contrariwise 2 Kin. 4.14 it was a miserable blank in the Shunamites estate that she had no child 2 Kin. 20.3 And this is conceived to be one cause why Hezekiah melted into teares when he received the fatall message Even because he had no heire-male his Son Manasses being yet unborne And Abraham himselfe complaines of a great defect amidst all his fulnesse Gen. 15.2 Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childlesse And therefore there was a provision made in the judiciall Law Deut. 25.5 6. That if a man dyed without issue his brother should raise up seed unto him that so his name might be revived and kept alive in Israel Children are nothing else but Parents multiplied Bena Banah aedificavit est enim totius structura seu aedificatio parentum and do in some sense immortalize and perpetuate them especially Sons which have their name originally from a word which signifieth to build because they beare up the name and are a support to the Family Therefore the Church prayeth Psa 144.12 That our Sons may be as plants grown up in their youth that our daughters may be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a Palace When the Father dyeth the Child riseth up in his roome and so Parents have a kind of resurrection in their Children A fourth Reason may be this Reason 4 Scripture upon some accounts reckoneth up steriâ—ity and barrennesse as a curse And who is not utterâ—y unwilling to bespit in the face with a Curse Doubtlesse that may seeme a strange Petition the Prophet puts up in the peoples behalfe Give them O Lord Amos 9.14 what wilt thou give them Give them a miscarrying wombe and dry breasts Comparing it with the context you shall find so great is Ephraim's sin that the Prophet is almost ashamed to pray for such a people and seemes very doubting what he should pray for yet foreseeing the fearefull plagues that were to fall he supplicates a mitigation That rather than women with child should be ripped up by the enemy or they should bring forth to the slaughter and see as Zed kiah did their Children murdered before their eyes 2 King 25.7 he prayeth to God to make them barren A paralell place is that of David who in his great straight chose to fall into the hand of God 2 Sam. 24. rather than into the hand of men That is a lesser judgement rather than a greater And yet this was a sore one three daies pestilence by which there fell seventy thousand men Even so the Prophet as if he should have said O Lord this do I beg in behalfe of this people thou wilt thus much remit the stroke It is the lesser judgement of the two not to have children at all than after they are borne bred and growne to maturity to have them slaughtered and therefore seeing the decree is gone forth give give in mercy O Lord give this mitigation of barrennesse So that the Petition serves to aggravate the ensuing judgements It is a most miserable case when that which is in it selfe a curse is to be prayed for as a blessing Coniah's curse is thus threatned Write ye this man childlesse Jer. 22.30 I do not conceive Coniah dyed without issue Ver. 28. the contrary being apparent but that he had a curse which was equivalent to being childlesse and therefore very great for so it followeth in the next words A man that shall not prosper in his daies for no man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the Throne of David and ruling any more in Judah And this must not only be spoken but written Litera scripta manet Write ye this man childlesse as a notable judgement to be left on record to Posterity And this was Michals punishment for vilifying her husbands person Because she conceived contempt against him in her heart she never conceived child in her wombe Therefore saith the Text Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death That is 2 Sam. 6.23 she was punished with perpetuall barrennesse Doubtlesse among the Jewes want of children was a reproach both to man and woman This may be gathered from that of the Psalmist Psa 127.5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them viz. his Family well fraught with hopefull children which are those polished shafts they shall not be ashamed but they shall speake with the enemies in the gate 1 Sam. 1.6 Thus Hannah her Adversary provoked her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her wombe and she cals her barrennesse her affliction O Lord of hosts Ver. 11. if thou wilt indeed looke on the affliction of thine handmaid c. And Elizabeth being with child after a long time of sterility bespeakes her selfe on this wise Thus hath the Lord dealt with me Luk. 1.25 in the daies wherein he looked on me to take away my reproach among men I would not have any gracious heart stumble at this truth so as to hurt it selfe Good men and women may be destitute both of Children and Nephews And yet this is not so great an affliction to them because God comes in and makes up this want with a far more precious supply A worthy Grectan being mortally wounded by the Spartans a friend told him he much lamented that he dyed without Issue To whom he replied my famous victories are as so many children to renew my memory But here is more for if God have denied any of his