As for Ephraim, their Glory &c.

By it is meant,* all their pomp, riches, strength, prospe∣rity, but especially by Glory here is meant, their nume∣rous progeny in which they did so much glory, Ephraim (the ten Tribes) did prosper very much and were a very great multitude more than Judah. This Scripture hath reference unto the prosperous estate especially in the time of Jeroboam the second,* of which you reade in 2 King. 14. Ephraim was in a very prosperous condition and had pro∣spered very much.

Their Glory.

Children and numerous progeny,*is accounted a glory unto peo∣ple.* That in which they do much glory, in Prov. 17. 6. Childrens children are the Crown of old men:* (the Seventy) are the Glory of old men. Parents use to glory and pride them∣selves much in their children;* (saith one) Oh! lovely pride of the Mother! so it may be said of many sons and daughters of children,* Oh! the delightful pride of the Fa∣ther and the Mother in such and such children.

They accounted it their Glory, For,

1. By their children themselves are multiplied.* And,

2. They see what excellency soever there is in the child,* they look upon it as their own, as themselves the cause of it; and men and women love themselves much, and be∣cause they are pieces of themselves therefore they glory in them. And,

3. They have some hope of continuation from Genera∣tion to Generation in their children;* and this is their Glory.

But let Parents learn to give God the glory of their children,* and to bring them up to the glory of God, then they may rejoyce in them indeed as a great mercy of God. In Prov. 10. 1.*A wise Son maketh a glad Father, but a foolish Son is heaviness to his Mother.* Why is a wise Son said to be the gladness of the Father? Why? Doth not a Mother re∣joyce in a wise Son too? And why is a foolish Son said to be the sorrow of the Mother? Why? Doth not the Father sorrow and mourn for a foolish Son? The holy Ghost not without reason doth express himself thus; A wise Son makes the Father glad.

First; because the Father usually hath a more strict hand over his Son in his education to bring him to wisdom more than the Mother, ordinarily Mothers are tender over their children, and they co•ker them and so make them Page  222 fools, some they cannot endure that they should suffer any hardship, and hence their children proves foolish and fit for nothing, and great sorrows to them.

And secondly, A wise Son is fit for imployment abroad in the world, therfore rejoyces the heart of his Father; but a foolish Son is fit for nothing but to be at home in the Chimney corner with his Mother, and as he grows up grows stout and stubborn against her there. And if chil∣dren be a glory to their Parents, they should labor to be such as they may be a glory and not a shame to them in∣deed. There are many which instead a glory to their pa∣rents are a great shame to them,* as it was said of Augustus Caesar, he had three daughters that were wicked, and he used to call them his three Impostumes, and his three •an∣kers upon his body. And so children that should be the glory of their Parents, and the glory of a family, many times they are but the very Impostumes, and Cankers of it, and the shame to their Parents, every time they come a∣broad in the world.* And if you expect that your chil∣dren should be a glory to, you must not be a shame to them; sometimes children are a shame to their Parents, and sometimes Parents are a shame to their Children. It follows.

Their glory shall fly away like a bird.

Men glory in their outward pomp and prosperity, and their children,* but both these shall fly away like a bird. That is,

• 1. Suddenly.
• 2. Swiftly.
• 3. Irrecoverably.

