TO be above the Stroak of Passions is a Condition equal to Angels: To be in a State of Sorrow, without the Sense of Sorrow, is a Disposi­tion beneath Beasts; but duly to reg [...]late our Sorrows, and bound our Passions under the Rod, is the Wisdom, Duty, and Ex­cellency of a Christian. He that is without natural Affections, is deservedly ranked a­mong the worst of Heathens; and he that is able rightly to manage them, deserves to be number'd with the best of Christians. Tho' when we are Sanctified, we put on the Divine Nature; yet till we are Glorified, we put not off the Infirmities of our humane Nature.

Whilst we are within the reach of Trou­bles, we cannot be without the Danger, nor ought not to be without the Fear of [Page 2]Sin; and it is as hard for us to escape Sin, be­ing in Adversity, as Becalming in Prosperity.

How apt we are to transgress the Bounds both of Reason and Religion under a sharp Affliction, appears, as in most Mens Expe­rience, so in this Woman's Example, to whose excessive Sorrow, Christ puts a Stop in the Text: He saw her, and had Compas­sion on her, and said to her, Weep not.

The Lamentations and Wailings of this distressed Mother, moved the tender Com­passions of the Lord in beholding them, and stirred up more Pity in his Heart for her, than could be in her Heart for her dear and only Son.

In the Words we are to consider, both the Condition of the Woman, and the Coun­sel of Christ, with respect unto it.

First, The Condition of this Woman, which appears to be very Dolorous and Di­stressed; her Groans and Tears moved and melted the very Heart of Christ, to hear and behold them: When he saw her, he had Compassion on her.

How sad an Hour it was with her when Christ met her, appears by what is so di­stinctly remarked by the Evangelist, in ver. 12. where it is said, Now when they came nigh to the Gate of the City, behold there was a dead Man carried out, the only Son of his Mo­ther, and she was a Widow, and much Peo­ple of the City was with her.

[Page 3] In this one Verse, divers Heart-piercing Circumstances of this Affliction are noted.

First, It was the Death of a Son. To bury a Child, any Child must needs rend the Heart of a tender Parent; for what are Children but the Parent multiplied? A Child is a part of the Parent made up in another Skin. But to lay a Son in the Grave, a Son which continues the Name, and supports the Fa­mily; this was ever accounted a very great Affliction.

Secondly, This Son was not carried from the Cradle to the Coffin, nor stript out of its Swathing, to be wrapt in it's Winding-Cloth: Had he died in Infancy, before he had engaged Affection, or raised Expectati­on, the Affliction had not been so punge [...] and cutting, as now it was; Death smote this Son in the Flower and Prime of his Time. He was a Man, saith the Evange­list, ver. 12. a young Man, as Christ calls him, ver. 14. he was now arrived ^* at that Age which made him capable of yielding his Mother all that Comfort which had been the Expectation and Hope of many Years, and the Reward and Fruit of many Cares and Labours: Yet then when the endear­ments [Page 4]were greatest, and her Hopes high­est, even in the Flower of his Age, he is cut off.

Thus Basil bewailed the Death of his Son:

I once had a Son who was a young Man, my only Successor, the Solace of my Age, the Glory of his Kind, the Prop of my Family, arrived to the endear­ing Age; then was he snatcht from me by Death, whose lovely Voice, but a little be­fore I heard, who late­ly was a pleasant spe­ctacle to his Parent. ‘Filius mihi erat adolescens, solus vitae successor so­latium senectae, gloria generis, flos aequaliam, fulcrum domus, aetatem gratiosissimam a­gebat: hic raptus periit, qui paulo ante jucundam vo­cem edebat, & ju­cundissimum spe­ctaculum parentis oculis erat.’

Reader, if this have been thine own Condition, as it hath been his that writes it, I need say no more to convince thee, that it was a sorrowful State indeed Christ met this tender Mother in.

Thirdly, And which is yet more, he was not only a Son, but an only Son: So you find in Verse 12. He was the only Son of his Mother, One in whom all her Hopes and Comforts of that kind were bound up. For ²

[Page 5] Omnis in Ascanio stat chari cura Parentis. Virgil. All her Affe­ctions were contracted into this one Object. If we have never so ma­ny Children, we know not which of them to ^* spare. If they stand like Olive Plants about our Table, it would grieve us to see the least Twigg amongst them broken down. But surely the Death of one out of many, is much more tolerable, than of all in one.

Hence it's noted in Scripture as the grea­test of Earthly Sorrows, Jer. 6.26. O daugh­ter of my People, gird thee with Sack-cloth, and wallow thy self in Ashes. Make th [...] M [...]urning as for an only Son, most bitter L [...] ­mentation. Yea, so deep and penetrating is this Grief, that the Holy Ghost borrow it to express the deepest Spiritual Troubles by it, Zech. 12.10. They shall mourn for him, (namely Christ whom they pierced) as one mourneth for an only Son.

Fourthly, And yet to heighten the Af­fliction, it is super-added, ver. 12. And she was a Widow. ^† So that the Staff of her Age, on whom she leaned, was broken: She had now none left to comfort or assist her in her helpless, comfortless State of [Page 6]Widowhood; which is a Condition not only void of Comfort; but exposed to Oppression and Contempt.

Yea, and being a Widow, the whole Burden lay upon her alone; she had not an Husband to comfort her, as Elkanah did Hannah, in Sam. 1.8. Why weepest thou, and why is thy Heart grieved? am not I more t [...] thee than ten Sons? This would have been a great Relief; but her Hus­band was dead as well as her Son; both gone, and she only surviving to lament the Loss of those Comforts that once she had. [...]er Calamities came not single, but one [...]fter another, and this reviving and aggra­ [...]ating the former. This was her Case and Condition when the Lord met her.

Secondly, Let us consider the Counsel that Christ gives her, with Respect to this her sad and sorrowful Case: And when the Lord saw her, he had Compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep n [...]t. Relieving and Sup­porting Words; wherein we shall consider,

• The Occasion.
• The Motive.
• The Counsel it self.

First, The Occasion of it, and that was his seeing of her. This Meeting at the Gate of the City, how accidental and oc­casional soever it doth seem, yet without doubt it was providentially suited to the [Page 7]Work intended to be wrought: The Eye of his Omniscience foresaw her, and this Meeting was by him designed, as an Occa­sion of that famous Miracle which he wrought upon the young Man. Christ hath a quick Eye to discern poor mourn­ing & disconsolate Creatures: And though he be now in Heaven, and stands out of our Sight, so that we see him not; yet he sees us, and his Eye (which is upon all our Troubles) still affects his Heart, and moves his Bowels for us.

Secondly, The Motive stirring him up to give this relieving and comfortable Coun­sel to her, was his own Compassion. She neither expected nor desired it from him; but so full of tender Pity was the Lord to­wards her, that he prevents her with unex­pected Consolation: Her Heart was nothing so full of Compassion for her Son, as Christ was for her: He bore our Infirmities, even Natural as well as Moral ones, in the Days of his Flesh; and though he be now exalt­ed to the highest Glory, yet still he conti­nues as merciful as ever, and as apt to be touched with the Sense of our Miseries, Heb. 4.15.

Lastly, The Counsel it self, Weep not; herein fulfilling the Office of a Comforter to them that Mourn, whereunto he was a­nointed, Isa. 16.1, 2, 3. Yet the Words [Page 8]are not an absolute Prohibition of Tears and Sorrows, he doth not condemn all Mourn­ing as sinful, or all Expressions of Grief for dead Relations as uncomely: No, Christ would not have his People stupid and insen­sate; he only prohibits the Excesses & Ex­travagancies of our Sorrows for the Dead, that it should not be such a Mourning for the Dead as is found among the Heathen, who Sorrow without Measure, because with­out Hope, being ignorant of that Grand Re­lief by the Resurrection which the Gospel reveals.

The Resurrection of her Son from the Dead, is the Ground upon which Christ builds her Consolation & Relief. Well might he say, Weep not, when he intended quickly to remove the Cause of her Tears by restoring him again to Life.

Now though there be somewhat in this Case extraordinary and peculiar: For few or none that carry their Dead Children to the Grave, may expect to receive them a­gain from the Dead immediately by a spe­cial Resurrection, as she did: I say this is not to be expected by any that now lose their Relations; the Occasions and Reasons of such miraculous special Resurrections be­ing removed, by a sufficient and full Evi­dence and Confirmation of Christ's Divine Power and God-head: Yet those that now [Page 9]bury their Relations, if they be such as die in Christ, have as good and sufficient Rea­son to moderate their Passions, as this Mour­ner had, and do as truly come within the reach and compass of this Christ's comfort­able and supporting Counsel, Weep not, as she did; For do but consider what of Sup­port or Comfort, can a particular and pre­sent Resurrection from the Dead give us more than it is, and as it is a Specimen, Hand­sel or Pledge of the general Resurrection? It is not the returning of the Soul to its Bo­dy, to live an animal Life again in this World of Sin and Sorrow, and shortly after to undergo the Agonies and Pains of Death again, that is in it self any such Privilege as may afford much Comfort to the Person raised, or his Relations: It is no Privilege to the Person raised; for it returns him from Rest to Trouble, from the Harbour back again into the Ocean. It is a Matter of Trouble to many dying Saints, to hear of the Likelihood of their Returning again, when they are got so nigh unto Heaven.

It was once the Case of a godly Minister of this Nation, who was much troubled at his Return, & said, I am like a Sheep dri­ven out of the Storm almost to the Fold, and then driven back into the Storm again: Or a weary Traveller that is come [...]ear un­to his Home, & then must go back to fetch [Page 10]somewhat he had forgotten; or an Appren­tice, whose Time is almost expired, & then must begin a New Term.

But to die, and then return again from the Dead, hath less of Privilege, than to return only from the Brink of the Grave; for the Sick hath not yet felt the Agonies and last Struggles or Pangs of Death, but such have felt them once, and must feel them again; they must die twice, before they can be happy once; and besides, dur­ing the little Time they spend on Earth be­twixt the first and second Dissolution, there is a perfect forgetfulness and insensibleness of all that which they saw or enjoyed in their Estate of Separation: It being necessary, both for them and others, that it should be; for, for themselves it is necessary, that they may be content to live, and endure the Time of Separation from that blessed and ineffable State, Victurosque dii celant, ut vi­vere durent. quietly & patiently; and for others, that they may live by Faith, and not by Sense, and build upon Divine, and not Humane Authority and Report.

So that here you see, their Agonies and Pangs are doubled, and yet their Life not sweetned by any sense of their Happiness, which returns and remains with them, and therefore it can be no such Priviledge to them.

[Page 11] And for their Relations, tho' it be some Comfort to receive them again from the Dead; yet the Consideration, that they are returned to them in the stormy Sea, to par­take of the new Sorrows and Troubles, from which they were lately free; and in a short time they must part with them again, and feel the double Sorrows of a parting pull, which others feel but once, surely such a particular Resurrection considered in it self, is no such Ground of Comfort as at first we might imagine it to be.

It remains then, that the Ground of all solid Comfort and Relief against the Death of our Relations, lies in the ge­neral and last Resurrection, In to furtra R [...]surrectionis illustre h [...]be­mus speci [...]. Calv. in Lo [...]. and what is in a particular one, is but as it were a Specimen, and Evidence or the general: And there the Apostle places our Re­lief, 1 Thes. 14.17. That we shall see and enjoy them again at the Lord's Coming: And surely this is more, than if with this Mother (in the Text) we should presently receive them from the Dead, as she did her Son. And if we judge not so, it is because our Hearts are carnal, and measure Things rather by Time and Sense, than by Faith and Eternity.

Thus you see the Counsel; with its Ground, which for the most part is common to other [Page 12]Christian Mourners with her; the difference being but inconsiderable, and of little Ad­vantage.

Here then you find many Aggravations of Sorrow meeting together: A Son, an on­ly Son, is carrying to the Grave; yet Christ commands the pensive Mother, not to mourn. Hence we note.

Doct. That Christians ought to moderate their Sorrows for their dead Relations, how many afflicting Circumstances and Aggra­vations soever do meet together in their Death.