the benefit of Children yet he hath given them a name better than of Sons and Daughters Isa 56.6 They are called the children of God Mat. 5.9 They have right and priviledge to become the Sons of God Joh. 1.12 And John speaks it with admiration Behold 1 Joh. 3.1 what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God! He that hath the Spirit of Adoption and is heaven-borne that can call God Father and speake to Christ as his brother and is allied to all the Saints shall find a fulnesse in this spirituall relation A name on earth how honourable soever is perishable But a name written in heaven shall never wither but flourish for ever It is no great matter to him or her that wants Children if they themselves be the adopted ones of God But to a wicked man it must needs be a curse because he hath nothing to make up this vacuum and relieve this want He that at once is both Childlesse and Christlesse too hath reason to weepe for his Children and not be comforted because they are not Reason 5 Last of all to touch the ultimate Period of this Point frequent it is for the first-borne to be the first Dolens profere and to fit highest in Parents esteeme And there is reason with due limitation it should be so Gen. 49.3
word It is very probable the Allegory of the wretched Infant was grounded upon some known custome Ezek. 16. Nay experience hath spoken how many poore Infants have tasted death from the cruell hands of their Strumpet-mothers who have twice dipped their soules in sin making amends for uncleannesse by committing murder But Such is the affection of Parents in the flesh that Scripture useth it as some short measure and scantling of the love of him who is the Father of Spirits to his adopted ones Psa 103.13 Like as a father pittieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that feare him Mal. 3.13 And I will spare them as a man that spareth his own Son that serveth him Surely none except Parents know or can be sensible how deare a child is Nay further when God would give a full and affectionate answer to his peoples lamentable but groundlesse complaint he corrects their distrust by this fit similitude Isa 49.15 Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her wombe Yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee O sweet comfort to Saints Parents which are otherwise of perverse natures yet they will not neglect their Children and is it possible that the Lord the fountaine of mercy should empty himselfe of his fatherly affection and neglect his people Quantò mollior sexus tenerior affectus Ambr. Duplex est causa physica moralis Weemes Great is the love of a Father but far more tender is the affection of a mother Hence it is rendred by some as one cause why God hath placed the womans dug in her breast That she might impart her affection more to her child by giving it suck with her dug which is so neare her heart The love which she beareth to the little one that she nourisheth and suckleth at her breast is almost unutterable What care doth she use What restlesse nights doth she endure Nay love to her little one maketh her cleane forget her selfe So neare are Children to Parents that they are called Children of their loynes and are said to proceed out of their bowels So said David of his vip'rous Son Absalom 2 Sam. 16. Behold my son which came firth of my bowels seeketh my life So that we may call our spirituall children Philem. 12. as Paul doth his spirituall Son Onesimus nostra viscera our bowels I read that upon a turbulent sedition in Thessalonica Theodosius commanded that seven thousand should be put to death A Merchant there having two Sons put into the Calender of those that should be executed their good old Father put up a supplication for his two Sons The Souldiers pittying him told him they could not save both for then the Emperours number would not be fulfilled but they would spare one choose which he would The poore Father almost like a distracted man looking rufully on both could not tell which to choose So that while he delayed both were slaine Thus the naturall mother though an harlot seeing her Child in danger to be divided 1 Kin. 3.26 her bowels were hot and yearned upon her Son And David about Absalom after all his unnaturall villany yet Absalom is a Child 2 Sam. 18. Deale gently for my sake with the young man even with Absalom and againe Is the young man Absalom safe And it is very observable in Job that he sate still and did abide the boisterous blasts of all those lossefull tidings as being not very much moved untill he heard of the death of his children But O then Children dead So soone as the report of this touched his eare it struck him to the heart Ten children in the morning and now a child esse man Oh now he startles now he stirs now the poore pale father is brought to his knees Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell downe upon the ground Other losses may go skin-deep but these go heart-deepe Children are unto Parents like unto Teeth painfull both in breeding and parting Reason 3 Thirdly Psal 49.11 It is most naturall to have an eye to the preservation of Posterity Although that ought not to take up our innermost thoughts This care