his power And therefore in that day of vengeance the works of darknesse shall be brought to light 1 Cor. 4.5 Isa 2.17 and the loftinesse of man shall be brought low and they who were on earth inflamed with lust 1 Cor. 6.9 shall smart for ever in the flames of hell unless with tears of repentance they quench these fires of concupiscence and with water drawn out of the wells of salvation quench those otherwise everlasting burnings Isa 2.3 Isa 33.14 But to return to my purpose I mentioned before the dreadfulness of the examples in this kind recorded in Scripture and verily when I read the Polygamy of Lamech a murtherer I wonder not but considering the polygamy of the Patriarchs of David and the licentious excess of Solomon I stand amazed at their irregularity Gen. 4.19 and Gods connivance and longanimity When I read the incest of Absalom and Herod I wonder not but when I think of Lot Judah and the incestuous Corinthian my soul trembles We count their condition sad 1 Cor. 5 1 2 c. B. Halls Contempl. l. 10. p. 182 who vow a single life and enter themselves under sinfull and needless bonds of perpetual virginity as the cloystered Nuns among the Papists and theirs yet sadder who by the rigour of unwise parents Perkins Case of cons l. 2. c. qu. 3. p. 89 Judg. 11.36 37. or by some remediless accident are kept all their life from marrying as was the daughter of Jephtah and others whose conditions are represented in sacred story as most sad and deplorable But they are most generally pitied and lamented of all who desiring to possess their vessels in sanctification and honour are surprized by some lecherous villain ravished and defloured A judgement a sometimes threatned in Scripture Psal 78.63 Isa 13.16 Lam. 5.11 Zech. 14.2 as a fruit of Gods greater indignation against that people whom he thus leaves to the licentious power of barbarous enemies See the places in the margine Yet I count them most miserable who having yielded their bodies to venereous abuses in their youth are with child by whoredom and are either disappointed of marriage with their wicked lover or marry not till their shame appears For who can expresse their manifold feares cares and sorrows one while perhaps they hide their sin as long as they can but still while they muse a fire burns within them and they feel the pangs of an accusing conscience before they feel the pangs of their travel Unlesse their hearts be harder then the nether milstone which if it be their misery is the greater Sometimes they contrive wayes of preventing its birth by wicked adventuring on such expulsive receipts as may prevent their shame Or perhaps they are plodding how to make away the infant as soon as it is born or at best to expose it secretly that the Parish may keep it Or if it be safely born and the parent acknowledge it yet while it lives 't is an (a) Bishop Halls contempl lib. 10. p. 162. indelible monument of their infamous transgression For which cause (b) Engl. Annot. on Gen. 19.36 even for their future shame God suffers unlawfull commixtions to take effect I could willingly have enlarged on this point and given exhortations warnings and directions to women in this sad condition but perceiving that my little treatise begins to swell beyond my expectation I shall pretermit it for the present intending if God will to write distinctly and purposely of that subject because I know not of any that hath done it only what I have already said may give just occasion to chast virgins to pray for the gift of continency and to honest women when with child to praise God for preserving them from the sin and misery aforementioned and granting them conception by their own husbands in the comfortable estate of Matrimony For we have all alike wicked hearts and therefore ought to give glory to God 1 Cor. 4.7 who onely makes us to differ 3. Though it be a choice mercy yet it is not to be interpreted as a sure token of Gods love No man knowes Gods love or hatred by any external comforts They are distinguished alike to the good and bad to the just and to the unjust (a) Lud. vives in Aug. de Civ Dei l. 15. c. 8. A learned man reports of a town in Spain consisting of a hundred families all inhabited by the seed of one old man then living so that the youngest knew not what to call him the Spanish tongue having no expression higher then the great Grandfathers Father To reckon up the numerous issue of some prolifical parents mentioned in profane Histories is as needless as easy Scripture also doth abundantly satisfie in this Psa 17.14 that the wicked also are full of children so that outward blessings do not alway make a blessed man (b) Spencers things new and old p. 107. But lest they should be accounted evil God sometimes gives them to his people and lest they should be accounted our chief good he sometime bestows them upon the wicked 4. I cannot see how those