Sea But the naturall and the kindelie loue of Parentes towardes their children is or ought to bee as constant and readie as we woulde wish to finde the lone and fauour of GOD towardes vs. Neyther can they folowe a better example giuer then Christ hymselfe who hath taught them to commende and bequeath loue vnto theyr Children for if there had béene anie thing more expedient hée woulde haue commended it vnto his Apostles and Disciples before this Neuer were more néedefull the Parentes examples of loue and well dooing then nowe séeing children finde them scarce to be had at the handes of others Pondus meum amor meus saieth Saint Augustine My waight is my loue And
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
did not much faile to verifie the diuine promise vttered in the ninth of the Prouerbs The innocent dealing of the iust shal lead or deliuer them but the vnfaithfulnes of the despisers shal be their ende or destruction The truth of the matter seemeth as open and euident as a werte in a mans face The persons be named the place is noted and none of these obscure CHAP. VIII That Stepmothers ought not to supplant or procure disheriting of their husbands eldest Sonnes DIonisius king of Cicill when he saw his mother who was well stept in yéeres to haue gotten hir an other husband and therby to bring her sobriety and former chast behauiour in question gaue forth this sentence vppon that action of her liking saying Truely my friends wee may violate and break the lawes of our countrey and perhaps escape vnpunished but my mother would break the law of nature and that is either impossible or inconuenient for her to doe But king Dionisius was not in the case to complaine of those euils and inconueniences which are wont to succéede of second mariages he stood not at his mother deuotion neither might it much preiudice him by her mariage onely he séemed to blame her for attempting to break the law of nature which is the firmest law by abandoning hir selfe to the flesh at those yéeres and by entring into a purpose that is wont to alienate naturall loue and to alter motherly affection changing them both perhaps for their cōtraries And to say the troth for the most part children haue not so much cause to dislike with their owne mothers second marying as with their fathers séeing by the dicease of the Father they haue that which pertaineth or they might looke for but not so when the mother departeth first For in that case there is a new worlde towards and a turning of al vpsice downe if the Father be not constant in obseruing the law of nature and prouident in auoiding such euils and hinderances as by another marrying are like to ensue to his present children Mulieris emulatio totam turbat domum saith Plautus the couetous and contentious endeuour of a Stepmother will make all his children sing woe and weale away she purposeth to bestow her time and night worke so well that she will raise vppe new plants and fruite that shall soone be ripe but in the meane time she wil be so bolde as to crop the others and to kéepe them as much as she can from any good increase ouer this at length perhaps vtterly to supplant and plucke them vp quite by the rootes But soft you dame stay the brilde a while and let mée looke if all be well for your surer sitting I wot a womans wisedom is for the most in her wil and her conscience in her cubbord I may graunt your vertue and honesty to be much but Ecclesiasticus saieth ther is no wickednes to the wickednes of a woman Are you maried I aske you because wée finde some mariages godly and some no more then honest some to bee wicked and some scarcely good some well approued and some no more then tollerable some bee Bigamy by marrying one woman and some marie twise for one wife but all men most confesse it is a badde matrimony that is not better then whoredome or fornication Can you loue your husbande and hate his children Can you honor him or vow to seeke his honesty by vndoing them Doe you perform the vow of your obedience when by all meanes you can you make him to obay and followe your iniurious will Are you a Christian by profession and yet in workes will shew your selfe worse then a Turke of Thrace or Constantinople that will not persecute Christian infants but nourish and bring them vp are you receiued to be endewed by the law and yet will wrastle to abuance your part with the spoile and impouerishing of them whom rather you are bound by honesty to defend To get as much as you can to your share by flattery and iniury this you say is your conscience and this is your counsell truly it is but a sory counsell and second conscience meete for a second marriage For there