we see not only in the reasonable creatures but in the unreasonable also yea even in birds of Prey and wild beasts who are yet carefull in this behalfe howsoever otherwise they be of cruell and animosious natures Psal 84.3 Thus the Sparrow finds her an house and the Swallow a nest for her selfe where she may lay her young Likewise the Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her young spreading abroad her wings taketh them and beareth them on her wings That is she carrieth them with such tendernesse and at such an height as none may reach them to do violence unto them Nay further see the force of natures instinct even the sea-monsters draw out the breast Lam. 4.3 they give suck to their young ones What piteous out-cries and cheating circuits makes the poore Lapwing And all is to divert the Passenger from her young So carefull are creatures to preserve the products of their own kind And this care must needs be more superlative in the reasonable Creature unlesse horribly degenerated Moreover God threatens this to a wicked man as a very great judgement to put out his light and expunge his name from among the living Job 18.16 17 19. As Bildad in Job very elegantly His roots shall be dried up beneath and above shall his branch be cut off His remembrance shall perish from the earth and he shall have no name in the street He shall neither have Son nor Nephew among his people nor any remaining among his dwellings And the Psalmist Psal 34.16 The face of the Lord is against them that do evill to out off the remembrance of them from the earth And againe Psa 109.13 Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following let their name be blotted out And Solomon threatens him not with a rotten house or body but a rotten name Pro. 10.7 The name of the wicked shall rot Marke shall rot The rot we say is an evill disease where ever it lights whether amongst herds or flocks But never so ill as when it lighteth on mens names or memories that either they are mentioned with disgrace as a rotten thing or not remembred at all Also God promiseth this to his people as a grand favour and great incouragement to obedience that he will multiply and keepe alive their off-spring Abraham the friend of God is blessed with a numerous Posterity like to the Sand upon the Sea shore or Stars of heaven It was no small piece of King Davids happinesse that he saw his Son Solomon sit upon the Throne of Israel before his death And that promise made unto Christ is one of the glorious things of the Gospell He shall see his seed Isa 53.10 And
none of the best even for the sakes of their godly Parents although long before deceased Read these places Gen. 26.24 1 Kings 11.12 32.34 1 King 15.4 2 King 8.19 2 King 19.34 Isa 37.35 Cap. 45.4 c. Not that I in the least impute these allaies of judgement and mixtures of mercy to the merit or worth of their Predecessors but to the promises of God made unto them who also endued them with care and good conscience to keep the condition annexed thereunto This is plaine out of Psal 89.20 forward And the Saints in their wrestlings with God have pleaded it as a strong Argument Thus Moses Exod. 32.18 and 2 Kings 13.23 So that in some cases the Child that is unborne may blesse God that he had a religious Father or Grandfather And if so ye may eftsoone guesse what is like to follow upon the contrary Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul saith David 2 Sam. 9.1 remembring his promise that I may shew him kindnesse for Jonathan's sake And afterwards thus saith he to Mephihosheth Feare not Ver. 7. for I will surely shew thee kindnesse for Jonanathan thy Fathers sake Even thus Children may receive much kindnesse from the King of heaven for their godly Parents sakes Surely a man may be either blessed or cursed not only personally but also in his posterity The blessings of Children are the blessings of Parents and Childrens punishments may be Parents punishments Psal 109. The Psalmist shews sufficiently in those his imprecations that wicked men are plagued in their Children Thus Cham was cursed in his Son Canaan marke the Text not cursed be Cham but cursed be Canaan Gen. 9.25 And contrariwise bounty and kindnesse to Solomon is called bounty and kindnesse to David his Father 1 Kin. 3.6 And Joseph was blessed from his Father in his two Sons Manasseth and Ephraim So saith the Text He blessed Joseph how did he blesse him Gen. 48.15 16. The Angell which redeemed me from all evill blesse the Lads Object But Scripture tels us Ezek. 18.20 Gal. 6.5 The Son shall not beare the iniquity of the Father But every man shall beare his own burden I answer Sol. Here is no contradiction for 1. The Proposition is most true if it be taken away by regeneration 2. The Son shall not beare it in reference to eternall punishment Ver. 4. The soule that sinneth it shall dye God will never send a Child to hell for the Parents sin 3. Neither as I conceive shall the iniquity of the Father devolve upon the Child except he imitate his Fathers iniquity But ye must know 1. Children are Parents goods as is plaine in the case of Job which may justly suffer loss for the owners sake 2. Children are as it were a part of