women can be mindfull of the mercy of God in granting them conception that (a) Quid est hoc contra naturam imperfectum ac dimidiatum matrem genus peperisse statim abjecisse aluisse in utero sanguine suo nescio quid quod non viderit non alere autem nunc suo lacte quod videat jam viventem jam hominem jam matris officia implorantem c. Aul. Gell. noct Atr. lib. 12 cap. 1. either refuse without necessary impediment to nurse their children themselves or count many children a burden and are therefore grieved if having many children already they find themselves with child again Doth not (b) 1 Cor. 11.14 Lam. 43. even nature teach us that the sea-monsters draw out their breasts and give suck to their young doth not the Lion with infinite pains and hazard seek prey for his young ones doth not the Halcyon sit close on her egs (c) Vliss Aldrovandi Ornithol l. 20 Plin. nat hist lib. 20. cap. 32. and while the weather holds fair ply their nourishment with all diligence whence good dayes are called Halcyon days Is this therefore their thankfulness to God for so great a mercy to refuse to embrace in their arms and nourish at their breasts the fruit of their womb when God joyned the blessings of the breast and the blessings of the womb together (d) Charon of wisdom lib. 3. cap. 14 p. 4 8. Doth the God of Nature make Ladies and Gentlwomen without breasts or doth he give them breasts in vain or will they immodestly go with naked breasts and yet be ashamed to use Is it not a prodigie in nature Rom. 1. Isa 49.15 Ps 131.2 Exod. 2.9 Mat. 2.11 to see a woman without breasts and is it not as foul a defect to be without natural affection what greater soloecism
in manners then for a woman to forget her sucking child verily this makes some of our proudest Dames more vile then the beasts that perish And therefore let all persons of honour cease hereafter to glory in their shame and let them think it their duty when God makes them mothers to make themselves nurses imitating the example of Sarah who though a Lady of great (a) Engl. Annot. on Gen. 11. esteem riches and honour though aged and weak yet refused not this motherly office And they that upon any account but plain necessity i.e. want of strength or milk do neglect this duty whether for laziness lust pride or loving the fashion more then their children they deserve that God should curse them with a miscarrying wombe and dry breasts Hos 9.14 But there is another folly too common and that is if they have a great charge of children already to wish and resolve to have no more and to be cast down with grief and anxious care if they find themselves with child again Alas what is this but to repine at Gods mercies and to murmure at his blessings what greater dishonour can we put upon the Word of God Ps 127.5 which sayes Happy is he that hath his quiver full of them Besides who knows but that this last child may be an eminent instrument to Gods glory a vessel of use in his generation and a blessing to the whole family But so much for the first point That it is a mercy to be with child CHAP. II. Prayer The duty of women with child I Have been longer then I intended on the first Chapter to prove that it is a mercy for women to be with child I shall endeavour to be more brief in the things following which are the severall duties that pertain to women in that estate If they make any conscience of fitting themselves for their travell or would have any hope of Gods assistance therein I shal desire them to give heed to the Scripture-rules here gathered by my serious care for their direction and consolation And I shall begin with that which they must begin with go on with and end with Dr. Gonge of domest duties tr 6. p. 580. and that is Prayer And seeing there be many requisites that concur to render a prayer acceptable I shall instance in some few and pass by the rest which are many and are largely handled by other Authors You must be carefull to direct your prayers to the right object that is to the whole Trinity To God the Father in the name of Christ by the assistance of his Spirit (a) Perkins cas of consc lib. 2. c. 4. q. 1. Not but that on some occasions it is both lawfull and proper to invoke the second or third person of the trinity but usually we are to aske of the Father in the name of Christ and to such asking is his promise made But that which I chiefly aime at is to warne you to call upon God onely (b) Cobbets treat of prayer Part 3. ch 12. p. 541. Mat. 28.19 Joh. 16 23. and not upon any Saint or Angel as the manner is is among Idolatrous Papists whose devotions are divided among so many Saints that 't is no easy matter to reckon their meer nāes Let it suffice us that this their folly hath nothing of warrant from the Scripture but is meerly derived (c) Perkins ubi supra c. 6. qu. 1. § 2 from the practice of those vile heathens who not liking to retaine