Selected quad for the lemma: woman_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
woman_n	bear_v	child_n	womb_n	2,342	5	9.5085	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49758	Parents groans over their wicked children several sermons on Prov. XVII, 25, published for the benefit of all, but especially of good parents and their children / by Edward Lawrence ...	Lawrence, Edward, 1623-1695.	1681 (1681)	Wing L654; ESTC R5524	46,723	144

Write ye this man and this woman childless the punishment had not been so great as to be afflicted with wicked children such parents may say with our Saviour in another case Luke 23.29 Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bare and the paps which never gave suck As it 's better to have no herbs in your gardens than to have only stinking-weeds that cumber the ground and better to have no beasts in your ground than a company of foxes and wolves so it 's better to have no children than to have only such who are the continual shame and plague and torment of their parents 2. It 's a greater misery than to have diseased or deformed children This indeed is a sore affliction to be the parents of sick or blind or lame or monstrous children because such children are naturally disabled to do that service to God and their generation and their parents which otherwise they might do but this is not so grievous as to have wicked children for they that are most diseased and uncomely are often called to be the blessed and glorious children and heirs of God and the amiable and beautiful bride and spouse of Christ when all wicked children are the filthy and loathsome children of the devil 3. This is more grievous than the death of children I know it's matter of deep sorrow when parents may say with the tender Patriarch Gen. 42.36 Joseph is not and Simeon is not My son is dead and is not and my dear daughter is dead and is not but this sorrow is not lasting the impression of it usually doth and should wear off but wicked children are constant troubles to their parents and cause them to say with the Psalmist Psal 31.10 My days are spent with grief and my years with sighing 4. This calamity is greater than persecution from wicked men though that be also very grievous insomuch that Paul a man of a great spirit was so affected herewith that he solemnly beseecheth the Roman Christians Rom. 15.30 For the Lord Jesus sake and for the love of the Spirit that they would strive together with him in prayer to God for him to deliver him from persecutingmen it is a sad case to be smitten and wounded in our names by lying and slanderous tongues David and Christ in him tells us Psal 69.20 That reproach hath broken his heart It is sad for the jewels of God to be accounted and used as the sink and jakes of the world and to have our estates wasted and spoyl'd and to be expos'd to beggery and want and to be drag'd from our healthful and pleasant habitations and families and to be cast among rogues and thieves into nasty and loathsome prisons and to have our innocent and precious blood shed by barbarous men but all this is not so grievous as to be tormented by wicked children for in that case we are distressed by the sins of our enemies and if so as David speaks Psal 55.12 We could have born it But in this case we are afflicted by the sins of our own children and may say with David when he was reviled by Shimei 2 Sam. 16.11 Behold my son which came forth of my bowels seeketh my life how much more may this Benjamite It is a far greater torment to have the children of our own bowels tear and break our hearts than to be destroy'd by merciless enemies Fourthly The greatness of this calamity is seen in that it causeth these good parents to do all their work with sorrow I shall instance in three sorts of Works which they do in the bitterness of their Souls 1. Natural 2. Civil 3. Religious Works He that hath a wicked child on his heart doth all these with a sad heart 1. Natural Works these they do with sorrow They are fed with the bread of tears and drink their tears in great measure as the Psalmist speaks in another case Psal 80.5 And as it 's said in the prayer of the afflicted Psal 102.9 They eat ashes like bread and mingle their drink with weeping 2. They do their Civil Works with grief this makes them labour with sorrow in their particular callings it was Solomons trouble to think that a fool should have the rule of his labour wherein he laboured and shewed himself wise under the Sun Eccles 2.18 19 20. And this sad case is often observ'd that the same estates which were the fruit of the wise and good parents prayers and diligence are consum'd upon the childrens lusts and that the good creatures which were a blessing to the parents and wherewith they did honour God and feed Christ in his members do prove a curse to their children and weapons in their hands wherewith they sight against God and his people 3. This also causeth them to do their Religious Works in grief and sorrow I shall only instance in two particulars 1. This makes them instruct these poor ungodly children with sorrow It is a doleful case when men can have their dogs to come at their whistle and their horses to yield to the bridle and their oxen to submit to the yoke but their unruly children will not be subject to the holy government of their parents they can readily learn filthy words and wicked actions from their ungodly School-fellows or Fellow-apprentices or debauch'd companions but they will not hear the instruction of their father nor obey the law of their mother 2. This causeth them to pray for such children with sorrow for according as is the spiritual state of the children so are their holy parents affected in prayer to God for them when they can in prayer call upon God as the Father of their children and can present their children to God as such who are born of God and adopted of him and can beg mercy for them who are the vessels of mercy then they do as the Apostle for the Philippians Chap. 1.4 In every prayer make request for them with joy but when children are manifestly wicked and their good parents must in prayer to God call them what they are and must say Lord my poor children are children of the devil children of disobedience children of thy wrath lying swearing covetous drunken unclean stubborn children Oh pity pardon save convert them they pray for them but they pray in the sorrow and anguish of their souls Fifthly I come to shew how wicked children embitter all the comforts of their good parents so that as Solomon tells us Prov. 17.21 A father of a fool hath no joy I shall exemplifie this in four particulars 1. The good parents cannot be so comfortable and delightful to one another as they would be when both are in bitterness for their wicked children the husband cannot be such a comfort to his wife when he is almost in continual anger and sorrow for his wicked child nor the wife such a delight to her husband when her heart is bleeding for her ungodly child for if they have no joy in themselves as