Parents so that when they are punished Parents are punished and this is a more cutting Corrasive and torment to Parents 3. Parents sin is ost a cause of Childrens fin For God in his just judgement may curse a wicked mans Posterity by leaving them to themselves Mat. 23.32 that so they may fill up the measure of their Fathers And when the Child hath not only sins which belong to his owne individuall person but also revives his Fathers by approbation and imitation then the sin is made his own As a man catching the plague dyeth of his own disease wherever he had the infection So that we Object may conclude Children are very proclive to tread in Parents steps And when they appeare to be their Children not only naturally but morally In such case it is usuall for the jealous God To visit the iniquities of the Fathers upon the Children to the third and fourth Generation of them that hate him Now Fathers and Mothers be not as Zipporah once said bloody Parents For your Childrens sake looke to your selves That none of yours when you are dead and in your graves may have cause to curse your dead ashes say Woe alas that ever I was born the wretched Child of so unworthy a Parent See to your God Disobedience to the most High will render you very unnaturall and unmercifull to your Children Sinning Parents do what they can to make their Children miserable It was Sampsons Plea unto his Charge for firing the Philistines Corne Judg. 15.11 As they did unto me so have I done unto them Beloved take heed how ye deale with God Psal 18.26 With the froward he will shew himselfe froward Lev. 26. If ye walk contrary unto him then will he also walk contrary unto you If ye provoke him whom you ought to love most he will bereave you of that which ye love most If ye have one Child dearer to you than another by one meanes or other he will deprive you of it If ye love your Children love your God If ye desire to keep them keep in with God he gave and he can take away at pleasure The best way to keep our Children is to serve him who gave us our Children See to your Children That ye carefully performe those Parentall Offices towards them which God in Scripture calls for at your hands We shall particularize some of the prime viz. First then Let Patents have a care they do not provoke their children This the Apostle prohibits most plainly Eph. 6 4. And ye Fathers provoke not your Children to wrath And againe Col. 3.21 Fathers provoke not your children to anger Some Copies adde above what is fitting So that Parentall power hath its limits Docter Davenant observes Davenant an Colos that Parents may abuse their authority and provoke their children severall waies 1. By denying them necessaries which by the Law of God and nature they ought to afford them according to their power As food raiment c. A sin so foule as the Apostle blusheth not one bit to say 1 Tim. 5.8 Such a one hath denied the faith and is worse than an Infidell 2. By burdening their Children with wicked and unjust commands Such was that of Saul 1 Sam. 20.31 when he commanded his Son Jonathan to fetch his innocent friend David that he might be slaine 3. Parents may irritate and provoke their Children when they do passionately and undeservedly affect them with contumeâ—ious and disgracefull language And thus Jonathan in his Fathers rage is called Ver. 30. Son of the perverse rebellious woman Reproachfull Language leaves a sting behind it very difficult to be endured 4. And lastly by immoderate chastisement Which is when the grievousnesse of the punishment exceeds the greatness of the crime Thus the same Saul casts a Javelin at his own Son for defending innocent David whereupon the Text saith Ver. 33. Jonathan arose from thetable in fierce anger And it is too ordinary for fathers of the flesh to chasten their children according to their own pleasure The reason which the Apostle annexeth to this prohibition is Lest they
13.26 Against me Against whom Job who or what are you Be pleased to take Gods own testimonie if heavens witnesse may passe I passe A perfect and upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evill Cap. 1.8 Nay further One that speakes of God the thing that is right and is accepted of God in prayer Cap. 47.7 8. both for himselfe and others and yet He writeth bitter things against me We find in that Golden Psalme Psal 60.3 where David personates the Church she thus bespeakes God Thou hast shewed thy people hard things thou hast made us to drinke the wine of astonishment Indâ— Pallor membrorum vino madentium tremor Senec. or trembling It is an allusion to men addicted to drunkennesse the effect of which being long practised oftentimes ends in a continuall and habituated trembling Thou hast mingled us such a bitter potion of providence as possesseth us with a Palsie making us to tremble in every joynt to reele to and fro and stagger like drunken men And this thou hast done not to strangers but to thine own people We must needs yeeld that Zion is the Mountaine of Gods Holinesse Psal 48. beautifull for scituation the joy of the whole earth the City of the great King and God is known in her Palaces for a refuge That she is the Orbe wherein God appeares glorious