God in their knowledge became vain in their imaginations (d) Aug. de Civ Dei l. 8. c. 18.21 lib. 9. c. 9.17 As the Ethnicks had several Gods and Goddesses appropriated to several Countries sciences callings and diseases so have the papists assigned a particular Saint for all occasions (e) Dr. Beard of Antichrist tr 2. part 3 c. 3. p 340 341. c. Lucina was called upon by the Heathens to give deliverance from the pains in child-birth and the Papists have given this office of chief midwife to St. Margaret (f) also Nascio Partunda Aegeria and many more Rosses view of all religions § 4. pag. 126 And the better to colour the business they tell us a story in theirs Legenda aurea which with many other of like credit were taken out of that lying Greeke Simeon Metaphrastes that this St. Margaret suffering Martyrdom under Dioclesian (g) Medes apostacy of the latter times p. 129. 130. as she was preparing to die prayed to God that whosoever should worship the Tabernacle of her Body and build an oratory in her name and therein offer spiritual sacrifice yea that who should read or remember her name might have remission of sin and deliverance from all evill with much more to the same purpose And presently there was a great Earthquake and the Lord Himself with a host of holy Angels standing by her said to her be of good cheere and feare not for I have heard thy prayers I have fulfilled and will in due time fulfill whatsoever thou hast asked even as thou hast asked it But if this Goddesse be not sufficient yet they have their Lady Mary for an universal mediatrix to whom they without the least shame of their wretched blasphemy attribute as much as to God the Father and Jesus Christ as may be seen by their many fragments of prayers to her in their missals rosaryes and our Ladyes Psalter And lest any should doubt of present help from the Virgin they tell many wicked unclean stories of her not fit to be transcribed and among the best this is one (a) Vincent hist lib. 7. c. 86. That a holy Abbesse notwithstanding her vow and pretence of chastity was as the manner is in their unneryes got with child and the Virgin Mary came and plaid the midwife for her and sent the bastard by two Angels to a certain hermite to be brought up (b) witness the Anatomy of the English Nunnery at Lisbone in Portugal p. 1. Sure this bastard had good luck to escape the common cruelty of those Nuns who use for the most part to kill and then to convey into some secret place their base-borne infant But I hope the very naming of these foul absurdities will alienate any Christian heart from praying to St. Mary or St. Margaret in this or any other extremity but rather let them resolve with the woman of Canaan to come to Christ Of whom (a) Vshers Answ to the Irish Iesuit p. 416. Epiphan har 78. Chrysostome observes three or four times that she came to Christ without any mediator and had a happy answer And b another Ancient reckons the worship of the blessed Virgin or any other Saints a doctrine of devils Sure it is that the Son of God who hath one Will and one Essence with the Father and whom God heareth alway John 14.13 ch 16.16.13.24 hath graciously authorised us to aske in his name with exceeding great and
godly women when with child YOu that have tasted the goodness of the Lord and have given up your selfe to him must upon this occasion sequester your self awhile from all the incumbrances of secular affairs and deny your self of the usual attendance of any company and entring into your chamber shut the door and give attendance to these things Commune with thy own heart Ps 4.4 77.6 and let thy spirit make diligent search after those secret sins that yet lurk in thy bosome rub up thy memory of former sins even those committed in the dayes of thy ignorance and vanity remember the wormwood and gall I mean how sin was to thee upon thy first conversion Lam. 3.40 Prov. 20.27 remember thy relapses any time since into sins formerly confessed and bewailed and consider thy unfruitfulness and unsuitable returns to God for his rich mercy in Christ how little thou hast adorned his Gospel but rather rendered Godliness less amiable by thy frequent miscarriages In a word examine thy senses members thoughts and inward parts of all their several evils and renew thy repentance in that serious and humble manner the Lord requires For your sins are in some respects more provoking to God than the wickednesse of the wicked More dishonourable to his name more grievous to his holy Spirit more displeasing to the good Angels more advantageous to the evill Angels more scandalous to the world and more unbeseeming your principles and heavenly hopes Therefore as David having sinned against God Recordari vol o tranactas fóeditates meas carnales corruptiones animi non quòd eas amem sed ut amem te Deus meus Augustin in Confess lib. 2. c. 1. wrote many penitentiall