It is as common with Men, Qua ardentes diligimus habita, graviter suspi­ramus amissa. Gregmon. yea, with good Men to exceed in their Sorrows for dead Re­lations, as it is to exceed in their Loves and Delights to living Relations; and both of the one and the other, we may say as they say of Wa­ters, It's bard for to confine them within their Bounds. It is therefore grave Advice which the Apostle delivers in this Case, 1 Cor. 7.29, 30. But this I say, Brethren, the time is short; it remaineth that both they that have Wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and those that rejoyce, as though they rejoyced not. As if he had said, the floating World is near its [Page 13]Port: God hath contracted the Sails of Man's Life: It's but a Point of Time we have to live, and shortly it will n [...] be a Point to choose, whether we had Wives or not, Children or not: All these are Time-eat [...]n-Things, and before the expected Fruit of these Comforts be Ripe, we our selves may be Rotten. It's therefore an high Point of Wisdom, to look upon Things which short­ly will not be, as if already they were not, and to behave our selves in the Loss of these carnal Enjoyments, as the natural Man be­haves himself in the Use of Spiritual Ordi­nances: He hears as if he heard not, and we should weep as if we wept not; Their Affections are a little moved sometimes by spiritual Things, but they never lay them so to Heart, as to be broken-hearted for the Sin they hear of, or deeply affected with the Glory revealed: We also ought to be sensible of the stroke of God upon our dear Relations: But yet still we must weep, as if we wept not; that is, we must keep due Bounds and Moderation in our Sorrows, and not be too deeply concerned for these dying, short-liv'd Things.

To this Purpose the Apostle exhorts, Heb. 12.5. My Son despise not the Chastening of be Lord, neither faint when thou art rebuked [...]f him. These are two Extreams, despising [...]nd fainting: when God is correcting, to [Page 14]say, I do not regard it, let God take all if he will: If my Estate must go, let it go; if my Children die, let them die: This is to despise the Lord's Chastning; and God can­not bear it, that we should bear it thus light­ly.

There is also another Extream, and that is Fainting: If when Goods are taken away, the Heart be taken away, and when Chil­dren die, then the Spirit of the Parent dies also; this is fainting under the Rod. Thou lamentest, saith Seneca, thy deceased Friend, but I would not have thee grieve beyond what is meet: That thou shouldest not grieve at all, I dare not require thee; Tears may be excused, if they do not exceed: Let thine Eyes therefore be neither wholly dry, nor yet let them overflow; Weep thou maist, but Wail thou must not.

Happy Man that still keeps the golden Bridle of Moderation upon his Passions and Affections, and still keeps the Possessi­on of himself, whatsoever he lose the Pos­session of.

Now the Method in which I purpose to proceed shall be,

• 1. To discover the Signs of immo­derate Sor­row.
• 2. To disswade from the Sin of immo­derate Sor­row.
• 3. To remove the Pleas of immo­derate Sor­row.
• 4. To propose the Cure of immo­derate Sor­row.

First, I shall give you the Signs of im­moderate [Page 15]Sorrow, and shew you when it exceeds its Bounds, and becomes sinful, e­ven a Sorrow to be sorrowed for; and for clearness sake, I will first allow what may be allowed to the Christian Mourner, and then you will the better discern wherein the Excess and Sinfulness of your Sorrow lies.

And first, How much soever we censure and condemn immoderate Sorrow, yet the afflicted must be allowed an awakened and ten­der Sense of the Lord's afflicting hand upon them. It's no vertue to bear what we do not feel. Yea it is a most unbecoming Tem­per, not to tremble when God is smiting.

The Lord saith to Moses, in the Case of Miriam, Numb. 12.24. If her Father had spit in her Face, should she not be ashamed Seven Days. The Face is the Table and Seat of Beauty and Honour; But when it is spit upon, it is made the Sink of Shame. Had her own Father spit upon her Face when she had displeased him, would she not have gone aside as one ashamed by such a Rebuke, & not have shewed her Face to him again in seven Days? How much more sho'd she take it to Heart, and be sensible of this Rebuke of mine, who have filled her Face with Leprous Spots, the Signs of my Dis­pleasure against her? Surely God will be ashamed of those, that are not ashamed when he rebukes them.

[Page 16] It is not Magnanimity, but Stupidity to make light of God's Corrections, and for this the afflicted are smartly taxed, Jer. 5. [...]. I have smitten them, but they have not grieved. When God smote Job in his Per­son, Children, and Estate, he arose and rent his Mantle, and put Dust upon his Head, to shew he was not senseless and un­affected, and yet blessed the afflicting God, which as plainly shewed he was not Contu­macious and unsubmissive.

Secondly, We must allow the Mourning af­flicted Soul a due and comely Expression of his Grief and Sorrow, in his Complaints both to God and Man.

It is much more becoming a Christian ingenuously to open his Troubles, than sul­lenly to smother them. There is no Sin in complaining to God, but much Wicked­ness in complaining of him. Griefs are eased by Groans, and Heart Pressures re­lieved by Utterance. This was David's Course, and constant Way, who was a Man of Afflictions, Psal. 14.2.2, 3. I poured out my Complaint before him, I shewed before him my Trouble: When my Spirit was overwhel­med within me, then thou knewest my Path.

To whom should Children go, but to their Father to make their moan? Whence may they expect Relief and Comfort but from him? The 102 Psalm is entituled, A [Page 17]Psalm for the Afflicted, when he is ever­whelmed, and poureth out his Complaint be­fore the Lord.

And Happy were it, if every afflicted Soul would chuse this way to express his Sorrows. Did we complain more to God, God would complain the less of us, and quickly abate the Matters of our Com­plaint. O you cannot think how moving, how melting, how prevailing it is with God when his poor burdened and afflicted Peo­ple, in a Day of Distress and Desponden­cy, when Deep calleth unto Deep; and one Wave drives on another, then for the op­pressed Soul with Humility, filial Confi­dence and Faith, to turn it self to the Lord, and thus bespeak him.

‘Father, What shall I do: My Soul is greatly bowed down by Trouble, I am full to the Brim, my vain Heart hath looked for Relief this Way, and that Way, but none comes, every Door of Comfort is shut up against me: Thou hast multipli­ed my Sorrows, and renewed thy Witnes­ses against me: Comfort is removed from my outward, and Peace from my inner Man, sharp Afflictions without▪ and bit­ter Reflections within. O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me. Fathers of the Flesh pity their distressed Children when they complain to them, and wilt [Page 18]not thou, O Lord, whose Compassions as far exceed Creature-Compassions, as the Sea exceeds a Drop: O my Father, pity me, support me, deliver me.’

Oh how acceptable is this to God! how advantageous to the Soul!

We may also make our Complaint to Men; so did Job, Chap. 19.21. Have pi­ty, have pity on me, O ye my Friends, for the Hand of God hath touched me. And it is a Mercy if we have any Friends that are Wise, Faithful, and Experienced. They are born for such a Time as this, Prov. 17.17. But be they what they will, they can­not Pity as God, relieve and succour as he: And oftentimes we may say with Job, Ch. 21.4. As for me, Is my Complaint to Men? And if it were, Why should not my Spirit be troubled; q. d. What great Advantage can I get by these Complaints? I may Burden the Heart of my Friend, but how little doth that ease my own? Yet the very o­pening of the Heart to an experienced ten­der Christian is some Relief, and the en­gaging his Prayers is more. Thus far you moan safely: In all this there is no Danger.

Thirdly, The afflicted Person may (ordi­naril) accuse, judge, & condemn himself, for being the Cause and Procurer of his own Trou­b [...]es. He may lawfully be discontented, and vexed with himself for his own Folly, [Page 19]when the Iniquity of his Heels compasseth him about. And truly it is but seldom that any great Affliction befalls a gracious Person but he saw the need of such a Rod before he felt it.

Hath God smitten thy Child or Friend, and didst thou not foresee some sharp Trial coming? Did not thy fond, secure, carnal Temper need such a Scourge to awaken, quicken and purge thee? Or if you did not foresee it, it's now your Duty to search and examine your selves. So the Church in their Affliction, resolved, Lam. 3.40. Let us search & try our ways. When God is Smiting we should be Searching. Surely our Iniquities will enquire after us, if we will not enquire after them. Yea, in the Day of Affliction, a gracious Soul is inquisitive about nothing more than the pro [...]ing and provoking cause of his Troubles, Job 10.2. Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me; q. d. Lord, What special Corruption is it that this Rod is sent to rebuke? What sin­ful Neglect doth it come to humble me for? O discover it now to me, and reco­ver me now from it.

And having found the Root and Cause of their Troubles, ingenious Souls will shame themselves for it, and give Glory to God by an humble Submission and Vindi­cation of the Equity of his Proceeding, Job [Page 20]7.20. I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, thou Preserver of Mer? He thinks it no Shame freely to discover unto God, and deeply to abase himself before him for his Folly.

I remember a choice Note that ^* Mr. Brightman hath in his Commentary upon the Canticles.

Holy Men, saith he, after their Hearts are renewed by Repentance, are not asha­med to remember and confess their Slips and shameful Falls, to the Glory of God; for they account that Glory which such Confessions take from them is not lost, while it goes to the Glory of God. If his Glory may rise out of our Shame, how willing should we be to take such Shame to us? Holy David was not ashamed to acknow­ledge, Psal. 38.5. My Wounds stink and are corrupt because of my Foolishness. He is the wisest Man that thus befools himself before God.

It is true, God may afflict from Prero­gative, or for Trial; but we may alway see Cause enough in our selves, and it is safest to charge it upon our own Folly.

Lastly, The afflicted Christian may in an [Page 21]humble submissive Manner plead with God, and be earnest for the Removal of the Afflic­tion.

When Affliction presseth us above Strength, when it disables us for Duty, or when it gives Advantage to Temptation, then we may say with David, Remove thy Stroke from me, I am consumed by the blow of thine Hand, Psalm 39.10. Even our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Day of his Troubles, poured out his Soul with strong Cries and many Tears, saying, Father, If thou be willing, let this Cup pass from me, Luke 22.42. Op­pressed Nature desires Ease; and even out renewed Nature desires Freedom from those Clogs and Temptations which hinder us in Duty, or expose us to Snares.

Thus far we may safely go.

But Sorrow then becomes sinful and ex­cessive when,

First, It causeth us to slight and despise all our other Mercies and Enjoyments, as small things in comparis [...]n of what we have lost.

It often falls out, that the setting of one Comfort clouds and benights all the rest. Our Tears for our lost Enjoyment so blind our Eyes that we cannot see the many o­ther Mercies which yet remain: We take so much Notice of what is gone, that we take little or no Notice of what is left. But this is very sinful: for it involves in it both [Page 22] Ignorance, Ingratitude, and great Provoca­tion.

It is a Sin springing from Ignorance. Did we know the Desert of our Sin, we would rather wonder to see one Mercy left, than that twenty are cut off. They that know they have forfeited every Mer­cy, should be thankful that they enjoy a­ny, and patient when they lose any of their Comfort.

Did we know God, even that Sovereign Lord, at whose Dispose our Comforts come and go, who can the next Moment blast all that remain, and turn you into Hell, afterwards you would prize the Mercies he yet indulges to you at an higher Value. Did you understand the fickle vanishing Nature of the Creature, what a Flower, what a Bubble it is; Oh how thankful would you be to find so many yet left in your Possession!

Did you know the Case of Thousands as good, yea, better than you, whose whole Harvest of Comfort in this World, is but an Handful to the Gleanings of the Com­forts you still enjoy, who in all their Lives never were Owners of such comfortable Enjoyments as you now overlook, surely you would not act as you do.

Beside, what vile Ingratitude is in this? What, are all your remaining Mercies worth [Page 23]nothing? You have buried a Child, a Friend: Well, but still, you have a Hus­band, a Wife, other Children; or if not, you have comfortable Accommodations for your selves, with Health to enjoy them; or if not, yet have you Ordinances of God, it may be an Interest in Christ, and in the Covenant, Pardon of Sin, and Hopes of Glory. What! and yet sink at this rate, as if all your Mercies, Comforts, and Hopes, even in both Worlds were buried in one Grave. Must Ichabod be written upon your best Mercies, because Mortality is written upon one? Fye, Fye, What shame­ful Ingratitude is here?

And really, Friend, such a Carriage as this under the Rod, is no small Provocati­on to the Lord to go on in Judgment, and make a full end of all that remains, so that Affliction shall not rise up the second Time.

