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
plentifull are Histories of the ancient practices of many Nations especially the Romans in appropriating the office of chief Priest to their Kings and Emperours as an honour not befitting any meaner person Yea among Christians the Prince of Anhalt and other persons of honour have ambitiously accepted and happily performed the Ministerial Office And no doubt but one reason why the Ministry is of no higher esteem is because divers selfish needy persons seek the Priesthood meerly for maintenance and so are tempted by their indigency to unsuitable courses and dishonourable shifts and are uncapable of being so beneficent as they would or should be and also are the less regarded because extracted from the meanest of the people And no doubt this is one reason why the Nobility and Gentry are more feared then loved more envied then esteemed because they mind their own honour but not at all the honour of God they love their â—ase their pomp their lusts and excess of riot but as for the tranquillity or atility of the Church they are meer Gallio's Just it is with God that they should be of mean parts and illiterate Ign oramusses as many of them are seeing if they had eit her parts or learning they would scorn to employ them for the service of God in his Church Therefore till I can hear or imagine any reason to the contrary I shall here propose it as a thing commendable in any person of quality be they never so great to entertain such thoughts in their minds of devoting their child to God as did Hannah And I doubt not but if any of them who are less mancipated to the common follies would cease a while to idolize themselves and suffer reason and conscience to speak 2 Cor. 8.8 they would consider better of it But this I speak not by commandement And therefore it is not a Precept but a counsel Much less should any be so far besotted with Popish perswasions or Jesuitical delusions as to think a child not dedicated to the Lord unless it be dedicated to a Monastick life Though Sampson Judg. 13.5 while yet in the womb was appointed to be a Nazarite yet not by his parents choice but by the command of the Angel Therefore let them onely take such a course as have the like warrant Well then by dedicating it to God I mean that which is the indispensable duty of all Christian parents viz. partly in purposing while the child is yet in the womb that if it safely enter into the land of the living and come to years of maturity they will use all possible endeavors that it may be the Lords Eph. 6.5 by bringing it up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord partly by serious prayers to God in its behalf that it may be separated to him from the womb Thus I say should every mother beg of God that as it is mine by nature so it may be thine by grace that as I have received from thee so thou wouldst be pleased to accept my dedication of it to thee again Some women have such prayers and purposes when their travel fills them with pain and threatens them with danger but if once delivered they mind them no more Wherefore let your duty herein take an earlier date that it may make better impression in your heart And assure your self if you thus purpose and desire that your child may be set apart for God and become holy to the Lord it shall be with you as with David 2 Sam. 7.12 13 14 15. he dedicated much for the Temple and purposed to build an house for God though he lived not to accomplish his desire yet he lived in his son and was blessed with a Solomon who did afterwards happily accomplish it so I say Whether you live or not yet because it is in your heart as soon as ever the child was in your womb to devote it to the Lord this is doubtless thank-worthy with him you shall be blessed in your posterity Ps 35.13 and your prayes shall return into your own bosome For either your child shall live long in the land and enjoy the fruit of your early prayers or enter with you into Heaven where you shall enjoy him in glory for ever having your joy herewith augmented that God took him so soon CHAP. VIII Care of her own health the duty of a woman with child THough care of the body may seem to be a matter of so small moment as scarce to deserve a chapter by it self yet the truth is it is a duty of so great concernment that it must not be excluded but distinctly considered by child-bearing women Certain we are that life and health must be reckoned among those talents which God doth intrust them with Because the health of the body contributes much to perfect all operations of the mind but women with child have a far greater reason to be mindful of their health viz. not onely for their own sakes but the good of the infant that is yet unborn If therefore some grave Authors have thought it necessary Charon of Wisdome that the Father himself should observe divers rules of temperance both in body and mind if he expect towardly and comely children Magirus Phys How much more requisite is it that the mother who contributes far more to the body and disposition of the child then the Father because the child for many moneths receives such nourishment as the womb where it lies affords I say how much more doth it concern her to use all possible caution and discretion to keep her self in a healthy and well-ordered plight that she may afford the better nutriment to the fruit of her womb I question not but their care herein is as effectual to the strength of their child as the warmth of the Sun and inriching the soil is to any fruit And as fruit that ripens kindly is gathered the easier and comes off without tearing the branch on which it grows so the child the more strength it receives from the mother as the root and the more vigorous it grows by all additional helps the easier and speedier will its passage into the world be Dr. Gouge of Domest Duties p. 516. This is one reason say Expositors if not the chief reason why the Angel layes so strict a charge upon the wife of Manoah when she was with child with Sampson to abstain from wine and strong drink because he was to de a Nazarite and therefore must not have his temper and constitution infected with a natural liking to that which he was prohibited the use of By which you may perceive what influence the meat drink desires and delights of the mother have upon the future disposition of the child Wherefore learn it as a special duty to forbear all excess in meats and drinks use no violent recreations take no needless journies incumber not your body with much labour nor your mind with much anxious care sorrow and
