Marriage with a Defense of the 32nd Article of the Church of England, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. Of Children.
ONe great end of Marriage, is the peopling the world with mankind, eſpecially planting the Church with a holy Seed; becauſe men and women, the individuals, dye, they ſeek lawfully and rationally, by marriage, the conſervation of their kind; and becauſe men cannot avoid death, and live ever here, they ſeek to live after death in their poſterity; when they are dead in their own perſons, they have a kind of Reſurrection in their children. Good and bad, Saints and ſinners, and thoſe of both Sexes too, are deſirous of children; What wilt thou give me, ſaith Abraham, ſeeing I go childleſs? and this Eliezar of Damaſcus, a ſtranger, born in my houſe, is my heir; and, Give me children or elſe I dye, ſaid Rachel.
Encreaſe and multiply, was one of Gods firſt bleſſings to his Creatures, after their firſt creation. Fruitfulneſs is generally reckoned a bleſſing, as Barrenneſs a curſe in the holy Scripture. God our heavenly Father, that hath the key of the clouds, he keeps the key of the womb: he opened Sarahs womb, that ſhe conceived a Son in her old age, and he faſt ſhut up all the wombs in Abimelech's Court. Hence it is, that children are an inheritance of the Lord, and that it is accounted one of God's prerogatives, that he maketh the barren woman to keep houſe, and to be a joyful mother of children. And therefore becauſe the Patriarchs and Saints of the Lord were thus perſwaded, they made their humble addreſſes and petitions at the Throne of Grace for children.
The Jews tell us, that Abraham and Sarah put up their joynt prayers to God for a Son; ſo did Hannab the Mother of Samuel, and we may probably gueſs, Zachary the Father of John the Baptiſt, whilſt he miniſtred in the Temple and prayed; for we read, Luke 1.18. the Angel Gabriel ſaid to him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth, ſhall bear thee a ſon, and thou ſhalt call his name John: And truly, if God give a child in anſwer to prayers, 'tis to be hoped, that ſuch child will anſwer the Parents prayers, and prove a bleſſing; and ſo did Iſaac, Samuel and John the Baptiſt. I confeſs, that ſometimes wicked men, who are deſcribed to be ſuch, as call not upon God, have their fill of children, Pſal. 17.14. and again, that they ſend forth their children like a flock; yea, and their children dance, Job 21.11. But yet I ſay, that children that are the fruit of prayers, are uſually a double bleſſing; when as children beſtowed on wicked Parents, who pray not for them, oft-times prove a diſmal curſe to them. In the one ſort, God, as it were, lights in his ſervants Families a Candle, that their names be not put out in obſcurity: In the other, he permits a fire to be kindled, and that to a kind of wild-fire, which ſoon conſumes the whole houſe, with the timber thereof, and the ſtones thereof. 'Tis a bleſſing to be fruitful, and to have our name continued; on the contrary, 'tis a curſe to be barren, and to have our names blotted out; and therefore God provided, that if the elder Brother dyed childleſs, the next Brother was to raiſe up ſeed unto his Brother, and that was to be called after his Brothers name.
The cauſes of Barrenneſs, are oft-times:
1. Diſobedience to Parents: 'Tis juſt and equal that they ſhould dye childleſs, that do not honour their Parents, by whom, under God, they had their own Beings, Births and Lives.
2. Adultery and Ʋncleanneſs: Thoſe who lie with other mens wives, are puniſhed with Barrenneſs in their own wives.
3. Notorious Wickedneſs, and obſtinate Rebellion againſt God: When a man is wicked overmuch, well may God in wrath ſay, Write this man Childleſs, or, there ſhall no more of this mans ſeed be ſown; and Job 18.19. He ſhall neither have ſon nor nephew among his people, not any remaining in his dwelling.