What if God taking Notice how little thou regardest the many undeserved Fa­vours thou yet possessest, should say, Well if thou think'st them not worth the own­ing, neither do I think them worth the continuing? Go, Death, there's a Hus­band, a Wife, other Children yet left, smite them all. Go Sickness and remove the Health of his Body yet left: Go Los­ses, and impoverish his Estate yet left: Go Reproach, and blast his Reputation which [Page 24]is yet sweet, What would you think of this? And yet if you be out of Christ, you are in Danger of a far Sadder Stroke than any or all yet mentioned. What if God should say, prizest thou not my Mercy? Hast thou no Value for my Goodness and For­bearance cowards thee? Is it nothing, that I have spared thee th [...]s long in thy Sins and Rebellions? Well then, I will stretch out my Hand upon thy Life, cut off that Thread which has kept thee so many Years from dropping into Hell.

O think then what you have done, by provoking the Lord through your vile In­gratitude! It is a dangerous thing for to provoke God, when he is already in a Way of Judgment. And if you be his own Peo­ple, and so out of the Danger of this last and worst Stroke: Yet know you have better Mercies to lose than any you have yet lost. Should God cloud your Soul with Doubts, let loose Satan to buffet you, remove joy and Peace from your inner Man, how soon would you be convinced, that the Funeral of your dearest Friend is but a Trifle to this?

Well then, what-ever God takes be still thanful for what he leaves. It was the great Sin of Israel in the Wilderness, that though God had delivered them from their cruel Servitude in Egypt, miraculously fe [...] [Page 25]them in the Desart, and was leading them on to a Land flowing with Milk and Ho­ney; yet as soon as any Want did but be­gin to pinch them, presently all these Mer­cies were forgotten, and slighted, Numb. 14.12. Would to God, say they, we had died in Egypt. And Numb. 11.6. There is nothing at all beside this Manna. Beware of this, O ye mourning and afflicted ones. You see both the Sin that is in it, and the Danger that attends it?

Secondly, And no less sinful are our Sor­rows, When they so wholly ingulph our Hearts that we either mind not all, or are little or nothing sensible of the publick Evils and Ca­lamities which lye upon the Church and Peo­ple of God.

Some Christians have such publick Spi­rits, that the Churches Troubles swallow up their Personal Trouble. Melancthon see­med to take little Notice of the Death of his Child, which he dearly loved, being almost overwhelmed with the Miseries ly­ing on the Church.

And it was a good Evidence of the gra­ciousness and publickness of El [...]'s Spirit, who sitting in the Gate, anxiously waiting ^* for Tydings from the Army, when the [Page 26]Tydings came that Israel fled before the Philistines, that his two Sons Hophni and Phineas were dead, and the Ark of God was taken, just at the mention of that Word, The Ark of God before he heard out the whole Narration, his Mind quickly presa­ging the Issue, he sunk down, and died, 1 Sam. 4.19, 20. O that was the sinking, the killing Word: had the Messenger stop­ped at the Death of his two Sons, like e­nough he had supported that Burden, but the Loss of the Ark was more to him than Sons or Daughters.

But how few such Publick Spirits ap­pear even among Professors in this selfish Generation? May we not with the Apos­tle complain, Phil. 2.21. All seek their own, and not the Things that are of Christ? Few Men have any great Cares or Designs ly­ing beyond the Bounds of their own pri­vate Interests. And what we say of Cares, is as true of Sorrows: If a Child die, we are ready to die too, but publick Calami­ties pierce us not.

How few suffer either their Domestick Comforts to be swallowed up in the Chur­ches Troubles, or their Domestick: Trou­bles to be swallowed up by the Church [...] Mercies! Now when it is thus with us; when we little regard what Mercies o [...] Miseries lie upon others, but are wholly [Page 27]intent upon our own Afflictions, this is a sinful Sorrow, and ought to be sorrowed for.

Thirdly, Our Sorrows then become sinful and exorbitant, When they divert us from or distract us in our Duties, so that our intercourse with Heaven is stopt and interrupted by them.

How long can we sit alone musing upon a dead Creature? Here our Thoughts easily flow, but how hard to fix them upon the Living God! when our Hearts should be in Heaven with our Christ, they are in the Grave with our Dead. May not many afflicted Souls justly complain, that their Troubles had taken away their Christ from them, I mean as to sweet sensible Communi­on, and laid the dead Child in his Room?

Poor Creature, cease to weep any longer for thy dead Relation, and weep rather for thy dead Heart. Is this thy Compliance with God's Design in afflicting thee? What to grow a greater Stranger to him than be­fore! or is this the Way to thy Cure and Comfort in Affliction, to refrain Prayer, and turn thy Back upon God?

Or if thou darest not wholly neglect thy Duty, yet thy Affliction spoils the Success and Comfort of it; thy Heart is wandring, dead, distracted in Prayer & Meditation, so that thou hast no Relief or Comfort from it.

Rouze up thy self, Christian, and consider, this is not right. Surely the Rod works not [Page 28]kindly now. What, did thy Love to God expire when thy Friend expired? Is thy Heart as cold in Duty, as his Body is in the Grave? Hath natural Death seized him, and spiritual Deadness seized thee? Sure then thou hast more Reason to lament thy dead Heart, than thy dead Friend. Divert the Stream of thy Troubles speedily, and labour to recover thy self out of this Tem­per quickly; lest sad Experience shortly tell thee, that what thou now mournest for, is but a Trifle to what thou shalt mourn for hereafter. To lose the Heavenly Warmth and Spiritual Liveliness of thy Affection, is undoubtedly a far more considerable Loss, than to lose the Wise of your Bosom, or the sweetest Child that ever a tender Parent laid in the Grave.

Reader, If this be thy Case, Thou hast Reason to challenge the first Place among the Mourners. It is better for thee to bury Ten Sons, than to remit one Degree of Love or Delight in God. The End of God in smiting, was to win thy Heart the nearer to him, by removing that which estranged it, how then dost thou cross the very De­sign of God in this Dispensation? must God then lose his Delight in thy Fellowship, be­cause thou hast lost thine in the Creature Surely when thy Troubles thus accompany thee to thy Closet, they are sinful and ex­travagant Troubles.

[Page 29] Fourthly, Then you may also conclude your Sorrows to be Excessive and Sinful, When they so overload and oppress your Bodies, as to endanger your Lives, or render them useless and unfit for Service.

Worldly Sorrow works Death, 2 Cor. 7.10. that is, Sorrow after the Manner of Worldly Men, ^* Sorrow in a meer carnal natural Way, which is not relieved by any Spiri­tual Reasonings and Considerations: This falls so heavy sometimes upon the Body, that it sinks under the Weight, and is cast into such Diseases as are never more wrought off, or healed in this World. Heaviness in the Heart of a Man makes in stoop, saith So­lomon, Prov. 12.25. The stoutest Body must stoop under Heart-Pressures.

It is with the Mind of Man, saith one, as with the Stone Tyrrhenus, as long as it's whole it swimmeth but once broken it sinks presently. Grief is a Moth which getting into the Mind, will in a short Time, make the Body be it never so strong & well wrought in a Piece, like an old feary Garment.

Philosophers & Physicians generally reckon Sorrow among the chief Causes of shortning Life. Christ was a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with Griefs, and this some think, [Page 30]was the Reason that he appeared as a Man of Fifty, when he was little more than Thirty Years old, John 8.17. But his Sor­rows were of another ^‡.

Many a Man's Soul is to his Body, as a sharp Knife to a thin sheath, which easily cuts it through; and what do we by poring and pondering upon our Troubles, but whet the Knife that it may cut the deeper and the quicker? Of all the Creatures that ever God made (Devils only excepted) Man is the most able and apt to be his own Tormentor.

How unmercifully do we load them in Times of Affliction? How do we not only waste their Strength by Sorrow, but deny Relief, and necessary Refreshment? They must carry the Load, but be allowed no Refreshment: If they can eat the Bread of Affliction and drink Tears, they may feed at full; but no pleasant Bread, no quiet Sleep is permitted them. Surely you would not burden a Beast, as you do your own Bodies; you would pity and relieve a brute Beast groaning and sinking under an heavy Burden, but you will not pity nor relieve your own Bodies.

[Page 31] Some Mens Souls have given such deep Wounds to their Bodies, that they are never like to enjoy many easie or comfortable Days more whilst they dwell in them.

Now this is very sinful, and displeasing to God; for if he have such a tender care for our Bodies, that he would not have us swallowed up of over much Grief, no tho' it be for Sin, 2 Cor. 2.7. but even to that Sorrow sets Bounds. How much less with outward Sorrow for Temporal Loss? May not your Stock of natural Strength be im­ployed to better Purposes think you than these? Time may come, that you may earnestly wish you had that Health and Strength again to spend for God, which you now so lavishly waste, and prodigally cast away upon your Troubles to no Purpose, or Advantage.

It was therefore an high Point of Wisdom in David, and recorded, no doubt, for our Imitation, who when the Child was dead, ceased to mourn, but arose, washed himself, and eat Bread, 2 Sam. 12.20.

Fifthly, When Affliction sours the Spirit with Discontent, and makes it inwardly grudge against the Hand of God, then our Trouble is full of Sin, and we ought to be humbled for it before the Lord.

Whatever God doth with us or ours, still we should maintain good Thoughts of him. [Page 32]A gracious Heart cleaves nearer & nearer to God in Affliction, and can justify God in his severest Stroaks, acknowledging them to be all Just and Holy. Psal 119.75. I know also that thy Judgments are right, and that thou in Faithfulness hath afflicted me. And hereby the Soul may comfortably evi­dence to it self its own Uprightness, and sincere Love to God. Yea it hath been of singular Use to some Souls, to take right Measures of their Love to God in such Trials; to have lovely and well pleased Thoughts of God, even when he smites us in our nearest and dearest Comforts; argu­eth plainly, that we love him for himself, and not for his Gifts only: And that his In­terest in the Heart is deeper, than any Crea­ture-Interest is. And such is the Comfort that hath resulted to some from such Dis­coveries of their own Hearts by close smart­ing Afflictions; that they would not part with it, to have their Comforts, whose Re­moval occasioned them, given back in Lieu of it.

But to swell with secret Discontent, and have hard Thoughts of God as if he had done us wrong, or dealt more severely with us than any. O this is a vile Temper, cursed Fruit springing from an evil Root; a very carnal ignorant, proud Heart; or at least from a very distempered, if renewed Heart. [Page 33]So it was with Jonah, when God smote his Gourd, Yea, saith he, I do well to be angry even unto Death, Jonah 4.9. Poor Man, he was highly distempered at this Time, and out of Frame; this was not his true temper or ordinary frame, but a surprize, the Effect of a Paroxysm of Temptation, in which his Passions had been over-heated.

Few dare to vent it in such Language. But how many have their Hearts imbittered by Discontent, and secret Risings against the Lord? Which, if ever the Lord open their Eyes to see, will cost them more Trouble than ever that of Affliction did, which gave the Occasion of it.

I deny not, but the best Heart may be tempted to think and speak frowardly con­cerning these Words of the Lord, that en­vious Adversary the Devil will blow the Coals, and labour to blow up our Spirits at such Time into high Discontents; The Temptation was strong even upon David himself, to take up hard Thoughts of God, and to conclude, Verily I have cleansed my Heart in vain; q d. How little Privilege from the worst of Evils hath a Man by his Godliness? But he soon supprest such Moti­ons. If I sh [...]uld say thus, I sh [...]uld [...]ffend a­gainst the Generation of thy Children: Mean­ing, that he should condemn the whole Race of godly men through the whole [Page 34]World; for who is there among them all, but is, or hath, or may be afflicted as severe­ly as my self?

Surely, it is meet to be said unto God, I have born Chastisement, I will not offend any m [...]re, Job 34▪31. Whatever God doth with you, speak well, and think well of him, and his Works.

Sixthly, Our Sorrows exceed due B [...]unds, when we c [...]ntinually excite and provoke them by willing Irritations.

Grief, like a Lion, loves to play with us before it destroys us. And strange it is that we should find some kind of Pleasure in rouzing our Sorrows. It's ^* Seneca's Ob­servation, and experimentally true, that even Sorrow it self hath a certain Kind of Delight attending it.

