It is not only a bare gift, so it is to the wicked ; but a blessing, one of the temporal mercies of the covenant : Ps. cxxviii. 1, ' Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways.' One of the blessings is, ver. 3, ' Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thy house, thy children like olive plants round about thy table.' This is a part of our portion and heritage ; the saints have so acknowledged it : Gen. xxxiii. 5, ' Who are these with thee ? And he said, The children which the Lord hath graciously given thy servant.' Jacob speaketh like a father, and like a godly father. Not only given, but graciously given. As a father he acknowledged it a gift ; as a godly father, coming from mere grace.
This may be gathered from the story of Job. Compare chap. i. ver. 2, 3, with 18, 19. Observe, when his blessings are reckoned up, first his numerous issue is mentioned before his great estate. The chief part of a man's wealth and prosperity are his children ; the choicest of outward blessings. Children are first mentioned. But observe again, in the 18th and 19th verses, the loss of children is mentioned as the greatest affliction ; to put the top-stone upon his trial, the last afflic- tion is the saddest, and so giveth the dead stroke.
1. There is much of God's providence exercised in and about children.
[1.] In giving strength to conceive. It is not every one's mercy. Sarah obtained it by faith : Heb xi. 11, ' Through faith Sarah received strength to conceive seed.' Though bringing forth children be accord- ing to the course of nature, yet God hath a great hand in it. Many godly parents have been denied the benefit of children, and need other promises to make up that want : Isa. Ivi. 4, 5, ' Thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant. Even unto them will I give in mine house, and within my walls, a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters, I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.'
[2.] In framing the child in the womb. It is not the parents, but God. The parents cannot tell whether it be male or female, beautiful or deformed; they know not the number of the veins and arteries, bones and muscles. See Ps. cxxxix.« 13-16, ' For thou hast possessed my reins ; thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made ; marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.' There is a great deal of workmanship in the body of man ; it is a curious piece of embroidery. Angels sang at man's creation : Job xxxviii. 7,
SERMON UPON PSALM CXXVII. 3. 87
* When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy ; ' and they admire at his resurrection. "What is God about to do?
[3.] In giving strength to bring forth. The heathens had a goddess which presided over this work. His providence reacheth to the beasts. It is by the Lord that hinds do calve : Ps. xxix. 9, ' The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve ; ' and there is a promise to them that fear him, 1 Tim. ii. 15, ' She shall be saved in child-bearing, if they continue in faith and charity, and holiness with sobriety.' It must be understood, as all temporal promises are, with the exception of his will ; but thus much we gather, that it is a blessing which falleth under the care of his providence ; and that by promise, so far as God seeth fit to make it good. Eachel died in this case; every godly woman hath not this deliverance. So did Pliinehas' wife, 1 Sam. iv. 20. God might have taken this advantage against you, to have cut you off. If deliverance were not so ordinary, it would be accounted miraculous. The sorrows and pains of travail are a monument of Gods displeasure : Gen. iii. 16, ' Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception ; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children.' Women's pains are more grievous than the females of any kind, to preserve a weak vessel in great danger ; and for the child, a sentence of death waylaid it as it was coming into the world.
[4.] The circumstances of deliverance. In every birth there are some new circumstances to awaken our stupid thoughts to consider the work of God ; for God doth all his works with some variety, lest we should be cloyed with the commonness of them.
2. They are a great blessing in themselves ; and the more of them the greater blessing ; and therefore should they be acknowledged and improved as blessings. Certainly there is a more special favour showed us in our relations than in our possessions : Prov. xix. 14, ' House and riches are the inheritance of fathers, but a good wife is from the Lord.' So for children. By them the parent is continued and multiplied : they are a part of himself, and in them he liveth when he is dead and gone. It is a shadow of eternity, nodosa eternitas ; therefore the out- ward appurtenances of life are not so valuable as children. Besides, they are capable of the image of God. By them the world is replen- ished, the church multiplied, a people continued, to know, love, and serve God, when we are dead and gone. We read of Christ's ' rejoic- ing in the habitable parts of the earth, and his delights were with the sons of men,' Prov. viii. .31. In the habitable parts of the world there are great whales ; but men were Christ's delight. Especially to God's confederates, or parents in covenant with God, are children a greater mercy. David was such an one ; there are * sons and daughters born to him,' Ezek. xvi. 20. These are visibly the children of God, and in a most proper sense an heritage from the Lord. It is said. Gen. vi. 12. ' The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they choose.' Seth begat sons and daughters to God. See Gen. x. 21, 'Unto Shem also, the father of the children of Eber, the brother of Japhet the elder, even to him were born children.' The Persians, Lydians, Assyrians, Syrians, those who were possessed of the empire of the world, and all the rich spices