to the Sons of men Out of Zion Psal 50.2 the perfection of beauty God hath shined Psal 76. Nobile illustre nomen propter inaudita miracula That it is the Theater upon which God comes forth to act his terrible and wonderfull workes In Judah is God known his name is great in Israel In Salem is his Tabernacle and his dwelling place in Zion There brake he the Arrows of the Bow the Shield and the Sword and the Battell And the Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his Habitation This is my rest for ever Psal 132. here will I dwell for I have desired it And yet the Daughter of Zion sits down weeping by the Rivers of Babylon bemoaning her selfe in this Language and blubbering out her complaint thus I am in bitternesse Lam. 1.4 And againe Cap. 3.5 He hath builded against me and compassed me with gall and travell And Verse 15. He hath killed me with bitternesse he hath made me drunken with wormwood And Verse 19. I remember my affliction and my misery the wormwood and the gall Here I stop I might be endlesse Having thus seen the truth of this Conclusion let us in the next place make some enquirie when and in what cases God may be said to deale very bitterly with his beloved ones which we may mainly demonstrate in these following particulars viz. When God smites in with an affliction Job felt the least finger of Gods hand far heavier than all his other massie and multiplied Crosses Job 6.4 The arrows of the Almighty are within me the poyson whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrours of God do set themselves in aray against me And it was not so much Babylonish Captivity as the apprehension of Gods displeasure that so deeply wounded the Churches heart Lam. 3.3 Surely against me is he turned he turneth his hand against me all the day As the love of God is better to a soule than the best things of this world Corne Psal 4.7 and Wine and Oyle nay better than life it selfe Psal 63 6. So the displeasure of God is worse than the worst things in this life nay than death it selfe One frown from God is more grievous than all the smiles in the world are joyous Eph. 6.12 The Apostle saith We wrestle not against flesh and bloud but against principalities against powers c. Whence I infer if it be so terrible to have the powers of hell how dreadfull is it then to have the powers of heaven engaged against us Here is God and not Man Spirit and not flesh It was once Eli's disswasive Argument to his Sons 1 Sam. 2.25 If one man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall entreate for him In our contendings with men we may have Seconds but who dare joyne issue with us against God Man may deale it out with man nay in the strength of Christ man with devils But who can stand before Omnipotencie Psal 38.2 Thine Arrows stick fâ—st in me and thine hand presseth me sore This is very bitter Hidden afflictions When God hides from a soule the particular cause of an affliction Psal 42. Why art thou cast down O my soule and why art thou disquieted in me It was no little aggravation of Rebekah's trouble when she had those struglings in her wombe that she knew not the reason And therefore she goes to enquire of the Lord Gen. 25.22 Why am I thus Foelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas A disease found out is halfe cured but till then very hopelesse Alas saith the poore soule if I knew the speciall and particular cause why God so and so testifieth against me I would remove it that the effects might cease But seeing I am ignorant of this What hope I may walke in bitternesse all my daies Inward afflictions Such as are not only skin-deep but heart-deep Sinking down to the soule and weighing upon the Spirit These are very heavy and bitter For as those joyes which are kindled in the heart by the Holy Ghost are unspeakable So those afflictions which wound the soule and dart the conscience are intollerable Pro. 18.14 The spirit of a man will sustaine his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can beare Not huge Atlas himselfe Corporis vita statumen est anima animae columen est Deus Cart. in loe No Herbalist could ever yet shew me amongst all those varieties of simples in nature the medicine that cureth a wounded soule No no in this all are Physicians of no value None can do it but the balme in Gilead and the Physician there Sudden afflictions are much disgusted and become very bitter When afflictions give us a surprize like a whirlewind or storme at Sea When we have our eye upon one point or quarter and afflictions come in at another Our expectations are from one end evils come in at another When they throng in at our back-doores then and there as we never expected them Suddennesse or unawares contributes very much to the bitternesse of afflictions Thus the wicked are threatned Pro. 1.27 that their destruction shall come as a whirlewind And Moab to be destroyed in a night Isa 15.1 And this renders Christ's comming to judgement more terrible That he will come as a Thiefe in the night suddenly and unexpectedly It is reported that the Basilisk and Man shoot such venenation at each other from the eye at a distance that whether hath priority of aspection is destructive to the other