The Jews that were with Mary in the House to comfort her, When they saw that she went out hastily f [...]llowed her, saying, She goeth to the Grave to weep there, John 11.32. As they do, saith ^‡ Calvin, that seek to provoke their Troubles by going to their Grave, or often looking upon the dead Body.

Thus we delight to look upon the Reliques of our deceased Friends, and often to men­tion [Page 35]their Actions and Sayings, not so much for any Matter of holy and weighty In­struction or Imitation; for that would war­rant and commend the Action; but rather to rub the Wound, and fetch fresh Blood from it, by piercing our selves with some little, trivial, yet wounding Circumstances, I have known many that will sit and talk of the Features, Actions, & sayings of their Children, for Hours together, and weep at the Rehearsal of them, and that for many Months after they are gone: So keeping the Wound continually open, and excrucia­ting their own Hearts without any Benefit at all by them. A Lock of Hair, or some such Trifle must be kept for this Purpose to renew their Sorrow daily by looking on it. On this Account, Jacob would not have his Son called Benoni, lest it should renew his Sorrow, but Benjamin.

I am far from commending a Bruitish Oblivion of our dear Relations, & condemn it as much as I do this Childish and unpro­fitable Remembrance. Oh Friends, we have other things to do under the Rod than these. Were it not better to be searching our Hearts and Houses, when God's Rod is upon us, and studying how to answer the End of it, by mortifying those Corrup­tions which provoke it? Surely the Rod works not kindly till it come to this.

[Page 36] Seventhly, Lastly, Our Sorrows may then be pronounced sinful, when they deafen our Ears to the wholesome and seasonable Words of Counsel and Comfort offered us for our Relief and Support. Jer. 31.15. A Voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her Chil­dren, would not be comforted for her Children, because they were not. She will admit no Comfort, her Disease is curable by no other Means but the Restoration of her Children; give her them again and she will be quiet, else you speak into the Air, she regards not what ever you say.

Thus Israel in the cruel Bondage in Egypt, Moses brings them the glad Tydings of De­liverance; But they hearkened not to him, because of the Anguish of Spirit, and their cruel Bondage, Exod. 6.9.

Thus obstinately fixed are many in their Trouble, that no Words of Advice or Com­fort find any place with them: yea, I have known some exceeding quick & ingenious, even above the rate of their common Parts and Abilities in inventing Shifts, & framing Objections to turn off Comfort from them selves, [...] if they had hired to plead again [...] their own Interest: And if they be drive [...] from those Pleas, yet they are settled is their Troubles too fast to be moved, sa [...] what you will they mind it not; or at mo [...] [Page 37]it abides not upon them. Let proper, sea­sonable Advice or Comfort be tendered, they refuse it, your Counsel is good, but they have no Heart to it now. Thus Psal. 77.10. My Soul, saith he, refused to be comforted.

To want Comfort in Time of Affliction, is an Aggravation of our Affliction; but to refuse it, when offered us, wants not Sin. Time may come, when we would be glad to receive Comfort, or to hear a word of Support, and shall be denied it.

Oh! 'tis a Mercy to the afflicted to have Barnabas with them, an Interpreter, one a­mong a thousand; and it will be the great Sin, and Folly of the Afflicted to spill those excellent Cordials prepared and offered to them, like unto Water upon the Ground, out of a froward, or dead Spirit, under Trou­ble. Say not with them, Lam. 3.18, 19. My hope is perished from the Lord, remembring mine Affliction and my Misery, the Wormwood and the Gall. It's a thousand Pities the Wormwood and Gall of Affliction should so disgust a Christian, as that he should not at any time be able to relish the sweetness that is in Christ, and in the Promises. And thus I have dispatcht the first Part of my Design, in shewing you wherein the Sin of Mourners doth not lie, and in what it doth.

Secondly, Having cleared this, and shewn you wherein the Sin and Danger lies; my [Page 38]way is now prepared to the second Thing proposed, namely, To disswade Mourners from these sinful Excesses of Sorrows, and to keep the golden Bridle of Moderation upon their Passion in Times of Affliction. And O that my Words may be as success­ful upon those pensive Souls that shall read them, as Abigal's were to David, 1 Sam. 25.32. who when he perceived how proper and seasonable they were, said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent thee this Day to meet me, and blessed be thy Advice.

I am sensible how hard a Task it is, I here undertake; to charm down, and allay mutinous, raging, and tumultuous Passions; to give a Check to the Torrent of Passion, is ordinarily but to provoke it, and make it rage and swell the more.

The Work is the Lord's, wholly depends upon his Power & Blessing. He that saith to the Sea, when the Waves thereof roar, Be still; can also quiet and compose the stormy and tumultuous Sea that rages in the Breasts of the Afflicted, and casts up no­thing but the Fr [...]th of vain and useless Com­plaint of our Misery, or the Dirt of sinful and wicked Complaints of the Dealings of the Lord with us.

The Rod of Affliction goes round, and visits all sorts of Persons without Difference It is upon the Tabernacles of the Just an [...] [Page 39]of the Unjust, the Righteous and the Wicked, both are Mourning under the Rod.

The Godly are not so to be minded, as that the other be wholly neglected, they have as strong and tender, though not as regular Affections to their Relations, and must not be wholly suffered to sink under their unrelieved Burthens.

Here therefore I must have Respect to two sorts of Persons, whom I find in Tears upon the same Account; I mean the Loss of their dear Relations, the Regenerate, and the Unregenerate. I am a Debtor to both, and shall endeavour their Support and Assistance; for even the Unregenerate ^* call for our Help and Pity, and must not be neglected and wholly slighted in their Afflictions. We must pity them that can­not pity themselves. The Law of God Commands us to help a Beast, if fallen under its Burden; How much more a Man sink­ing under a Load of Sorrows?

I confess, Uses of Comfort to the Unre­generate are not, ordinarily, in Use among us, and it may seem strange whence any Thing of Support should be drawn for them that have no special Interest in Christ, or Promises.

[Page 40] I confess also, that I find my self under great Disadvantages for this Work, I can­not offer them those reviving Cordials that are contained in Christ, and the Covenant, for God's afflicted People; but such is the Goodness of God, even to his Enemies, that they are not left wholly without Sup­ports, or Means to allay their Sorrow.

If this therefore be thy Case, who readest these Lines; afflicted and unsanctified, mourning bitterly for thy dead Friends, hast more cause to mourn for thy dead Soul, Christless and Graceless, as well as Childless or Friendless: No comfort in hand, nor yet in Hope, full of Trouble, and no vent by Prayer or Faith to ease thy Heart.

Poor Creature, thy Case is sad, but yet do not wholly sink, and suffer thy self to be swallowed up of Grief; thou hast laid thy dear one in the Grave, yet throw not thy self headlong into the Grave, after him; that will not be the way to remedy thy Misery: But sit down a while and ponder these three things.

First, That of all Persons in the World thou hast most Reason to be tender over thy Life and Health, and careful to preserve it; for if thy Troubles destr [...]y thee, thou art e­ternally lost, undone for ever. Worldly Sor­r [...]w, saith the Apostle, worketh Death, And it it works thy Death, it works thy Dam­nation [Page 41]also; for Hell follows that pale Horse, Rev. 6.8. If a Believer dies, there's no Danger of Hell to him, the Second Death hath no Power over him; but wo to thee if it overtake thee in thy Sin; beware therefore what thou dost do against thy Health and Life. Do not put the Candle of Sorrow too near that Thread, by which thou hangest over the Mouth of Hell.

O it is far better for to be Childless or Friendless on Earth, than hopeless, and remediless in Hell.

Secondly, Own and admire the Bounty and Goodness of God manifested to thee in this Affliction; that when Death came into thy Family to smite and carry off one, it had not fallen to thy Lot to be the Per­son; thy Husband, Wife or Child is taken, and thou art left; Had thy Name been in the Commission, thou hadst been now past Hope.

O the sparing Mercy of God! the won­derful Long Suffering of God towards thee; Possibly that poor Creature that is gone; never provoked God as thou hast done; thy poor Child never abused Mer­cies, neglected Calls, treasured up the thousandth part of that Guilt thou hast done So that thou mightest well imagine if should rather have cut thee down, that [Page 42]hadst so provoked God, than thy poor lit­tle one.

But oh the admirable Patience of God! Oh the Riches of his Long-suffering! thou art only warned, not smitten by it: Is there nothing in this worth thankful Ac­knowledgement? Is it not better to be in Black for another on Earth, than in the Blackness of Darkness forever? Is it not easi­er to go to the Grave with thy dead Friend, and weep there; then to go to Hell among the Damned where there is Weeping, and Wailing, and Gnashing of Teeth?

Thirdly, This Affliction for which thou mournest, may be the greatest Mercy to thee that ever yet befel thee in this World. God hath now made thy Heart soft by Trouble, shewed thee the Vanity of this World; and what a poor Trifle it is which thou madest thy Happiness: There is now a dark Cloud spread over all thy worldly Comforts. Now, O now! if the Lord would but strike in with this Affliction, and by it open thine Eyes to see thy de­plorable State, and take off thy heart for ever from the vain World which thou now seest hath nothing in it; and cause thee to chuse Christ the only abiding Good, fo [...] thy Portion. If now thy Affliction may but bring thy Sin to Remembrance, and thy dead Friend may but bring thee to a [Page 43]Sense of thy dead Soul, which is as cold to God and spiritual Things, as his Body is to thee; and more loathsome in his Eyes than that Corps is, or shortly will be to the Eyes of Men; Then this Day is certainly a Day of the greatest Mercy that ever thou sawest. O happy Death, that shall prove Life to thy Soul.

Why this is sometimes the way of the Lord with Men, Job 36.8, 9. If they be bound in fetters, and holden in Cords of Af­fliction then he sheweth them their work, and their Transgression, that they have exceeded: He openeth also their Ears to Discipline, and commandeth them that they return from I­niquity.

O consider, poor pensive Creature, that which stole away the Heart from God, is now gone: That which eat up thy Time and Thoughts, that there was no Room for God, Soul, or Eternity in them, is gone: All the vain Expectations that thou raisedst up unto thy self, from that poor Creature which now lies in the Dust, are in one Day quite perished. O what an Advantage hast thou now for Heaven, be­yond whatever thou yet hadst If God will but bless this Rod, thou wilt have Cause to keep many a Thanksgiving-Day for this Day.

I pray let these three Things be ponde­red [Page 44]by you; I can bestow no more Com­forts upon you, your Condition bars the best Comforts from you; they belong to the People of God, and you have yet no­thing to do with them.

I shall therefore turn from you to them, and present some choicer Comforts to them to whom they properly belong, which may be of great Use to you in reading; if it be but to convince you of the blessed Pri­vilege & State of the People of God in the greatest Plunges of Troubles in this World, and what Advantages their Interest in Christ gives them for Peace and Settle­ment, beyond that State you are in.

And here I do with much more Free­dom and Hope of Success, apply my self to the Work of counselling and comfort­ing the Afflicted. You are the Fearers of the Lord, and tremble at his Word; the least Sin is more formidable to you than the greatest Affliction. Doubtless you would rather chuse to bury all your Children than provoke and grieve your heavenly Father. Your Relations are dear, but Christ is dearer to you by far.

Well then, let me perswade you to re­tire a while into your Closets, redeem a little Time from your unprofitable Sorrows ease and empty your Hearts before th [...] Lord, and beg his Blessing upon the re­lieving, [Page 45]quieting, and Heart composing Considerations that follow; some of which are more general and common, some more [...]articular and special, but all of them such, as through the Blessing of God, may be very useful at this Time to your Souls.

1. Confid [...] Consider in this Day of Sorrow, who is the Framer and Author of this Rod by which you now smart; is it not the Lord? And if the Lord hath done it, it becomes you meekly to submit. Psal. 46.10. Be still and know that I am God.

Man and Man stand upon even ground; if your fellow Creature do any thing that displeases you, you may not only enquire, Who did it? but, Why he did it? You may demand his Grounds and Reasons for what he hath done; but you may not do so here: It is expected that this one thing, The Lord hath done it, should without any farther Disputes, or Contests, silence and quiet you, whatever it be that I [...]hath done, Job 33.13. Why dost thou strive a­gainst him? for he giveth not an Account of any of his Matters. The Supream Be­ing must needs be an unaccountable and uncontroulable Being.