well I could relate sad instances of some whom I have known who after the commission of some foul sin have in my presence expressed as credible serious repentance as ever I could desire yea have to my seeming been in utter despair for the present so that I have been not a little troubled to get them to believe that their sins were pardonable and their souls not past remedy when at last they began to apprehend any hope they have upon a sudden ere I was aware made vows Never more to come near such and such companions and places of temptation yea have also seconded these their vowes with immediate earnest prayer to God in secret for his assistance and yet have to my knowledge risen from their knees and gone immediately to the same wicked practice and been as deeply plunged as before and then been in the same trouble again make the like vows again and relapsed in like manner again This I say I have known and seriously considering of the matter I cannot assign any other cause thereof then this That those vowes were unwarrantable Tileni syntag disp 43 in tertium praeceptum p. 267. and God would not be intreated to give his blessing to that for which he had never given his command For though in the Old Testament there is as clear examples of paying Vowes as of offering a Sacrifice yet in the New Testament he who commissioned his Ministers to teach us to observe whatsoever he had cōmanded though he is graciously pleased to condescend to many particulars that might seem of less concernment yet gave no instruction to his Apostles or Ministers to prescribe making Vowes as a help to holiness or a remedy against sin or temptation So that unless it were agreeable to his will it will hardly conduce to his glory Besides when we vow any thing it must be either a thing commanded and necessary or uncommanded To vow to do a thing commanded of God is needless For his command layes a greater obligation upon us already And if the thing vowed be uncommanded then it is not necessary and consequently it must be dangerous to lay our selves under a necessity of doing that which our great Law-giver never made necessary For this vow of unnecessary things must be either absolute or conditional An absolute vow layes us under the snare of impossibilities yea under the danger of sin a conditional vow carries with it the danger of inconstancy such vows being seldome held of much force because circumstances may so often vary that they may quickly seem discharged of their vowes As for instance Suppose you make a vow If God shall recover you to give so much to the poor to read so many chapters a day to pray so often or the like This is an absolute vow And now if Providence render it impossible to give so much without great prejudice to your family-necessities or to read or pray so often without danger of your health or omitting some more necessary and seasonable good in this case you cannot possibly keep your vow without sin If your vow be conditional to give so much if you can spare it to read and pray so much if you have leisure and strength this is needlesly vowed for you are already bound by your vow in Baptism and by the common bonds of Religion to give what you can to the poor and to serve God with all your might and to redeem your time for him And t is better to doe what we do for God out of consciencious obedience to his Law then out of superstitious observation of voluntary vows For who hath required this at your hands Perkins cas of cons lib. 2. c. 1. qu. 2. page mihi 97. The Papists do exceed all other Sects in variety of Religious vows not onely abounding in the use of them but in the grossest abuse making vows of Continency regular obedience c. to be meritorious above all other good works commanded in the morall Law The very naming of such bold impiety is sufficient to render it ridiculous to all that have the Law of God written in their hearts Wherefore to conclude this businesse of vows I say with a (a) B. Hals contemplat lib. 10. p. mihi 173. reverend Author speaking of the unhappy vow of Jephta The conscience shall never find peace in any way but that which we see before us and which we know safe both in the kind and circumstances There is no comfort in Peradventure I may please God Therefore be very cautelous of making any vows and seriously consider and candidly accept my opinion herein that the safest way is to let them alone But now t is time to shew you what I do mean by these Religious purposes I mean that you should consider seriously how defective you have been in prosecution of those Religious ends that the Gospel and your holy profession doth mind you of and that you would firmly purpose and resolve with your selfe to endeavour to do more for God than yet you have done As for instance suppose your resolutions be of avoiding some evil or some occasion or appearance of evill or somthing that doth hinder that which is good as to resolve supposing you are by your quality concerned herein to abridge your selfe of some of your gallantry to be more frugall in your apparell and not to be a slave to the people of this Generation nor to follow every ridiculous and apish fashion of this World 1 Tim. 2.9.10 To spend lesse time in your tedious deessing and trimming every morning and to redeem some of it Exod. 38.8 for the beholding your sins in the glasse of the Law and Christ in the glasse of the Gospel that you may trim your soul and adorn it after the likenesse of Christ or to spend lesse time and money in gameing or to be more seldome in idle visits Melius est habere malorum odiū quam consortium Bern. de mode bene vivendi serm 60. espeeially of such as will not endure in their company any talke of God whether in good sort or in bad as the Jesuits once prohibited but are wholly addicted to such evil communication as corrupts good manners Or if you would resolve upon any thing positively good or praise worthy and of good report as To be more constant frequent laborious in your closet Devotions Prov. 31.27 to be more carefull of your family that it may not be a cage of nuclean birds and a habitation of Devils but a houshold of faith wherein all wickednesse shall at least hide its head and the duties of Religion and Profession of Godliness have more countenance and reputation or to be more severe to your children I abhor cruelty and passionate hasty corrections I meane to get free of that accursed fondnesse whereby so many children have been curses to their parents on earth and cursed firebrands in hell at their death Remember old Eli and be not partaker of