4. An inordinate deſire of great things in this world, and of the continuance of our Name and Family, Pſal. 49.
5. Perſecuting of Gods Saints and Servants, or afflicting the poor and needy, Pſal. 109.13. Let his poſterity be cut off, let his name be wiped out. Certainly on the other ſide, Fruitfulneſs is a bleſſing; and as a good Wife is the beſt Earthly bleſſing without us, ſo are Children a ſpecial gift of God. See Pſal. 113.9. & Pſal. 127.3, 4. Children are an heritage of Jehovah; the fruit of the womb his reward, or wages. Hebr. As Barrenneſs is threatned and inflicted ſometimes as a curſe, ſo is Fruitfulneſs promiſed and beſtowed as a bleſſing; and yet God will be ſought unto for this bleſſing. So did Abraham ſeek God for a Son, and obtained him: After Iſaac had lived with his wife twenty years childleſs, they both (ſay the Jews) went to the Mount Moriah, and prayed there for a child, and God heard them.
I ſhould not adviſe Polygamy, as a means to be fruitful, and to multiply our Progeny. One wife ſeems enough, and often too much for one man to govern; and 'tis obſerved, that ſome who have allowed or indulged themſelves the liberty or licence of many Wives, have had the feweſt Children. Solomon's Wives and Concubines made up a thouſand, and yet we read but of three Children he had by them all.
2. Next to Prayer for Children, let me adviſe a ſerious reſolution to bring up your Children which God ſhall beſtow on you, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; reſolve you and your Children will ſerve the Lord. Endeavour to be able to ſay to God at laſt, when you come to give account of theſe Talents, Of all thou haſt given me, have I loſt none: There is never a ſon or daughter of perdition amongſt them, not a profane Eſau, or a curſed Cham, nor a ſcoffing Iſhmael, never a wandering Dinah, nor a mocking Michal; Lo, here am I, and the Children thou haſt given me.
3. Love God's Worſhip, the place of his Worſhip, and thoſe that miniſter about holy things. It was to Hannah, praying at Shiloh; to Zachary, miniſtring in the Temple; and to the Shunamitiſh woman, that ſo courteouſly entertained the Prophet Elijah; and to the Mariner and his Wife, that in Q Maries Reign hid that eminent Doctor and Confeſſor, Dr. Sands, after Archbiſhop of York, to whom God gave Sons, after they had been childleſs a long time.
4. Be you your ſelves God's Children, his Sons and his Daughters, and he will give you Children, Sons and Daughters, or at leaſt a name better then of Sons and Daughters, Iſa. 58. & Pſal. 128. Bleſſed are all they that fear God, and walk in his way—Thy wife ſhall be as the fruitful vine upon the walls of thine houſe—Thy children like Olive plants round about thy table—Yea, thou ſhalt ſee thy childrens children, and peace upon Iſrael. And this laſt Clauſe, brings to mind that ſaying of our Saviour, Luke 21.23. Wo unto them that are with child, and to them that give ſuck in thoſe days. If you ask why? it follows, For there ſhall be great diſtreſs in the land, namely, of Iſrael, and wrath upon this people. Elſe, ſave in caſe of war and deſolation, or in caſe of trouble and perſecution, as the times were like to be when St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. c. 7. Elſe, I ſay, Bleſſed are thoſe wombs that bear, and the paps that give ſuck; the bleſſings of the breaſts and of the womb, are the language of the Holy Tongue: And though in troublous times it is not good, i.e. expedient to touch a woman, yet in Serene times, and of Adam in Innocency, God ſaid, it is not good for the man to be alone: And as we have a wo in Luke to thoſe that are with child, ſo have we a Ve ſoli, a wo to him that is alone, in Eccleſiaſtes; diſtingue tempora & ſalves difficultatem, diſtinguiſh the times when, or of which theſe things were ſpoken, and you will eaſily reconcile our Saviour's words and his Apoſtles, with thoſe of Solomon's. The Hebrew word Ben, which ſignifies a Son, comes from Banah, to build; and thoſe Mothers who bring forth children, are ſaid in Scripture to build up the houſe: So … prayed for Boaz his wife, Ruth, in this manner, The Lord make the woman that is come into thy houſe like Rachel, and like Leah, which two did build up the houſe of Iſrael; and I may ſay alſo, Which two did build up the Church of God. And if they built up God's Church on Earth, they made ready a people prepared for the Lord in Heaven: And as Jeruſalem which is above, is ſaid to be the Mother of us all, ſo in another reſpect, Jeruſalem that is below, I mean the Church on Earth, doth bring forth Sons and Daughters to God, and is the Mother of all the Children of men, that are indeed alſo the Children of God, and Members of the new Jeruſalem in Heaven, or above.