A second part to the mothers blessing: or A cure against misfortunes. Diuided into certaine principall receipts, to cure the mind of man. / By G.M..

CHAP. 8. A Cure against the losse of Children.

MEe thinkes, I heare thee complaine vn∣to mee, that it is not any externall losse, (of which I haue spoken) that afflicts thee, but thou hast an in∣ternall and greater disaster within thee: thou hast lost thy children; and that losse hath reason to teare vp and wound thine intrailes within thee: thy blood is distempered, nature vext, and the whole frame both of thy body and mind put quite out of order: to this

sorrow there is no mitiga∣tion, neither canst thou be comforted, because they are not.

Bee not deceiued with this Sophistry of nature, and thine owne opinion; let not thy particular affe∣ction draw thee into a ge∣nerall absurditie: for there is not a greater folly moo∣uing, then too much, or too vnseasonably to be∣wayle the death of those which are mortall: why, they brought no certainty into the world but this, that they must die; neither can they carry any greater glory hence, or more re∣nowne

then this, that they are dead with faire and honest reputation.

But thy children are lost; alas, this is no new thing, no strange thing, no euill thing: no new thing; for e∣uery Family, Commerce, and society are subiect and lyable to the same acci∣dent: wheresoeuer man doth soiourne, there hath death euer his habitation; and from the beginning of the world, all that haue ta∣ken breath, haue likewise died: it is no strange thing; for the first father liued to suruiue his best sonne; nay, liued to see him slaine; nay,

slaine most vnnaturally; slaine by his owne brother: and it is no euill thing; for it is but a payment of that debt, for which wee had contracted with nature, e∣uer since the first man was shut out of Paradise: it is our manumission or free∣dome from the flesh, the world, and her deceitfull allurements; and it is the Port or Gate, thorow which onely, and no o∣ther, we haue our passage to eternall felicitie, and shall come to behold the most glorious face of our Maker.

But thou wouldst haue

had thy children to haue suruiued thee, that the comfort of their successi∣on might haue giuen to thy name a kind of eterni∣tie; which lost and preuen∣ted, thou accountest thy self vndone and wretched: why consider? doth any man call a tree miserable, because she sheds her fruit on the ground, whilst her branches flourish and mount vpward? doth any man account the Storke vnnaturall, because shee casts downe one of her young ones, to pay the rent for her protection? In like case, thy childrē are thy

fruit, and whether they fall late or early, it is without thy disparagement; they are thy rent, and whensoe∣uer thou payest them, it is not before they are due; for to thy omnipotent Landlord thou art euer a debtor.

Againe, no man is ex∣empt from these strokes: Death is a free visitor, and whensoeuer he thrusts his Sheare into the corne, the haruest is alwaies ripe and ready: vntimely burials come as well out of the Cottage, as the Capitoll: no man hath priuiledge; for when the poorest Ae∣gyptian

mourned for the losse of his first-born, euen Pharaoh himselfe (in the same hower) was toucht with the like lamentation. Destiny and Old-age differ much in their progresse; for they neuer keepe one and the same order, but as the one hath an assurance and certainty not to bee a∣uoyded, and so walkes slowly: so the other, being euermore at the comman∣dement and disposition of Prouidence, is euer swift, watchfull, sudden, and fu∣rious.

No man goes out of the world at the same Port

which he entred, but as they wander seueral waies, so they find seuerall paths to conduct them to that Rest, which is, and must euer be howerly expected, Why doest thou then tor∣ment and afflict thy selfe for the losse of thy chil∣dren? or what in that acti∣on hath happened vnto thee contrary to thy hope? questionlesse nothing: for those which were borne to die, are dead, not any in whom there was a hope (in this world) to be eternall: nay, those which ought to die, are dead; and will any wisedome murmure at the

discharge of so honest and so expected a duty.

But it is contrary to thy wish; for thou wouldst still haue enioyed them, still haue fed vpon the sweet∣nesse of their loued Socie∣tie: but did any promise vnto thee such a feast? is it possible to find such a bar∣gaine? or can earth chal∣lenge so much as the ima∣gination of such a con∣tract? O no, fie no, the dayes of life are numbred, and it is impossible for any sorrow or perplexitie in man to adde or diminish the smallest part of the smallest minute or mo∣tion

of Time.

But yet thy children are lost, and this impostume cannot so soone be either broken or healed; they were thy flesh, and in their death thou hast receiued a wound both aking and smarting: if it be so, call to thy consideration who hath them; and then argu∣ing his and thine owne ti∣tle, at the Barre of Indiffe∣rencie, and before the face of an vnpartiall Iudgment, thou shalt finde, that hee which holds them, was the certaine, true, and euerla∣sting Owner, and thy selfe but a poore borrower, that

in thy returne, hast hardly sent backe the halfe part of the Moitie. They were lent thee onely to bring vp, onely to informe in all Christian duties: this if thou hast fulfilled, thou hast discharged the part of a good parent, and they returne backe to their true and perfect owner with more glorie, and a much better acceptation: here is cause of reioycing, not of mourning.

Yet for all this they are dead, and in their death thou hast lost all thy fruit∣full hopes, all thy sweet ex∣pectations; thou shalt not

now see one of them rais'd to the highest scale of Ho∣nour; a second sit in Scar∣let, and a third armed in Steele, bring forraine Tri∣umphs home into his own Citie. O doe not deceiue thy goodnes with these in∣certainties! this losse or change hath brought thee a much better assurance, thou needest not now hope, but maist with confi∣dence say to thine owne soule, that thou hast seene the vttermost worst which the malice of Enuy or For∣tune can possibly worke a∣gainst them. Thou shalt not henceforth neede to

feare this childs ambition, that's Couetousnesse, nor the others Ryot; thou shalt not see one keep a market for Honor; another a Sham∣bles for Bloud; nor the third a Seralia, for varietie of all manner of Concupi∣scence. Thou shalt not see them mount to dignity by Bribes; afterwards pawne it to Couetousnes, and in the end forfeit all to the Gallowes: neither shalt thou see them depart out of the world, one with Infamie; another with Curses; and a third with diseases. Of these feares thou art releast, and thou

maist with a sweet comfort informe thy selfe, that when next thou shalt meet them in the higher Regi∣ons, thou shalt then see thē cloathed in white gar∣ments, and crowned a∣mongst the Angels. If this aske teares, ioy hath no dwelling; neither is there left vpon the earth (for a pyous delight) either har∣bour or habitation.