fhould love them too much, or too little, SE RM. be too indulgent, or too fevere, and then III. it is much better for us to be without them: So little Reafon was there for that impatient Exclamation of Rachel, Give me Children, or elfe I die. How Gen.xxx. often doth God in his Mercy deny our 1.. Prayers, when to give us the Defire of our Hearts would be to ruin and undo us?

2. LET thofe, who have a numerous Family of Children, be thankful to God for bestowing thefe Bleffings on them, and use their utmoft Endeavour to make them Bleffings indeed; by grounding them in the Principles of Religion, and bringing them up foberly and virtuously, in fome lawful Calling; by advifing, reproving, and correcting them as Occafion requires; always laying down this as a fure and certain Maxim, That those Impreffions, which are made upon them in their green and tender Years, will continue as long as they live; and though fome, who have had a fober and religious Education, fhould miscarry, yet generally it is not fo ; for the most Part, like new Veffels, they will retain the Scent of that Liquor which was first poured into them. Much lefs fhould that Man, who is the Parent of a

numerous

SERM. numerous Off-fpring, repine or be discon-
III. tented, becaufe his Eftate doth not anfwer

his Demands, but he labours under the
Burthen of Need and Poverty; for that
God who takes Care of the young Eagles,
when left and for faken by the old Ones,
and numbers the very Hairs of our
Heads, will much more provide for all
his Children and Servants, if they have
but Faith fufficient to put their Trust
in him; and I verily believe, that though
fuch Perfons, when preffed by Want,
and under very uneafy Circumftances, may
with that they had fewer Children, yet,
generally, a poor Man could hardly tell
which of his Children to part with, if
he was to be deprived of any one of
them.

3. THOSE who have had Children, and
are deprived of them, either by a natural
Death, or which is worse by any unfortu
nate Accident; may hence learn to resign
themselves up to the Will of God, and
intirely to depend on his good Provi-

dence.

IF exceffive Grief is allowable in any
Cafe, it must be in that of a tender Mo-
ther for the Death of her only Child, or
of a Father for the Heir of his Inheri-
tance; because Nature
urges Men to thefe

Paffions,

Paffions, and, whilft we are Men, it is SERMI impoffible, to be without them; they are III. Part of our very Beings, and are, indeed, our own felves. And yet, if we confider Things calmly and deliberately, we shall find, that to grieve and mourn, as Men without Hope, is not only unchriftian, but unreasonable; and that whatsoever Sorrow exceeds the Bounds of a decent and becoming Paffion, is not only our Sin, but our Folly. For what is it we grieve and mourn for? Is it, because God has taken our dear Relation out of this troublesome and miferable World, in which, at the beft, we ate but Strangers and Pilgrims, and placed him in a State of endless Happiness and Felicity? Is it fo terrible a Thing to be delivered from the Prison of our Bodies, to be freed from thofe Storms and Tempests, which shipwreck the Quiet and Content of our Minds, and to arrive at the Haven of lafting Reft and Tranquillity? Is it a reasonable Thing that we should mourn and lament, because our Relations are got fafe to their Journey's End before us, and are in a far better Condition, than this World could bestow upon us or them? This certainly should be rather the Subject of our Joy and SaF tisfaction,

SERM. tisfaction, than of our Trouble and Dif

III. content.

FOR who is there that would not rejoice and be exceeding glad, when he heard that his Son was made a mighty Prince in a foreign Country; and that he should shortly fee him in all his Splendor and Glory, and partake with him in this profperous Condition? And, is it not much greater Caufe of Joy, that we are affured our Friends are in Poffeffion of an immortal Crown, which fadeth not away, eternal in the Heavens? If therefore we inquire into the Caufe of our immoderate Grief, for the Lofs of Children and Relations, we shall find it proceeds either from Infidelity, or becaufe we entertain an, exceffive Love to the good Things of this World; either we do not believe that there is a Life to come after this fhort Life is ended, we do not expect the Joys and Happiness of another World, or else we prefer the good Things of this before them. For, fuppofe it was put into our Power to raise our deceafed Relations from the Dead, and to redeem them from the Power of the Grave, and to give them a longer Continuance amongst us; would it not be a very unreafonable Thing to defire, that they should quit the Society of Saints

and

and Angels in Heaven, to bear us Com-SE RM. pany upon Earth; and leave thofe happy III. and bleffed Abodes, to undergo the Slavery

of a finful Life? Let us therefore rather bemoan our own Lot-and Portion than theirs, and pray, that God in his good Time would accomplish the Number of his Elect, deliver us from thefe vile and finful Bodies, and cloath us with that House which is from above; that fo, together with them, we may be made perfect in Glory. In the mean while, let our chief Endeavours be, to make our Calling and Election fure, to live good and ufeful Lives, and to be converfant in Works of Piety, Juftice, and Mercy, and especially to abound in Alms-deeds and a liberal Contribution to the Neceffities of our poor Brethren; which is a Duty more particularly incumbent on those who have no Children of their own to provide for, and therefore are the more able to provide for the fupernumerary Branches of a prolific Family.