It's a Shame for a Child to strive with his Father; a Shame for a Servant to con­tend with his Master: But for a Creature [Page 46]to quarrel and strive with the God that made him, O how shameful is it? Surely 'tis highly reasonable that you be subject to that Will whence you proceeded, and that he who formed you and yours, should dispose of both as seemeth him good. It is said, 2 Sam. 3.36. That whatsoever the King did, pleased all the People. And shall any thing the Lord doth, displease you? He can do no wrong. If we pluck a Rose in the Bud as we walk in our Gardens, who shall blame us for it, it is our own, and we may crop it off when we please? Is not this the Case; Thy sweet Bud which was cropt off before it was fully blown, was cropt off by him that owned it, yea by him that formed it. If his Dominion be absolute, sure his Disposal should be acceptable.

It was so to good Eli, 1 Sam. 3.18. It is the Lord, let him do, what seemeth him good. And it was so to David, Psal. 39.9. I was dumb. I opened not my Mouth, because thou didst it. O let it be for ever remembred, That He whose Name alone is Jehovah, is the most High over all the Earth, Psalm 83.18.

The glorious Sovereignty of God is il­lustriously displayed in two Things, his Decrees and Providences. With respect to the first he saith, Rom. 9.15. I will have [Page 47]Mercy, on whom I will have Mercy. Here is no Ground of disputing with him; for so it is said, ver. 20. Who art thou O Man, that repliest against God? Shall the Thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the Potter Power over the Clay?

And as to his Providences, wherein his Sovereignty is also manifested. It is said, Zech. 2.14. Be silent, O all Flesh, before the Lord, for he is raised up out of his Habita­tion. It's spoken of his providential work­ing in the Changes of Kingdoms, and De­solations that attend them.

Now seeing the Case stand thus, that the Lord hath done it, it is his Pleasure to have it so; and if that it had not been his Will, it could never have been as it is: He that gave thee, rather lent thee, thy Re­lation, hath also taken him. O how qui­et should this Consideration leave thee! If your Landlord, who hath many Years suf­fered you to dwell in his House, do at last warn you out of it, though he tell you not why; you will not contend with him, or say he hath done you wrong: much less if he tell you it will be more for his Profit and Accommodation to take into his own Hand, then let it to you any longer.

Doubtless, Reason will tell you, you ought quietly to pack up and quit in. It's [Page 48]your great Landlord from whom you hold at pleasure, your own, and your Relations Lives, that hath now warned you out from them, it being more for his Glory, it may be, to take it in his own Hand by Death; and must you dispute the Case with him?

Come, Christian, this no Way becomes thee, but rather, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord. Look off from a dead Crea­ture, lift up thine Eyes to the Sovereign, Wise, and Holy Pleasure that ordered this Affliction: Consider who he is, and what thou art; yea, pursue this Consideration till thou canst say, I am now filled with the Will of God.

2. Consid. Ponder well the Quality of the Comfort you are deprived of, and remember, That when you had it, it stood but in the Rank and order of common and inferiour Comforts.

Children and all other Relations are but common Blessings which God indifferently bestows upon his Friends and Enemies, and by the having or losing of them, no Man knows either Love or Hatred. It is said of the Wicked, Psal. 77.14. That they are full of Children, yea, and of Children that do survive them too; for, They leave their Substance to their Babes. Full of Sin, yet full of Children, and these Children live to inherit their Parents Sins and Estates to­gether.

[Page 49] It is the mistaking of the Quality and Nature of our Enjoyments, that so plunges us into Trouble when we lose them. We think there is no necessary a Connexion be­twixt these Creatures and our Happiness, that we are utterly undone when they fail us.

But this is our Mistake; there is no such necessary Connexion or Dependance, we may be happy without these Things. It is no [...] Father, Mother, Wife, or Child, in which our chief Good and Felicity lies, we have higher, better, and more enduring Things than these, all these may perish, and yet our Soul secure and safe, yea and our Comfort in the way, as well as end, may be safe enough tho' these be gone. God hath better Things to comfort his People with than these, and worse Rods to afflict you with than the Removal of these: Had God let your Children live and flourish, and given you Ease and Rest in your Taberna­cle, but in the mean Time inflicted spiritual Judgments upon your Souls, How much more sad had your Case been?

But as long as our best Mercies are all safe, the Things that have Salvation in them remain, and only the Things that have Va­ [...] [...] them removed: you are not pre­judged or much hindered as to the Attain­ment of your last End by the Loss of these Thin [...].

[Page 50] Alas, it was not Christ's Intent to pur­chase for you a sensual Content in the En­joyment of those earthly Comforts, but to redeem you from all Iniquity; purge your Corruptions, sanctifie your Natures, wean your Hearts from this vain World; and so dispose and order your present Condition, that finding no Rest and Content here, you might the more ardently pant and sigh after the Rest which remains for the People of God. And are you not in as probable a Way to attain this End now as you was be­fore? Do you think you are not as likely by these Methods of Providence to be wean­ed from the World, as by more pleasant and prosperous ones: Every Wise Man reckons that Station and Condition to be best for him, which most promotes and se­cures his last End and great Design.

Well then, reckon you are as well with­out these Things as with them; yea, and better too, if they were but Clogs and Snares upon your Affections, you have really lost nothing, if the Things wherein your Eternal Happiness consisteth be yet safe. Many of God's dearest Children have been denied such Comforts as these, and many have been deprived of them, and yet never the father from Christ & Heaven for that

3. Consid. Always remember that how som [...] and unexpected soever y [...] parting with you [Page 51]Relation was, yet your Lease was expired be­fore you lost them, and you enjoyed them every Moment of the Time that God intended them for you.

Before this Relation, whose Loss you lament, was born, the Time of your En­joyment and Separation was unalterably fixed and limited in Heaven, by the God of the Spirits of all Flesh; and although it was a Secret to you, the whilst your Friend was with you: yet now it is a plain and evident Thing, that this was the Time of Separation before appointed; and that the Life of our Friend could by no Means be protacted or abbreviated, but must keep you Company just so far, and then part with you.

This Position wants no full and clear Scripture Authority for its Foundation [...]; how pregnant and full is that Text, Job 24.5, 6. Seeing his Days are determined, the Number of his Months are with thee: Thou hast appointed him his Bounds which he can­not pass.

The Time of our Life as well as the Place of our Habitation was prefixed be­fore we were born.

It will greatly conduce to your Settle­ment and Peace to be well established in this Truth: That the appointed Time was fully come, whe [...] you and your dear Re­lation [Page 52]parted; for it will prevent and save a great Deal of Trouble which comes from our After-Reflections.

Oh! if this had been done or that omit­ted, had it not been for such Miscarriages and Over-Sight, my dear Husband, Wife, or Child, had been alive at this Day! no, no, the Lord's Time was fully come, and all Things concurred and fell in together to bring about the Pleasure of his Will; let that satisfie you; had the ablest Physicians in the World been there, or had they that were there, prescribed another Course, as it is now, so it would have been when they had done all. Only it must be precaution'd, that the Decree of God no way excuses any voluntary sinful Neglects or Miscarriages. God over-rules these Things to serve his own Ends, but no way approves them; but it greatly relieves, against all our involun­tary and unavoidable Oversights and Mi­stakes about the Use of Means or the Ti­ming of them; for it could not be other­wise than now it is.

Object. But many Things are alledged against this Position, and that with mu [...] seeming Countenance from such Scripture as these, Psalm 54.25. Blood-thirsty Me [...] shall not live out half their Days. E [...]. [...] 18. Why shouldst thou die before thy Ti [...] Psal. 102.24. O my God take me not [...] [Page 53]in the midst of my Days, Isa. 28.10. I am deprived of the residue of my Years. And Pr. 10.27. The Fear of the Lord prolongeth Days, but the Years of the Wicked shall be shortned. It is demanded, what tolerable Sense we can give these Scriptures, whilst we insert an unalterable Fixation of the Term of Death.

Sol. The Sense of all these Scriptures will be cleared up to full Satisfaction by distinguishing Death and the Terms of it.

First, We must distinguish Death into Natural and Violent.

The wicked and Blood-thirsty Man shall not live out half his Days (i. e.) half so long as he might live according unto the course of Nature, or the Vigour and Sound­ness of his natural Constitution; for his Wickedness either draws Nature in an Excess of Riot and Luxury, or exposes him to the Hand of Justice, which cuts him off for his Wickedness before he hath accomplished half his Days.

Again, we must distinguish of the Term or Limit for Death, which is either Gene­ral or Special.

The General Limits are now Seventy or Eighty Years, Psal. 90.10. The Days of [...] years are threescore years and ten, and if [...] reason of Strength they be fourse re years yet [...]s their Strength Labour and Sorrow. To [Page 54]this short Limit the Life of Man is gene­rally reduced since the Flood; and tho' there be some few Exceptions, yet the General Rule is not thereby destroyed.

The special Limit is that Proportion of Time, which God by his own Counsel and Will hath allotted to every individual Per­son; and it is only known to us by the Event: This we affirm to be a fixed and unmoveable Term, with it all Things shall fall in, and observe the Will of God in our Dissolution at that Time. But because the general Limit is known, and this special Limit is a Secret hid in God's own Breast; therefore Man reckons by the former Ac­count, and may be said when he dies at Thirty or Forty Years old to be cut off in the midst of his Days; for it so, reckon­ing by the general Account: Though he be not cut off till the End of his days; reckoning by his special Limit.

Thus he that is wicked dies before his Time: (i. e.) The Time he might attain to in an ordinary Way: But not before the Time God hath appointed. And so in all other objected Scripture.

It is not proper at all in a Subject of this Nature, to digress into a Controversie. Alas! the poor Mourner, overwhelmed with Grief, hath no Pleasure in that; it is not proper for him at this Time; and [Page 55]therefore I shall for the present, wave the Controversie, and wind up this Considera­tion with an humble and serious Motion to the Afflicted, that they will wisely con­sider the Matter, the Lord's Time was come. Your Relations lived with you e­very Moment that God intended them for you, before you had them.

O Parents! mind this, I beseech you; the Time of your Child's Continuance in the Womb, was fixed to a Minute by the Lord; and when the parturient Fulness of that time was come, Were you not wil­ling it should be delivered thence into the World? The tender Mother would not have it abide one Minute longer in the Womb, how well soever she loved it: And is there not the same Reason we should be willing when God's appointed Time is come to have it delivered by Death out of this State, which in Respect of this Life of Heaven, is but as the Life of a Child in the Womb, to its Life in the open World.

And let none say the Death of Children is a praemature Death. God hath Ways to ripen them for Heaven, whom he in­tends to gather thither betimes, the which we know not: In Respect of Fitness they die in a full Age, though they be cut off in the Bud of their Time.

He that appointed the Seasons of the [Page 56]Year, appointed the Seasons of our Com­fort in Relations: And as those Seasons cannot be altered, no more can these. All the Course of Providence is guided by an unalterable Decree; what falls out casu­ally to our Apprehension, yet falls out ne­cessarily in Respect of God's Appoint­ment.

O therefore be quieted in it, this must needs be as it is.

4. Consid. Hath God smitten your Dar­ling, and taken away the Delight of your Eyes with this stroke; bear this stroke with Patience & quiet Submission: For how know you but your Trouble might have been greater from the Life, than it is now from the Death of your Children?

Sad Experience made a Holy Man once for to say, It's better to weep for Ten dead Children, than for one living Child: A living Child may prove a continual drop­ping, yea, a continual dying to the Pa­rent's Heart. What a sad word was that of David, 2 Sam. 16.11. Beh [...]ld, saith he, My Son which came out of my Bowels seeketh my Life. I remember Seneca in his Consolatory Epistle to his Friend Marellus, brings in his Friend thus aggravating the Death of his Child.

O, saith Marellus, Had my Child lived with me, to how great Modesty, Gravity [Page 57]and Prudence, might my Discipline have for [...]ul­ed & moulded him. But, Seneca's Epi­stles, p 84. saith Seneca, (which is more to be feared) he might have been as in stly others are; for look (saith he) what Children come even out of the worthiest Fami­lies, such who exercise both their own and others Lust; in all wh [...]se Life there is not a Day without the Mark of some notorious Wick­edness upon it.

I know your tender Love to your Chil­dren will scarce admit such Jealousies of them, they are for the present, sweet, love­ly, innocent Companions; and you doubt not but by your Care of their Education, and Prayer for them, they might have been the Joy of your Hearts.