is another marriage to be preserred before yours and yet I acknowledge yours to bee lawfull and tollerable And that is the first marriage of the two single persons by the which is figured the vnion of Christ with the Church his spouse and therewithall signified the deuine loue comfort and faithfulnesse towards the same Which Church our Sauiour did sanctify and clense by his holy Sacraments in such wise as hee might haue it without spotte or wrinkle And if so pure and immaculate a thing be figured or signified by the first marriage it must follow that the same marriage is without spotte or reprehension which is more then the second may well bee assured of as may appeare by these reasons likelihoodes and allegations following To the first marriage did appertaine that Ecclesiasticall blessing which in a great part of Christiandome is vsed till this day the same alwaies being denyed to the second or third marriage And here I constantly beseech as many as would be counted professors or fauorers of truth abhorring to suppresse or deny it that they will beare with me in setting downe these few places of testimony being true from whence soeuer they come It is well knowne that for the most part both in the Latin Greeke church til this day in most places they admit not the holines of Ecclesiastical function any that hath marryed twice wherby he is called Bigamus and therefore reiected By the Councell of Neocesaria Can. 3. it was consulted vpon and decréed concerning those men who marry sundrie times and likewise of the women that marry sundry times tempus quidem penitentiae his constitutum manifestum est sed conuersatio fides eorum tempus abbreuiat Also by the same Councell Can. 7. it was decréede concluded and established for an vniuersall law That a priest ought not to bée present at the feast or bridale of the second or third marriage specially séeing he is commanded to enioyne repentance to the second marriage Quis ergo erit presbyter qui propter conuiuium illis consentiat nuptijs that is what priest then will for the feast or dinners sake séeme to consent vnto that marriage Saith the rest of the Canon Well we wil admit this to be true and that there is or hath bin such a precisenesse vsed but percase not meant altogether in derogation or disabling of the second marriage but rather to commend the first and to aduance the dignitie of ecclesiasticall orders S. Hierome in an epistle written to a Lady or gentlewoman whose name was Ageruthia hath these words Cum in semente terrae bonae centesimum sexagesimum tricesimum fructum Euangelia doceant centenarius pro virginitatis corana primū gradum teneat sexagenarius pro labore viduarum in secundo sit numero
tricenarius federa nuptiarum ipsa digitorum coniunctione testetur Digamia in quo erit numero imo extra numerum certè in bona terra non oritur sed in vepribus spinetis vulpium quae Herodiae impijssmae comparantur vt in eo se putet esse laudabilem si scortis melior sit si publicanorum victimas superet si vni sit prostituta non pluribus that is Whereas the Gospell teacheth or mentioneth of a hundred folde fruit sixtie folde and thirtie folde to come of the séede sowne in good ground and that the hundred folde helde the first and chiefe degrée for the crowne of virginitie the sixtie folde the second degrée for the labour and good worke of widowes the thirtie folde signifieth a rewarde for the true obseruing of matrimony made by ioyning hands The state of Digamie or such as marry twise in what degrée or number be they In déede they are in none séeing it groweth not in good grounde but in bushes and thornes which are compared to the wicked Herodias that might thinke her selfe laudable in this point if she be somwhat better thē they that be naught if she serue one mans turne not many Diuers sundry other proofs reasons likelihoodes might be brought that woulde shake and quasle the very foundation of a Stepdames ouer great reckoning and presumption but this shall suffice for this turne That which may be gathered of the aboue mentioned places of testimony if it be well considered and weighed in the ballance of a mans christen conscience I doubt not but that any father standing in this case of such as haue flexible hearts and be not ouermuch hardened will at the length haue both an outward and inward respect vnto the qualitie dignitie and preeminence of the first marriage and likewise the issue thereof yea and whatsoeuer he thinketh a while there is such a remorce to be had herein specialy if he haue iniured the first as wil make his pulses work and his heart to drop teares if that be enough Which remorce and remembrance of himself may be drawne and