[ 1426] To be fruitfull in Children, a great blessing of God.
LUdovicus Vives maketh mention of a Town in Spain,* 1.1 consisting of about one hundred Families, all of them inhabited by the seed of one old Man then living, so that the youngest of them knew not what to call him; and he giveth this reason, Quia lingua Hispanica supra Abavum non ascendit, because the Spanish tongue hath not any word of expression higher then the great Grandfather's Father: Such as this must needs be then a numerous issue, a prolificall and fertile brood,* 1.2 and without all doubt a great and inestimable blessing of God; especially when they are not so much the fruits of their bodies, as of their Prayers; such as was promised to Abraham,* 1.3 to Isaac, to Iob, and to the Man that feareth the Lord. Yet let none trust too much in this blessing,* 1.4 it was Haman's fault, and his Chil∣drens ruine;* 1.5 nor any grumble and count them a crosse or a curse to their faint estate;* 1.6 not look upon them as a Bill of Charges, when God hat•• put them upon the Accompt of Mercies:* 1.7 Neither let the barren womb de discouraged; For that God that knowes how to raise good out of evill, doth sometimes blesse an a••ulte∣rous copulation with increase; and sometimes to the chast embraces of hones•• Wedlock denyes it.