Why, doubtless Esau, when he was lit­tle and in his tender Age, promised as much Comfort to his Parents as Jacob did, and I question not but Isaac and Rebecca (a gracious pair) spent as many Prayers, and bestowed as many Holy Counse is upon him as they did upon his Brother: But when the Child grew up to riper Years, then he became a sharp Affliction to his Parents; for it is said in Gen. 26.34. That when Esau was Forty Years old, he took to Wife Judith the Daughter of Berith the Hittite, which was a Grief of Mind to Isaac and Re­becca. The Word in the Original, comes [Page 58]from a Root that signifies to imbitter: erant amari­tudo animi. This Child imbitter­ed the Minds of his Parents by his Rebellion against them, and de­spising their Counsels.

And I cannot doubt but Abraham dis­ciplin'd his Family as strictly as any of you; never Man received an higher Encomium from God upon that Account, Gen. 18.19. I know him, that he will command his Chil­dren, and his Houshold after him, and they shall keep the Way of the Lord. Nor can I think but he bestowed as many and as frequent Prayers for his Children, and particularly for his Ishmael, as any of you: We find one, and that a very pathetical one record­ed Gen. 17.18. O that Ishmeal might live before thee: And yet you know how he proved, a Son that yielded him no more Comfort, than Esau did unto Jacob and Rebecca.

O how much more common is it for Parents to see the Vices and Evils of their Children, than their Vertues and Graces? And where one Parent lives to rejoyce in beholding the Grace of god shining forth in the Life of his Child; there are Twenty it may be an Hundred, that live to Be­hold, to their Vexation and Grief, the Workings of Corruption in them.

[Page 59] It is a Note of Plutarch in his Morals, Niocles, saith he, Plut. Moral. p. 222. lived not to see the noble Vi­ctory obtained by Themistocles his Son. Nor Miltiades to see the Battle his Son Cimon won in the Field. Nor Zantippus to hear his Son Pericles Preach, and make Orati­ons. Ariston never heard his Son Plato's Lectures and Disputations. But Men, saith he, commonly live to see their Chil­dren fall a Gaming, Revelling, Drinking, and Whoring; Multitudes live to see such Things to their Sorrow. And if thou be a gracious Soul, O what a cut would this be to thy very Heart! to see those, as David spake of his Absalom, that came out of thy Bowels to be sinning against God, that God whom thou lovest, and whose Honour is dearer to thee than thy very Life!

But admit they should prove civil and hopeful Children, yet mightest thou not live to see more Misery come upon them than thou couldest endure to see? O think what a sad and doleful Sight was that to Zedekiah, Jer. 50.10. The King of Baby­lon brought his Children and slew them before his Eyes. Horrid Spectacle! And that leads to the,

5. Consid. How know you but by this Stroke which y [...]u so lament, God hath taken them away from the Evil to come?

[Page 60] It is God's usual way when some extra­ordinary Calamities are coming upon the World, to hide some of his weak and ten­der ones out of the way by death, Isa. 57.1, 2. He leaves some and removes others, but taketh Care for the Security of all. He provided a Grave for Methuselah before the Flood. The Grave is an hiding Place to some, and God sees it better for them to be under Ground, than above Ground in such evil Days.

Just as a careful and tender Father, who hath a Son abroad at School, hearing the Plague is broken out in, or near the Place, sends his Horse presently to fetch home his Son, before the Danger and Difficulty be greater. Death is our Father's pale Horse, which he sends to fetch home his tender Children, and carry them out of Harm's Way.

Surely, when National Calamities are drawing on, it is far better for our Friends to be in the Grave in Peace, than exposed to the Miseries and Distresses that are here, which is the meaning of Jer. 22.10. Weep not for the Dead, neither bemoan him; but weep for him that goeth away, for he shall re­turn no more, nor see his native Country.

And is there not a dreadful Sound of Troubles now in our Ears? Do not the Clouds gather Blackness? Surely all Things [Page 61]round about us seem to be disparing and disposing themselves for Affliction. The Days may be nigh in which you shall say, Blessed is the Womb that never hare, and the Paps that never gave suck.

It was in the Day wherein the Faith and Patience of the Saints were exercised, that John heard a Voice from Heaven, saying to him, Write, Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.

Thy Friend by an Act of Favour is dis­banded by Death, whilst thou thy self art left to endure a great Fight of Affliction. And now if Troubles come, thy Cares and Fears will be so much the less, and thy own Death so much the easier to thee; when so much of thee is in Heaven al­ready. In this Case, the Lord by a mer­ciful Dispensation is providing both for their Safety, and thy own easier Passage to them.

In removing thy Friends before Hand he seems to say to thee as he did to Peter. John 14.7. What I do thou knowest not now, but hereafter thou shalt know it. The Eye of Providence hath a Prospect far beyond thine; it would be in Probability an harder Ta [...]k for thee to leave them behind, than to follow them.

A Tree that is deeply rooted in the Earth, requires many Strokes to fell it, but [Page 62]when its Roots are loosened before hand, then an easie Stroke lays it down upon the Earth.

6. Consider. A Parting Time must needs come, And why is not this as good as another? You knew before-hand, your Child or Friend was Mortal, and that the Thread that linketh you together, must be cut. If any one, saith, Basil, ^* had asked you, when your Child was born, what is that which is born? What would you have answered; Would you not have said, It is a Man? And if a Man; then a Mortal vanishing Thing. And why then are you surprized with Wonder to see a dying Thing dead?

He saith Seneca, who com­plains that one is dead, Seneca's Epi­stles 804. com­plains that he was a Man. All men are under the same Condition, to whose Share it falls to be born, to him it remains to die.

We are indeed distinguished by the In­tervals, but equalized in the Issue: It is appointed to all men once to die, Heb. 9.27. There is a statute Law of Heaven in the Case.

Possibly you think this is the worst Time for parting that could be; had you enjoyed [Page 63]it longer, you could have parted easier, but how are you deceived in that? The longer you had enjoyed it, the more loth still you would have been to leave it: The deeper it would have rooted it self into your Af­fection.

Had God given you such a Privilege as was once granted to the English Parliament? that the Union betwixt you and your Friend should not be dissolved, 'till you your self were willing it should be dissolved; When, think you, would you have been willing it should be dissolved?

It's well for us and ours that our Times are in God's Hand, and not in our own. And how Immature soever it seemed to be when it was cut down; yet it came to the Grave in a full Age, as a shock of Corn in it's Season, Job. 5.26. They that are in Christ, and in the Covenant, never die unseason­ably whensoever they die (saith one upon the Text) They die in a good old Age, Car. in Loc yea though they die in the Spring and Flower of Youth, they die in a good old Age, (i. e.) They are ripe for Death whenever they die. Whenever the Godly die, it's Harvest-time with him: Though in a natu­ral Capacity he be cut down while he is green, [...]nd cropt in the Bud and Blossom; yet in his Spiritual Capacity he never dies before he is ripe; God can ripen his speedily, he can let out [Page 64]such warm Rays and Beams of his Spirit upon them, as shall soon maturate the Seeds of Grace into a Preparedness for Glory.

It was doubtless the most fit and season­able Time for them that ever they could die in, and as it is a fit Time for them, so for you also. Had it lived longer, it might either have engaged you more, and so your parting would have been harder; or else have puzzled and stumbled you more by discovering its natural Corruption: And then what a stinging Aggravation of your Sorrow would that have been.

Surely the Lord of time is the best Judge of Time; and in nothing do we more dis­cover our Folly and Rashness, than in pre­suming to fix the Times either of our Com­forts or Troubles: As for our Comforts, we never think they can come too soon, we would have them presently, whether the Season be fit or not, as Numb. 12.13. Heal her now, Lord. O let it be done speedily; we are in post-hast for our Com­forts; and for our Afflictions, we never think they come late enough; nor at this Time, Lord, rather at any other Time than now.

But it is good to leave the timeing both of the one and the other to him, whose Works are all beautiful in their Seasons, and never [...]oth any Thing in an improper Time.

[Page 65] 7. Consider. Call to Mind in this Day of Trouble, the Covenant you have made with God, and what you solemnly promised him in the Day you took him for your God.

It will be very seasonable and useful for thee, Christian, at this Time to reflect upon these Transactions, and the Frame of thy Heart in those Days, when an heavier load of Sorrow prest thy Heart, than thou now feelest.

In those your Spiritual Distresses when the Burden of Sin lay heavy, the Curse of the Law, the Fear of Hell, the Dread of Death and Eternity beset thee on every side; and shut thee up to Christ, the only Door of Hope? Ah what good News wouldst thou then have accounted it, to escape that Danger with the Loss of all earthly Comforts!

Was not this thy Cry in those Days; ‘Lord, give me Christ, and deny me whatever else thou pleasest. Pardon my Sin, save my Soul; and in order to both, unite me with Christ, and I will never repine or open my Mouth. Do what thou wilt with me; let me be Friendless, let me be Childless, let me be poor, let me be any thing rather than a Christless, Graceless, Hopeless Soul.’

And when the Lord hearkened to thy Cry, and shewed thee Mercy, when he [Page 66]drew thee off from the World into thy Closet, and there treated with thee in secret, when he was working up thy Heart to the Terms of his Covenant, and made thee willing to accept Christ upon his own Terms: O then how heartily didst thou submit to his Yoak as most reasonable and easie, as at that Time it seemed to thee:

Call to Mind these Days, the secret Places where Christ and you made the Bargain. Have not these Words, or Words to this Sense, been whispered by thee in­to his Ear with a dropping Eye, and melt­ing Heart?

‘Lord Jesus, here am I a poor guilty Sinner, deeply laden with Sin, Fear and Trouble upon one Hand, and there is a just God, a severe Law, and everlasting Burnings on the other Hand; but bles­sed be God, O blessed be God for Jesus the Mediator who interposeth betwixt me and it. Thou art the only Door of Hope at which I can escape, thy Blood the only Means of my Pardon and Salvation. Thou hast said, Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden. Thou hast promised that he that cometh to thee shall in no wise be cast out.’

‘Blessed Jesus, thy poor Creature com­eth to thee upon these Encouragements: I come, O but it is with many staggerings, [Page 67]with many Doubts and Fears of the Is­sue; yet I am willing to come and make a Covenant with thee this Day.’

‘I take thee this Day to be my Lord, and submit heartily to all thy Disposals: Do what thou wilt with me or with mine: Let me be rich or Poor, any thing or no­thing in this World. I am willing to be as thou wouldest have me. And I do likewise give my self to thee this Day to be thine; all I am, all I have, shall be thine; thine to serve thee, and thine to be disposed at thy Pleasure. Thou shalt henceforth be my highest Lord, my chief­est Good, my last End.’

Now, Christian, make good to Christ what thou so solemnly promisedst him: He, I say, He hath disposed of this thy dear Relation as pleased him; and is there­by trying thy Uprightness in the Covenant which thou madest with him. Now where is the Satisfaction and Content thou pro­misedst to take in all his Disposals? Where is that covenanted Submission to his Will? didst thou except this Affliction that is come upon thee?

Didst thou tell him, Lord, I will be con­tent thou shalt, when thou pleasest, take any thing I have, save only this Husband, th [...] Wife, or this dear Child; I reserve this out of the Bargain; I shall never endure that [Page 68]thou shouldest kill this Comfort? If so, thou 0779 0159 didst in all this but prove thy self an Hy­pocrite: If thou wast sincere in thy Cove­nant, as Christ had no Reserves on his part, so thou hadst none on thine.

It was all, without any Exception, thou then resignedst to him, and now wilt thou go back from thy Word, as one that had out-promised himself, and repents the Bar­gain? Or at least as one that hath forgotten these solemn Transactions in the Days of thy Distress? Wherein hath Christ in one Tittle that he promised thee? Charge him if thou canst, with the least Unfaithfulness: He hath been faithful to a Tittle on his Part; O be thou so upon thine; this Day it's put to the Proof, remember what thou hast promised him.

8. Consider. But if thy Covenant with God will not quiet thee, yet methinks Gods Covenant with thee might be presumed to do it.

Is thy Family which was lately hopeful and flow [...]ishing, a peaceful Tabernacle, now broken up and scattered? Thy Posterity from which thou raisest up to thy self great Expectations of Comfort in old Age cut off? So that thou art now like neither to have a Name or Memorial left thee in the Earth.

