and, to have endeavoured, by all Means SE EM. poffible, to augment the Number of their III. People, and rather chofe to make their

City the Afylum of the worst of Men, than to want Inhabitants. To this End they framed fo many honorary Laws, and granted fo many and great Privileges to the Parents of many Children; and this Policy has, in fome Measure, been taken up by a neighbouring Prince, as a Means to fupply the Wants of thofe Mulitudes of People exhausted in his Wars, and forced to feek their Bread abroad for the Teftimony of a good Confcience. From all which we may infer, that that Perfon, whom God has bleffed with a numerous Off-fpring, is a public Benefactor to his : Country, and repays with Interest those Advantages he has received from it; that Life and Being he derived from his Parents, which is the Basis and Foundation of all other Bleffings, this he communicates to others, and, hereby, not only contracts that venerable Name of the Father of a Family, but also thofe more facred Titles of King and God to his Children and natural Subjects. And therefore,

2. A NUMEROUS Off-fpring is a valuable Bleffing with refpect to private Families, and that mutual Comfort and

SERM. Support, which those, who came originally III. out of the fame Loins, yield to one another, Thofe Bonds muft needs be infeparable, when those, who are in the fame Intereft, are united by natural Affection; and those Endearments must be wonderfully charming and delightful, when, like perfect Unifons, a Family is tuned to the fame Key, and maintains the Unity of the Spirit in

the Bond of Love.

3. A NUMEROUS Off-fpring is a valuable Bleffing with refpect to the Parent of himfelf. The Jews had a particular Reason why they made the Birth of a Child the Occafion of fo much Joy; for, being in continual Expectation of the promised Meffiah, every one had fome Hopes that he might proceed out of his Loins; for, though the Prophecies of his Miffion plainly enough foretold out of what Tribe and Family he fhould proceed, yet thefe were not clearly understood nor attended to by the common People: But the Reasons, which induce us Chriftians to rejoice at the Birth of Children, are, partly, that univerfal Law of Nature, which has implanted in every fenfitive Being a Defire to propagate its Kind, and produce its Like, and hereby preferves every Species of Animals by a fucceffive

Pro

Production of individual Beings; and part- SE RM. ly because, by the Birth of every Child III. of Christian Parents, the Number of God's Elect is increased, and a new Denizon is added to the heavenly Jerufalem. By this Means not only this World, but Heaven itself is peopled, and the Number of those bleffed and happy Ones is augmented who reft not Day or Night, but are continually finging Hallelujahs and Hofanna's to the Highest.

in

AND, as Children occafion much Joy by their Birth, fo alfo, in their blooming Years, how much Pleasure doth it create every good-natured Man's Breaft, when he beholds these little Images of himself, and his own Picture drawn in Miniature; when he receives their innocent Careffes, the natural Marks of an undefigning Love and Affection; when he contemplates undisguised Nature, in all their Actions, and discovers in their imperfect Words and Speeches, and childish Tricks, the first Dawnings of Reason: These are Entertainments fo furprifing, fo pleasant and diverting, that a late pious and learned Divine prefers the Pleasure of this agreeable and harmless Converfation, before any other Diverfion whatsoever; And, in this Opinion, he was not fingu

E 4

lar,

Mat. xix.

13, 14.

Mar. x

13, 14.

SERM. lar, for it is countenanced by our Bleffed III. Saviour himfelf: For he commanded little Children to be brought unto him, he took them up in his Arms and bleed them, and chid thofe who would have kept them from him, giving this as his Reafon for fo doing, that, of fuch is the Kingdom of Heaven, i. e. that thofe who defire to be the true Members of Chrift's Church here, or do expect to be happy hereafter, must imitate that Simplicity and Innocency fo remarkable in Children, and transcribe that Sincerity and Teachableness of Difpofition which is natural to them; they muft 1 Pet. ii. undergo the New-Birth, and, as new-born Babes, defire the fincere Milk of the Word, if they will be Chrift's Difciples,

2.

NOR is the Pleafure and Advantage of their Converfation confined to their Childhood; a Parent takes great Delight to fee thefe Olive Branches placed round about his Table, to behold their promifing Aspects, and in them to read their future Fortunes; he pleases himself with the Thoughts of their Proficiency in Learning, and Increase in Knowledge, and their growing Eminency in those Callings he defigns them for; and, by thefe grateful and pleafing Images, antedates his own Happiness.

WHEN

WHEN they arrive at the next Stage SERM. of Life, to be Men and Women, then III, to the Bonds of natural Affection he joins those of Friendship; he imparts the Sentiments of his Soul to them, and makes them the Partners of his Hopes and Fears, his Joys and Troubles: He increases his own Happiness, by communicating it to them, and they alleviate his Troubles by bearing a Share in them; they are like a Quiver full of Arrows, to defend him against the Malice of his Enemies, and he, that is thus well guarded, will not be afraid to speak with his Enemies in the pf. cxxvii. Gate. They are the Pledges of mutual 5. Love between their loving and indulgent Parents; and, when the Rays of tender Love and Affection meet together in this Center, they muft needs twine and incorporate, and break out into a Flame. What though there may be fome little Uneafineffes between Perfons joined in the Yoke of Wedlock, though their Humours may not fo exactly tally and agree, as to be perfectly of one Heart and of one Soul: Yet when they confider their tender Off-Spring, the common Objects of their Hopes and Fears, thofe Thoughts will calm the Roughness of their Paffions, and render them fmooth and ftill,

Laftly,