And the first thing, to be propounded unto you, is; That you do not indulge an indecent Impatience or Discontent, at the State, which you find ordered for you. It will be a very blameable Indecency and Indiscretion in you, to be Dissatisfied at your State of Pregnancy. Froward Pangs of Dissatisfaction, harboured, and humoured, in you, because you See that in Sorrow you are to bring forth Children, may displease Heaven, and bring yet more Sorrow upon you. It will indeed look too Unnatural in you, to complain of a State, whereinto the Laws of Nature established by God, have brought you. The will of the Great God, has been declared in these Terms, 1 Tim. V. 14. I will that the Younger Women, ⟨image ?⟩Marry, bear Children. When you find that a Conception has brought you •nto Child-bearing circumstances, Let your Submission to the Will of God therein, be full of Satisfaction, and Resignation. Let this Thought now carry you Cheerfully through' all the Uneasiness, which is now become Unavoidable: Great GOD; I am thine; And I am willing to be, all that thou wilt have me to be! Indeed, it is to be esteemed a Mercy of God, that One principal End of Marriage, is thus •ar in an Honourable way of being answered with you. It was acknowledged as • Mercy, in the Old Time, by the Holy Women, who trusted in God. They Looked on themselves as Mercifully Visited of God, when they had conceived. It was entertained, as a Gracious Promise of God unto His People, That they should have an Offspring. It was esteemed, The taking away of a Reproach. Barrenness was Threatened, and Bewailed, as a Calamity: A Punishment for a Michol. The Saints made it a frequent Petition in their Prayers, That God would bestow Children upon them. I shall Speak but in a Language ⟨p. 5⟩which your Sex of Old would have allowed of, if I now tell you; That God has Looked upon His Handmaid, and Remembered her, and not forgotten her, but given her to Conceive. For I must go on to tell you, That upon your giving up your self unto the Lord, Your Children become the Children of God. They are my Children, Saith your God: It is a Child of God, that you have now within you: What a Consolation! 'Tis a Subject and a Servant of a Glorious CHRIST, whose Bones are now growing in the Womb, of her that is with Child; It is, a Member of His Mystical Body, which is now Shaping in Secret, and Curiously to be wrought.
And the first thing, to be propounded unto you, is; That you do not indulge an indecent Impatience or Discontent, at the State, which you find ordered for you. It will be a very blameable Indecency and Indiscretion in you, to be Dissatisfyed at your State of Pregnancy. Froward Pangs of Dissatisfaction, harboured, and humoured, in you, because you See that in Sorrow you are to bring forth Children, may displease Heaven, and bring yet more Sorrow upon you. It will indeed look too Unnatural in you, to complain of a State, whereinto the Laws of Nature established by God, have brought you. The will of the Great God, has been declared in these Terms, 1 Tim. V. 14. I will that the Younger Women, ⟨image ?⟩Marry, bear Children. When you find that a Conception has brought you •nto Child-bearing circumstances, Let your Submission to the Will of God therein, be full of Satisfaction, and Resignation. Let this Thought now carry you Cheerfully thro' all the Uneasiness, which is now become Unavoidable: Great GOD; I am thine; And I am willing to be, all that thou wilt have me to be! Indeed, it is to be esteemed a Mercy of God, that One principal End of Marriage, is thus •ar in an Honourable way of being answered with you. It was acknowledged as • Mercy, in the Old Time, by the Holy Women, who trusted in God. They Look'd on themselves as Mercifully Visited of God, when they had conceived. It was entertained, as a Gracious Promise of God unto His People, That they should have an Offspring. It was esteemed, The taking away of a Reproach. Barrenness was Threatened, and Bewayled, as a Calamity: A Punishment for a Michol. The Saints made it a frequent Petition in their Prayers, That God would bestow Children upon them. I shall Speak but in a Language ⟨p. 5⟩which your Sex of Old would have allow'd of, if I now tell you; That God has Look'd upon His Handmaid, and Remembred her, and not forgotten her, but given her to Conceive. For I must go on to tell you, That upon your giving up your self unto the Lord, Your Children become the Children of God. They are my Children, Saith your God: It is a Child of God, that you have now within you: What a Consolation! 'Tis a Subject and a Servant of a Glorious CHRIST, whose Bones are now growing in the Womb, of her that is with Child; It is, a Member of His Mystical Body, which is now Shaping in Secret, and Curiously to be wrought.