Dost thou sit alone and mourn to think whitherto thy Hopes and Comforts are now come?

[Page 69] Dost read over those Words of Job, Chap. 29. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. and comment upon them with many Tears, O that I were as in Months past, as in the Day when God preser­ved me! when his Candle shined upon my Head, and when by his Light I walked thro' Dark­ness! As I was in the Days of my Youth, when the Secret of God was upon my Taberna­cle, when the Almighty was yet with me, when my Children were about me.

Yet let the Covenant God hath made with thee, comfort thee in this thy desolate Condition.

You know what domestick Troubles holy David met with in a sad Succession, not only from the Death of Children; but which was much worse, from the wicked Lives of his Children. There was Incest, Murder, and Rebellion in his Family; a far sorer Tryal than Death in their Infancy could have been: And yet see how sweet­ly he relieves himself from the Covenant of Grace, in 2 Sam. 23.5. Although my House be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant, ordered in all Things and sure; for this is all my Salva­tion, and my Desire, although he make it not to grow.

I know this Place principally referrs to Christ, who was to spring out of David's Family according to God's Covenant made [Page 70]with him in that Behalf: And yet I doubt not but it hath another, though less princi­pal Aspect upon his own Family; over all the Afflictions and Troubles, whereof the Covenant of God with him, did abundantly comfort him.

And as it comforted him, although his House did not encrease, and those that were left were not such as he desired: So it may abundantly comfort you also whatever Troubles or Deaths be upon your Families, who have an Interest in the Covenant. For,

First, If you be God's Covenant People, though he may afflict, yet he will never forget you, Psalm 3.5. He is ever mindful of his Covenant. You are as much upon his Heart in your deepest Afflictions, as in the greatest Flourish of your Prosperity.

You find it hard to forget your Child, though it be now turned to an heap of Cor­ruption, and loathsome Rottenness; O how doth your Mind run upon it Night and Day! Your Thoughts tire not upon that Object: Why, surely it's much more easie for you to forget your dear Child whilst living and most endearing, much more when dead and undesireable; than it is for your God to forget you, Isa 49.15. Can a Wo­man forget her sucking Child, that she should not have Compassion upon the Son of her [Page 71]Womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

Can a Woman, the more affectionate Sex, forget her sucking Child? her own Child, and not a nursing Child: Her own Child, whilst it hangs on the Breast, and together with the Milk from the Breast, draws Love from it's Mother's Heart? Can such a thing as this be in Nature? possibly it may; for Creature Love is fickle and varitable: But I will not forget thee, it's an everlasting Co­venant.

Secondly, As he will never forget you in your Troubles; so he will order all your Troubles for your good; It is a well ordered Covenant, or a Covenant orderly disposed: So that every thing shall work together for your good.

The Covenant so orders all your Trials, ranks and disposes your various Troubles so, as that they shall in their Orders and Places sweetly co-operate and join their united Influence to make you happy.

Possibly you can't see how the present Affliction should be for your Good, you are ready to say with Jacob Gen. 42.36. Joseph is not, and Simeon is not; and ye will take Benjamin away; all these Things are against me. But could you once see how sweetly and orderly all these Afflictions work under the Blessing and Influe [...]e of, [Page 72]the Covenant to your eternal Good; you would not only be quiet, but thankful for that which now so much afflicts and trou­bles you.

Thirdly, This Covenant is not only well ordered in all things, but sure; the Mercies contained in it are called the sure Mercies of David, Isa. 55.3. Now how sweet, how seasonable a Support doth this Considera­tion give to God's Afflicted under the Rod! You lately made your selves sure of that Creature-Comfort which hath forsaken you. It may be you said of your Child which is now gone, as Lamech said of his Son Noah. Gen. 5.29. This same shall Comfort us con­cerning our work. and Toil of our Hands. Meaning that his Son should not only com­fort them by assisting them in the Works of their Hands, but for enjoying the Fruit of their Toil and Pains for him.

Probably such Thoughts you have had, and raised up to your selves great Expecta­tions of Comfort in your old Age from it; but now you see you built upon the Sand; and where were you now, if you had not a firmer Bottom to build upon? But blessed be God, the Covenant-Mercies are more sure and solid: God, Christ and Heaven, never start or fade as these things do.

The sweetest Creature enjoyments you ever had or have in this World, cannot say [Page 73]to you as your God doth, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. You must part with your dear Husbands, how well soever you love them; you must bid adieu to the Wife of your Bosom, how nearly soever your Affections be linked, and Heart delighted in her. Your Children and you must be separated, though they be to you as your own Soul.

But though these vanish away, blessed be God there is something that abides. Though all Flesh be as Grass, and the Goodli­ness of it as the Flower of the Grass, though the Grass withereth, and the Flower thereof fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord blow­eth upon it; yet the Word of our God shall stand for ever, Isa. 40.6, 7, 8. There is so much of Support contained in this one Consideration, that could but your Faith fix here, to realize and apply it, I might lay down my Pen at this Period, and say, the Work is done, there needs no more.

9. Consid. The Hope of the Resurrection should powerfully restrain all Excesses of Sorrow in those that do prosess it.

Let them only mourn without measure, who mourn without Hope. The Husband­man doth not mourn when he casts his Seed Lorn into the Earth, because he sows in Hope; commits it to the Ground with an Expectation to receive it again with Im­provement. [Page 74]Why thus stands the Case here, and just so the Apostle states it, 1 Thes. 4.13, 14. But I would not have you to be Igno­rant, Brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no Hope; for if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

Q. D. Look not upon the Dead as a lost Generation: Think not that Death hath annihilated and utterly destroyed them. O no, they are not dead, but only are asleep, and if they sleep, they shall a­wake again. You don't use to make Out­cries and Lamentations for your Children and Friends when you find them asleep upon their Beds. Why, Death is but a longer Sleep, out of which they shall as surely awake as ever they did in the Morn­ing in this World.

I have often wondred at that golden Sentence in Seneca, ^* My Thoughts of the Dead (saith he) are not as others are; I have fair and pleasant Apprehentions of them, for I enjoyed them as one that reckoned I must part with them; and I part with them, as one that makes account to have them.

He speaks, no doubt, of that Enjoyment [Page 75]of them, which his pleasant Contemplations of their vertuous Actions could give him; for he was wholly unacquainted with the comfortable and Heart supporting Doctrine of the Resurrection. Had he known the Advantages which result thence, at what a rate may we think he would have spoken of the Dead and of their State? But this you profess to believe, and yet sink at a strange rate. O suffer not Gentilism to out-vie Christianity: Let no Pagans chal­lenge the greatest Believers, to out do them in a quiet and chearful Behaviour under Afflictions.

I beseech thee, Reader, if thy deceased Friend have left thee any solid Ground of Hope that he died interested in Christ, and the Covenant; that thou wilt distinctly ponder these admirable Supports which the Doctrine of the Resurrection affords:

First, That the same Body which was so pleasant a Spectacle to thee, shall be re­stored again; yea, the same numerically, as well as the same specifically: So that it shall not only be what it was, but the who it was. These Eyes shall behold him, and not another, Job 19.27, &c. The very same Body you laid, or are now about to lay in the Grave, shall be restored again: Thou shalt find thine own Husband, Wife, or Child, or Friend again: I say the self same and not another.

[Page 76] Secondly, And farther, this is support­ing, that as you shall see the same Person that was so dear to you; so you shall know them to be the same that were once en­deared to you on Earth in so near a tye of Relation.

Indeed you shall know them no more in any carnal Relation, Death dissolved that Bond: But you shall know them to be such as once were your dear Relations in this World, and be able to single them out among that great Multitude, and say, Th [...] was my Father, Mother, Husband, Wife or Child. This was the Person, for whom I wept and made Supplication, who was an Instrument of good to me, or to whose Salvation God then made me In­strumental.

For we may allow in that State, all that Knowledge which is cumulative and perfec­tive, whatsoever may enlarge and heighten our Felicity and Satisfaction, as this must needs be allowed to do. Luther's Judg­ment in this Point being asked by his Friends at Supper the Evening before he died, Melchior Adam in vita Lu­theri. replied thus, What (saith he) befel Adam? He never saw Eve, but was in a deep Sleep when God formed her? yet when he awaked and saw her, he asked not, What she was [Page 77]nor whence she came? but saith, she was Flesh of his Flesh, and Bone of his Bone. Now how knew he that? He being full of the Holy Ghost, and endued with the Knowledge of God, spake thus. After the same Manner we also shall be in the other Life renewed by Christ, and shall know our Parents, our Wives and Chil­dren.

And this among other Things was that with which Augustine comforted the Lady Italica after the Death of her dear Husband, Ang. E­pist. 6. telling her that she should know him in the World to come among the glorified Saints. Yea, and a greater than either of these, I mean Paul, comforted himself that the Thessalonians, whom he had converted to Christ should be His Joy and Crown of, re­joycing in the Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his Coming, 1 Thes. 2.19, 20. which must needs imply his distinct Know­ledge of them in that Day, which must be many Hundred Years after Death hath separated them from each other. Whe­ther this Knowledge shall be by the glori­fied Eye discerning any Lineaments or Property of Individuation remaining up­on the glorified Bodies of our Relations? or whether it shall be by immediate Re­velation as Adam knew his Wife, or as [Page 78] Peter, James, and John knew M [...]ses and Elias, in the Mount, as it is difficult to determine, so it is needless to puzzle our selves about it.

It is the concurrent Judgment of sound Divines, and it wants not Countenance from Scripture and Reason that such a Knowledge of them shall be in Heaven: And then thy Sadness of this parting will be abundantly recompensed by the Joy of that Meeting. Especially considering,

Thirdly, That at our next Meeting, they shall be unspeakably more desireable, and excellent than ever they were in this World. They had a Desireableness in them here, but they were not altogether lovely, and in every Respect desireable; they had their Infirmities, both natural and moral; but all these are removed in Heaven, and for ever done away. No natural Infirmities hang about Glorified Bodies, nor sinful ones upon perfected Spirits of the Just. O what lovely Creatures will they appear to you then, which is sown in Dishonour shall be raised in Honour! 1 Cor. 15. And [...]ien to Crown all,

Fourthly, You shall have an everlasting Enjoyment of them in Heaven, never to part again. The Children of the Resur­rection can die no more, Luke 20.36. You shall kiss their pale lips, and cold Cheeks [Page 79]no more; you shall never fear another parting pull, but be together with the Lord for ever, 1 Thes. 4.14. And this the A­postle thought an effectual Cordial in this Case, when he exhorted the Thessalonians to Comfort one another with these words.

10 Consid. The present Felicity into which all that die in Christ are presently admitted, should abundantly comfort Christians over the Death of such as either carried a lively Hope out of the World with them, or have left good Grounds of such an Hope behind them.

Such there are that carried a lively hope to Heaven with them, who could evidence to themselves and Friends their Interest in Christ and in the Covenant. Yea, though they had died in Silence, yet their Con­versations would speak for them, and the Tenour of their Lives leave no Ground of doubting touching their Death: Others dying in their Infancy or Youth, though they carried not such an actual Hope with them, yet they have left good Grounds of Hope behind them.

Parents, now ponder these Grounds; you have prayed for them, you have ma­ny Times wrestled with the Lord on their Behalf; you have taken hold of God's Co­venant for them, as well as for your selves and dedicated them to the Lord; and they have not by any Actions of theirs [Page 80]destroyed those Grounds of your Hope, but that you may with much Probability conclude they are with God.

Why, if the Case be so, what abundant Reason have you to be quiet and well sa­tisfied with what God hath done? Can they be better than where they are? Had you better Provisions and Entertainments for them here, than their heavenly Father hath above?

There is no Christian Parent in the World but would rejoyce to see his Child out-strip and get before him in Grace, that he may be more eminent in Parts and Ser­vice than ever he was: And that Reason can be given why we should not as much rejoyce to see our Children get before us in Glory as in Grace? They are gotten to Heaven a few Years before you, and is that Matter of Mourning? Would not your Child (if he were not ignorant of you) say as Christ did to his Friends a little before his Death, when he saw them cast down at the Thoughts of parting, Joh. 14.28. If ye loved me ye would rejoice, be­cause I go unto the Father, q. d. Do you value your own sensible Comfort from my Bodily Presence with you, before my Glo­ry and Advancement in Heaven? Is this the Love to me? Or is it not rather Self-Love.