A Bird that you have in a Cage, you have kept it per∣haps many months, and upon some advantage gets out and in a moment she is gone, suddenly, and then she goes away swiftly that you cannot follow her, and then Irrecovera∣bly Page  223 that you can never take her. All outward glory is un∣certain;* in Prov. 23. 5. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?* Certainly riches they make to themselves wings, and fly away as an Eagle into Heaven; fly away like a Bird,* and that Bird, the Eagle, that flies so swiftly that there is no getting her again: How many lately in Ireland, and in our own Land, that have had estates in the evening, and all hath been gone away swiftly like a bird before the morning? They have been rich in the morning and have been even beggars in the evening. Let us take our hearts off from glorying in all outward excellencies, and seek that glory that is abiding, that is constant, that is everla∣sting: We should look upon all outward comforts now as upon the wing; if ever you had cause to look upon all the outward comforts in the world as upon the wing, you are to do it now, never make account of any settlement in any comforts in the world, at this day they are all upon the wing; we cannot reason thus, We have enjoyed such pro∣sperity thus long, and therefore we shall still enjoy it lon∣ger: No, all outward comforts slies away like the bird: that comes in one moment that before came not in many years.* In Jer. 9. 23. Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,*neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth, glory in this, That he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercise, loving kindness, judg∣ment, and righteousness in the earth: for in these things I delight saith the Lord.* Your delights are in other vain things, in estates, in bravery; but in these things I delight, saith the Lord God, and if you will glory, do you glory in those things that I my self delight in; your glory in the midst of your prosperity which flies from you like a bird, but the Lord that is the glory of his in the midst of their adversi∣ties, flies to them like a bird: (I say) the glory of the wic∣ked in the midst of their prosperity flies from them like a bird, and the Lord God who is the glory of the Saints flies Page  224 to them in their afflictions like a bird. Thus you have this very phrase in Isa. 31. 5.*As birds flying, so will the Lord of host defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it, and passing over he will preserve it. [As birds flying] it's a meta∣phor taken from the bird when she sees the yong ones in a∣ny danger of the Kite she flies with speed to save them, As birds flying, so will I defend Jerusalem. Your glory gets away and flies from you in your prosperity, but the glory of the Saints flies to them in their adversity.

Secondly, The Glory of their posterity shall flee away like a bird▪ that is,* The Lord will cut off their numerous posteritie, their yong men, that there shall be few enough left among them. They gloried in their number. The blessing of God upon Abrahams seed came very swiftly after it began to come; and now God threatens it shall go away as swiftly: As you may find it if you observe the story of the encrease of the Seed of Abraham, if you reckon it from the time of their going into Egypt: there was (you know) but threescore and ten souls that went into Egypt of Abra∣ham's seed:* but when they came out of Egypt, which was but two hundred and fifteen years after they went in; for the four hundred and thirty is to be reckoned from the Promise to Abraham until their coming out of Egypt, and it is cleer that there were two hundred and fifteen years from the Promise to their going into Egypt, so that there were but two hundred and fifteen years from their going in, to their coming out; and see how swiftly they did en∣crease, from three score and ten souls (for there was no more then, but) there came out from twenty years old and upwards, men of war, six hundred thousand, three thou∣sand, five hundred and fiftie; there were encreased of A∣brahams seed in two hundred and fifteen years, six hundred thousand, and three thousand, and five hundred and fifty, as you may see in the book of Numbers; besides, the Levites, with the number of the males, from a month old and up∣wards, was twenty and two thousand; besides the women Page  245 and al the other children: and this was in that time when they were in bondage. Thus the Glory of Abrahams seed came very swiftly. And now it shall fly away like a bird, they shall decrease more than they did encrease.

Godliness brings blessings swiftly,* and Wickedness it causes blessings to depart away swiftly again like a bird.

It follows;

From the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.

Gods Curse follows the wicked close: sometimes in their birth; sometimes in the womb; and sometimes hin∣dering the conception. You see how God hath us at ad∣vantage, how he hath us in his hand at every turn; he might if he had pleased smit us in our conception; if he had spar'd there, stifled us in the womb; if spar'd there, made us stick in the birth.

Wherefore learn we to acknowledg Gods mercie in the general,* that he is patient,* and long suffering, and graci∣ous to us; let us consider at the several passages of his mercy, to bless God not only for our general preservation, but how he did preserve us in the very conception, preserves us in our mothers womb, and then in the birth, and then in the cradle, and in our childhood, in our youth, and in our middle age, in our old age, for we lie at his mercy at every point of time.

Their glorie shall flie away like a bird; from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception; of some I'le hinder the conception, some others in the womb shall die, others when they come to be born there they shall pe∣rish in their birth, and so at every time my curse shall fol∣low them, from the conception, from the womb, and from the birth.

Yea and Fourthly, Though perhaps some may escape in the conception, and in the womb, and in the birth, yet it follows;