Psalms and shed many a tear day and night And Solomon having finned foulely after God had appeared to him wrote his recantation and penitentiall review of his life in the Book of Ecclesiastes And the woman after she was pardoned washed our Saviours feet with her teares and spent as histories tell us many years after in bewailing her sins So go you and do likewise remembring the holy Apostle who sometimes shames himselfe for the sins of his unconverted estate sometimes bewails the remainders of corruption that abode within him And renew also your resolutions of better obedience and more circumspect walking in all manner of conversation Chide your heart for its deceitfullnesse charge your soul to be more mindfull of the vows of God that are upon you Double upon your selfe all possible obligations to recover what you have lost and to stir up in you those things that are ready to dye Thus you should persevere in the work of confession lamentation and supplication till you find some such answerable effect in your heart as may assure you that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Cor. 15.58 As our book of Martyrs relates of that famous Martyr Mr. John Bradford that he could not leave a duty till he had found communion with Christ in the duty i. e. till he had brought his heart into a more holy frame He could not leave Confession till he had found his heart touched broken and humbled for sin nor Petition till he had found his heart taken with the beauty of the things he desired nor could he leave Thanksgiving till he had found his spirit enlarged and his soul quickened in the return of praises (a) Nunquam abs te absque te recedo Bernard Medit. Like that of devout Bernard who saith of himselfe that he never went away from God without God This is indeed the genius of every Saint who have known by experience how good t is for them to draw nigh to God And you have surely found God in the duty if you find your heart more out of love with your selfe and the world more humbled for sins past more afraid of every appearance of evil for the future and more delighting in all those duties that may promote your graces and weaken your corruptions in you But remember that the duties of humiliation confession supplication must be therefore delighted in because they leade us to God And then do we serve him aright when we have learned to delight not in our services but in God Wherefore raise your heart to that heavenly frame of thank fulnesse and praise to God Rev. 19.5 Luk. 2.13 for the eternall contrivances of his wisdome and purposes of grace in giving Jesus Christ Psal 33.1 for the fulnesse of his promises the freenesse of his covenant the sufficiencie of his word the blessed operations of his Spirit the transforming power of his grace Yea let all that is within you blesse his holy name for pardon of sin Psal 103.1 2 3. Psal 139.14 Rev. 15.3 for all other benefits whether deliverances from evill or giving you any thing that pertains to life and godlinesse for any good hope through grace of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled 1 Peter 1.3 4 5. reserved in the heavens for you to which you are kept by the power of God And really when I consider that the whole world lyes in wickednesse I cannot but praise God in your behalf who hath called you out of darknesse into his marvellous light and numbred you among the faithfull The Lord adde to your number inable you by cheerfull and thankfull submission to Christs easy yoke to shew forth his praises Another good step towards your preparation for death would be not onely to get a heart truly penitent for sin and thankfull to God 1 Cor. 13.1 2 3 4.8.13 Col. 3.14 1 Tim. 2.15 1 Pet. 4.8 2 Pet. 1.7 Rev. 2.19 but also charitable towards all men that is to be of an inoffensive and courteous disposition to the wicked affectionate to the godly and compassionate to the needy But I meane especially this last of having bowels of mercy to them that be in want which by way of eminency is commonly called Charity as charity in the Greek is called grace Implying that there is no grace without charity no evidence of the truth of our charity without liberality For t is utterly a fault among many rich Ladies and gentlewomen who yet professe religion that they care not what they lay out in foolish gaming immodest dresses exotick garments c. But as if God had no right in any of their wealth they are loath to understand the duty of charity or to part with any thing considerable to pions uses except some small matter to them whom they cannot for shame deny ◠Tim. 6.17 18. Now the Apostle hath directed us to charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches but in God that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to commucicate laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life Let this full Scripture serve instead