Observations Natural and Moral, Chapter 17
CHAP. XVII. That the mother ſhould nouriſh her owne children.
Gen. 21.7. Who would have ſayd unto Abraham, that Sarah ſhould have given children ſucke?
GOd and his handmaid nature, God and nature maketh nothing in vaine.doe nothing in vaine. Why hath God put wine in the grape but that men ſhould drinke it? and why doth he put milke in the mothers breaſts? but onelyonly that the children ſhould ſucke it; Two reaſons why God placed the dugges of a woman in her breaſt.God hath placed the dugges of a woman in her breſt, and the pappes of a beaſt in her belly, and they give a double reaſon of this, firſt a phyſicall reaſon and then a morall reaſon; the phyſicall reaſon is this, hee hath placed the dugges of a woman ſo neere the heart and Liver, that the milke might be the better concocted for the nouriſhing of the child: mulieri ſuperius adpect us naſcuntur ubera ut in promptu fit oſculari, amplecti, & fovere infantem, that is, The dugges of a woman are placed in her breſt, A forcible argument to move children to obey their mothers when they have given them ſucke.that ſhe may more readily kiſſe, embrace and cheriſh her infant. In old times it was holden to be one of the moſt forcible obligations to bind the child to obey the mother, becauſe ſhe had given him ſucke, and therefore the mothers would atteſt their children this wayes, By theſe dugges which thou haſt ſuckt doe this.
The milke of the mother is the fitteſt mike to nouriſh the child, for as contraria contrarijs curantur, The mothers milke is the fitteſt milke for the childs complexion.ſo ſimilia ſimilibus aluntur, the blood which was firſt the Fabaicator ſhould now be the Altor when it is turned into mike, this milke muſt be fitter for the Childes complexion than any other milke.The milke a forcible meanes to make the child reſemble the mother.
The milke is a forcible meane to make the child reſemble her whom he ſucketh: Gellius giveth this example, take a kid & let it ſucke an ewe; the haire of it will become like unto wooll: take a lambe againe, and let it ſucke a goate, the wooll of it will become like the goates haire: ſo let a whelpe ſucke a cat, and he will kill Rats and mice as a cat; ye ſee then what force is in the milke. The hiſtorie giveth this reaſon why Tiberius Caeſar was ſuch a drunkard, becauſe he ſuck't a drunken nurſe; Caligula ſucked a cruell nurſe who rubb'd her dugges with blood every day, and therefore he became a cruell and bloody monſter. It is true that good education and inſtruction, but above all, grace can overrule theſe inclinations. Cyrus before God changed his name, was called Spacon, as ye would ſay, a dog, Many have beene eroull by reaſon of the milke they have ſucked.becauſe hee ſuck't a bitch when he was a child; but the Lord gave him excellent and heroicall vertues, and made him the deliverer of his people: theſe vertues overruled his naturall inclinations which would have beene both wilde and curriſh, if theſe vertues had not reſtrained him. Menahem, Act. 13.1. foreignwas a Prophet and a teacher, yet he was Herods foſter brother and ſucked the ſame milke with Herod: here grace over-ruled his naturall inclination, for by nature hee would have beene as bad as Herod.
As the nouriſhing of the child is a great cauſe why the child reſembleth the mother, ſo it is a great obligation to move the mother to love the child the better: therefore the Church raviſhed with the love of Chriſt ſaith, O that thou were as my brother that ſucked the breſt of my mother! Cant. 8.1. and the Iewes hold, that this was one of the reaſons why Bathſhebe called Salomon her only Sonne, Prov. 4. becauſe he was nouriſhed by her, ſhe loved him better than the reſt of her ſonnes, as he was the ſonne of her wombe, and the ſonne of her vow. Prov. 31. ſo he was the ſonne of her breaſts.
The Hebrewes obſerve that the nurſe in their language is called Omen comming from the roote Aman, foreign untrix ab foreign fidelem eſſe,which ſignifieth to bee faithfull: the naturall mother when ſhe nouriſhed her child, will have a greater care of her child, and be more faithfull in bringing it up than the hired nurſe will bee: Mepiboſeths nurſe let him fall that he became lame, The examples of holy women will teach mothers to nouriſh their owne children.all the dayes of his life, 2 Sam. 4.4.
The examples of holy women in the Scriptures and elſe where, will teach mothers this dutie, Sara nouriſhed Iſaac, Rebecca Iacob, Anna Samuel, Bathſebe Salomon, and the virgin Marie Chriſt himſelfe, and Moſes was brought by Gods ſpeciall providence to bee nouriſhed by his owne mother, and the mother of the ſeven ſonnes in the Macchabees, 2 Macch. 7. nouriſhed her owne ſonnes, and Auguſtine ſaith in his book of confeſſions that with his mothers milke he drank in to learne to honour and worſhip God.
The concluſion of this is, Concluſion. that theſe who diſdaine to give ſucke to their children, let them remember that curſe pronounced by Hoſea c. 9.14. What wilt thou give them? a miſcarying wombe and drie breaſts: there is none of them, but would thinke it a puniſhment to have a barren wombe, why then ſhould they not thinke it a judgement to have drie breaſts when their children ſucke them? but yet withall on the other hand, it being not a diſdaine and contempt, but a bare neglect of this duty in diverſe mothers, it is but an omiſſion, and ſo may be wthout ſinne, if it be propter majus bonum. The Schoole wel obſerves though no ſinne may be committed for any goods ſake, yet a leſſer good may be omitted for the attaining of a greater good: as in the caſe in hand, for the eſtabliſhing of a Kings throne by a ſpeedie increaſe of his royall iſſue in the caſe of Queenes: for the preſerving of the mothers life in caſe of weake mothers, or for the preſerving of the childes health in the caſe of diſeaſed mothers; theſe are greater goods, than the mothers giving ſucke to her owne child, and therefore in theſe caſes it may bee omitted without ſinne by the mothers.