CAP. I.

in the womb of the mother.
Thus Luke 1: John is destined from the womb as the forerunner to Christ.

The fruit of this doctrine.

1. Patience in adversities, as David, Psalm 22: "Upon You I was cast."
2. Gratitude and humility in the gifts of God. God is the one from whom you have everything. What is more miserable than an infant in the womb? What were you meriting?
3. In the future, let there be confidence with invocation, and let vain care be absent. Ah, what will become of my son!
1. Look to the promise unto the thousandth generation, and perform your duty as a faithful man and a good father.
2. Know that God has designated even your offspring from the mother's womb to a certain calling.

Christ says, "Let the day today be content with its own trouble." For the infant of the maidservant Hagar, the Lord takes care.

In Jonah, the Lord is solicitous about the infants of the Ninevites.

I wish that He would also do so for ours, so that the Turk may not reduce them under his yoke, or at least that He may preserve them in the faith: and that the consolation of the Holy Spirit may never abandon them, and that for the sake of His holy name, Ezekiel 9.

Indeed, the saints tremble from time to time, but once God is invoked, they are confirmed in the faith, and they experience His fatherly care in reality. Let there come to our mind what the Lord says through Zechariah, chapter 2: "He who touches you touches the apple of my eye." There is the greatest care for the eyes, for the sense is most tender. Psalm 55: "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will nourish you."