deriued euen from example and experience in our first fathers the patriarchs and faithfull seruants of God The Bishop of Wurmace Doctor Bourchard in his common places of the decrées and counselles Ecclesiastike alleadgeth this as the wordes of Saint Hierome Ebron dicitur esse ciuitas trium virorum c. Ebron is saide to be the Cittie of the thrée men because in the same were buried the thrée Patriarchs there in a double caue with theyr thrée wiues to wit Abraham and Sara Isaac and Rebecca Iacob and Lea. They had other wiues of whome appeares not the like regard but these were the first to whose ofspring the blessing was due and by whose fruitefulnes the heretage of the faithful and the faith it selfe was maintened and vpholden by propagation and spreading vnto the posteritie from whom we clayme Answerable to this Tobias said to his son Cum acceperit deus animam meam c. When GOD shall receiue my soule thou shalt bury my body and honour thy mother al the dayes of thy life and when she hath likewise accomplished her time thou shalt bury her harde by me in one sepulchre Saint Augustine hereuppon hath these wordes In primo connubio coniuncti quia vna eadem caro est in vno sepulohro sepeliantur They that in the first marriage be ioined togither forasmuch as they be one and the same flesh it is méet they be buried in one graue or sepulchre If the examples of the patriarks the counsel of the holy doctors do persuade and induce to bring the deceased fathers to their first spouses or the first espoused to them in burialles what should we gather hereof but perfection validitie and diuine allowing of the one weakenesse clement tolleration and scantie commending of the other With what conscience then may the woman of the second marriage iniure the first by a supplanting drift and indonour of hir part first rooting out all kindely good will that should come towards the son from his father and at length stripping him of the blessing birthright and heretage due by the right of laws nature and so great antiquitie Woulde she shrowde hir wicked working and wrong doing vnder the example of Rebecca defrauding Esau of the blessing due vnto the eldest sonne No she can not for that the cases bée not like Rebecca was the first wife and Esaus own mother and also it came of the will and prouidence of God since reuealed who knewe before what was néedefull to be done for the helpe of his Church the planting of his faith and the encrease of his glorie But as for the vsuall sorte of Stepdames I wote with what Spirite they be endowed and directed who can not so well chalenge to them the worthines mysticall vnion and right of the first marriage though they be called wiues Thē is she a wrong doer by the vniuersal law of cities matrons which saith locupletari nō debet aliquis cū alterius iniuria vel iactura no man nor womā ought inrich thēselues with the wrōg or losse of others But the diuine lawe whose sentence is most to be dreaded gyueth a harde construction and a more scuere iudgement against any Stepdame and hir complices in the lyke wrongfull action as appeareth in Ecclesi◠◠34 Who so depriueth his neighbour of his liuing dooth as great sinne as though hée slewe hym to death I trowe she will not deny hir husbands sonne to be hir neighbour very neare in this meaning Wherefore not to be ouer tedious in this point as ye haue heard before the sentence of the heauenlie King against the iniurious woman deliuered by the trump of the holy Ghost euen so let the iudgement of the earthlie Emperour Marcus Aurelius against the misaduised father be digested as a pleasant reprehension and profitable admonition which is thus He is a foole that taketh counsel of a woman he more foole that asketh it but he most foole that fulfilleth it CHAP. IX That disheriting of the eldest sonne is an acte verie wrongfull and vngodly ONe of the Romane Emperours though namelesse because he was vicious yet did he ordaine sundry lawes that imported great iustice and humanitie namely amongest the rest this one That no Romane whatsoeuer should cast out of his doores any seruant slaue horse or other beast were it but a dogge for olde age sickenesse or any infirmitie grounding and confirming his law with this reason that men serue from their youth to be succoured when they come to olde age Humanitie and Iustice are so vniuersally commendable and so particularly néedfull in the life of man that we may draw infinite examples of the obseruing due regard therof euen from Paynims infidels which is the losse to be maruelled at by this saying of Strabo Moriales maxime Deos imitantur quoniam benefici sunt All people doe followe the propertie and goodnesse