[Page 81] ‘So would your departed Friend say to you: You have professed much Love all along to me, my Happiness seemed to be very dear to you: How comes it to pass then, that you mourn so exceeding­ly now? This is rather the Effect of a fond and fleshly, than of rational and spiritual Love: If ye loved me with a pure spiritual Love, ye would rejoyce that I am gone to my Father. It's infinitely better for me to be here, than with you here on Earth, under Sin and Sorrow. Weep not for me, but for your selves.’

Alas, though you want your Friend's Company, he wants not yours: Your Care was to provide for this Child, but Jesus Christ hath provided infinitely better for it than you could; you intended an Estate, but he a Kingdom for it: You thought upon such or such a Match, but Christ hath forbid all others, & married your Child to himself. Would you imagine a higher Preferment for the Fruit of your Bodies?

A King from Heaven hath sent for your Friend, and do you grudge at the Jour­ney? O think, and think again, what an Honour it is to you, that Christ hath ta­ken them out of your Bosom, & laid them in his own: stript them out of those Gar­ments you provided, and cloathed them In white Robes washed in the Blood of [Page 82]the Lamb. Let not your hearts be troub­led, rather rejoyce exceedingly that God made you Instruments to replenish Hea­ven, & bring forth an Heir for the King­dom of God.

Your Child is now glorifying God in an higher way than you can; and what tho' you have lost its bodily Presence for a Time, yet I hope you don't reckon that to be your Loss, which turns to God's greater Glory.

When Jacob heard his Joseph was Lord of Egypt, he rather wisht himself with Joseph, than his Joseph with him, in Wants and Streights: So should it be with you. You are yet rowling and tossing upon a tempestuous Sea; but your Friend is gone into the quiet Harbour; desire rather to be there, than that he were at Sea again with you.

11 Consid. Consider how vain a Thing all your Troubles and Self-vexations are: It no way betters your Case, nor eases your Burthen.

As a Bullock by wrestling and sweat­ing in the Furrows, makes his Yoke to be more heavy, and galls his Neck, & spends his Strength the sooner, and no ways helps himself by that. Why thus the Case stands with thee, if thou be as a Bullock unaccustomed to the Yoke: What Christ faith of caring, we may say of grieving. [Page 83]Mat. 6.27. Which of you by taking Thought can add one Cubit to his Stature?

Cares may break our Sleep, yea, break our Hearts: But they cannot add to our Stature either in a natural, or in a civil Notion: So your sorrowing may sooner break your Hearts, than the Yoke God hath laid on you.

Alas! What is all this, but as the flut­tering of a Bird in the Not, which instead of freeing doth but the more entangling it self? It was therefore a wise Resolve of David in this very Case, when the Will of God was signified in the Death of his Child, 2 Sam. 12.23. But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

Can I bring him back again? No, I can no more alter the Purpose and Work of God, thann I can change the Seasons of the Year, or alter the Course of Sun, Moon, Stars, or disturb the Order of the Day and Night; which are all unaltera­bly established by a firm Constitution and Ordinance of Heaven.

As these Seasons cannot be changed by Man, so neither can this course and Way of his Providences be changed, Job 23.13. He is of one Mind, and who can turn him? And what his S [...]ul desireth, even that [Page 84]he doth. Indeed while his Pleasure and Purpose are unknown to us, there is Room for Pasting & Prayer, to prevent the Thing we fear: But when the Purpose of God is manifested in the Issue, and the Stroke is given, then it is the vainest Thing in the World to fret and vex our selves, as David's Servants thought he would do, as soon as he should hear the Child was dead: But he was wiser than so, his Tears and Cries to God before, had the Nature and Use of Means to prevent the Affliction; but when it was come, and could not be prevented, then they were of no Use, to no purpose in the World: Wherefore should I fast, q. d. To what end, use or purpose will it be now?

Well then, cast not away your Strength and Spirit to no Advantage, reserve them for future Exercises and Tryals. Time may come that you may need all the Strength you have, and much more, to sup­port greater Burthens than this.

12. Consid. The Lord is able to restore all your lost C [...]mforts in Relations double to you, if you meekly submit to him, and patiently wait upon him under the Rod.

When Esau had lost his Blessing, He said, Hast thou but one Blessing, Father? Gen. 2 [...] ▪38. But your Father hath more Blessing for you than one; his Name is The Father of Mercies, 2 Cor. 13. He can beget and [Page 85]create as many mercies for you as he pleas­eth; Relations and the Comforts of them are at his Command.

It is but a few Months or Years past, and these Comforts whose Loss you now la­ment were not in Being; nor did you know whence they should arise to you, yet the Lord gave the Word, & commanded them for you; And if he please he can make the Death of these but like a Scythe unto the Meadow that is mown down, or a Razor to the Head that is shaved bare; which tho' it lay you under the present Trouble and Reproach of Barrenness, yet doth but make way for a double Increase, a second Spring with Advantage.

So that even as it was with the Captive Church in Respect of her special Children in the Day of her Captivity and Reproach, the Lord made up all with Advantage to her; even to her own Astonishment, Isa. 42.20. The Children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thy Ears, The Place is too streight for me, give Place to me that I may dwell.

Thus may he deal with you, as to your natural Children and Relations: So that what the Man of God said to Amaziah, 1 [...] Chron. 29.9. may be applied to the case in Hand, Amaziah said to the Man of God, But what shall we do for the Hundred Talents [Page 86]And the Man of God answered, The Lord is [...]ble to give thee much more than this.

O say not, What shall I do for Friends [...]nd Relations? Death hath robbed me of [...]ll Comfort in them. Why, the Lord is [...]ble to give you much more. But then as ever you expect to see your future Bles­sings multiplied, look to it, and be careful [...]hat you neither dishonour God, nor grieve [...]im, by your unsubmissive and impatient Carriage under the present Rod.

God took away all Joh's Children, and that at one stroke, and the stroke imme­diate and extraordinary: And that when they were grown up, and planted (at least some of them) in distinct Families; yea, whilst they were endearing each other by the mutual Expressions of Affection. This must be yielded to be an extraordinary Trial; yethe meekly receives, and patiently bears it from the Hand of the Lord.

You have heard of the Patience of Job, saith the Apostle, Jam. 5.11. and seen the End of the L [...]rd. Not only the gracious End or Intention of the Lord in all his Afflictions, but the happy End and Issue the Lord gave to all his Afflictions, of the which you have the Account Job 42, 10. The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. The Number of his Children was not double to what he had, as all his other [Page 87]Comforts were: But though the Lord only restored the same Number to him again that he took away, yet it's like, the Comfort he had in these latter Children was double to what he had in the former. There's nothing lost by waiting patiently, and submitting willingly to the Lord's Dispose.

It is as easie with the Lord to revive, as it is to remove your Comforts in Relations. There is a sweet Expression to this purpose in Psal. 18.28. For thou Lord, wilt light my Candle, the Lord my God will enlighten my Darkness.

Every comfortable Enjoyment, whether it be in Relations, Estate, Health or Friends, is a Candle lighted by Providence for our Comfort in this World, and they are but Candles, which will not always last, and those that last longest will be consumed and wasted at last; but oftentimes it falls out with them as with Candles, they are blown out before they are half consumed; yea, almost as soon as lighted up, and then we are in the Darkness for the present.

It is a dark Hour with us when these Comforts are put out: But David's Faith did, and ours may Comfort us with this, That he that blew out the Candle, can light up another. Thou Lord shalt light my Candle the Lord my God shall enlighten my Darkness; that is The Lord will renew my Comforts [Page 88]after the present sad Estate I am in, and chase away that Trouble and Darkness which at present lies upon me. Only be­waring of offending him at whose Beck your Lights and Comforts come and go. Michal displeased the Lord, and therefore had no Child unto the Day of her Death, 2 Sam. 6.23.

Hannah waited humbly upon the Lord for the Blessing of Children, and the Lord remembred her, he enlightened her Con­dition with that Comfort when she was as a Lamb despised. There's no Comfort you have lost, but God can restore it, yea, double it in kind, if he seeth it convenient for you. And if not, then,

13. Consid. Consider, Though he should de­ny you any more Comf [...]rts of that Kind, yet be hath far better to bestow upon you, such as these deserve not to be named with.

You have an excellent Scripture to this Purpose in Isa. 56.4, 5. For thus saith the Lord unto the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths; and choose the Things that please me, and take hold of my Covenant; even to them will I give in my Houses and within my Walls a Place and a Name better than that of Sons and of Daughters; I will give them an everlasting Name that shall not be cut off.

Mens Names are said ^* to be continued [Page 89]in their Issue, in their Male Issue especially, and consequently to fall in such as wanted Issue, Num. 17.4. And a numerous Issue is deemed no small Honour, Psal. 127.4.5. God therefore promised here to supply and make good the want of Issue, and of what­soever either Honour here, or Memorial hereafter, might from it have accrued to them, but bestowing upon them Matter of far greater Honour, and more durable; a Name better or before the Name of Sons or Daughters.

It's a greater Honour to be the Child of God, than to have the greatest Honour or Comfort that ever Children afforded their Parents in this World.

Poor Heart, thou art now dejected by this Affliction that lies upon thee, as if all Joy and Comfort were now cut off from thee in this World.

A Cloud dwells upon all other Comforts, this Affliction hath so imbittered thy Soul, that thou tasteth no more in any other earthly Comforts than in the White of an Egg. O that thou didst but consider the Consolations that are with God for such as answer his Ends in Afflictions, and patiently wait on him for their Comfort! He hath Comforts for you far transcending the Joy of Children.

This some have found when their Chil­dren [Page 90]have been cut off from them, and that in so eminent a Degree, that they have little valued their Comfort in Children in Com­parison with this Comfort.

I will therefore set down a pregnant Instance of the Point in Hand, as I find it recorded by the grave and worthy Author of that excellent Book enti­tuled, Fulfilling of the Scripture, p. 421. The Fulfilling of the Scripture.

‘Another notable Instance of Grace, with a very Remarkable Passage in his Condition, I shall here mention. One Patrick Mackewrath, who lived in the West Part of Scotland, whose Heart, in a remarkable Way, the Lord touched and after his Conversion, as he shewed to many Christian Friends, was in such a frame so affected with a new World wherein he was entered, the Discoveries of God, and of a Life to come; that for some Months together he did seldom sleep, but was still taken up in wondring. His Life was very remarkable for Tenderness, and near Converse with God in his walk; and which was worthy to be noticed, one day after a sharp Tryal, having his only Son suddenly taken away by Death, he reti­red alone for several Hours, and when he came forth did look so chearfully, that to those who asked him the Reason thereof, [Page 91]and wondred at the same, in such a Time; he told them, He had got that in his Retirement with the Lord, that to have it afterward renewed, he would be content to lose a Son every Day.’

O what a sweet Exchange had he made! Surely he had Gold for Brass, a Pearl for a Pebble; a Treasure for a Trifle; for so great, yea, and far greater is the Dispropor­tion betwixt the Light of God's Counte­nance, and the fai [...] dim Light of the best Creature-Enjo [...]ent.

Would [...] please the Lord to make this Sun arise and shine upon you, now when the Stars that shined with a dim and bor­rowed Light are gone down, you would see such gain by the Exchange, as would make you quickly cast in your Votes with him we now mentioned, and say, Lord, let every Day be such as this Funeral Day, let all my Hours be as this, so that I may see and taste what I now do. How gladly would I part with the dearest and nearest Creature-Comfort I own in this World.

The gracious and tender Lord hath his Divine Cordial reserved on Purpose for such sad Hours: These are sometimes given be­fore some sharp Tryal, to prepare for it, and sometimes after, for to support under it.

I have often heard it from the Mouth, and found it in the Diary of a sweet Chri­stian [Page 92]now with God, That a little before the Lord removed her dear Husband by Death, there was such an abundant Out­let of the Love of God unto her Soul, for several Days and Nights following; that when the Lord took away her Husband by Death, though he were a gracious, and sweet tempered, and by her most tenderly beloved Husband; she was scarce sensible of the Stroke, but carried quite above all earth­ly Things, their Comforts and their Trou­bles; so that she had almost lost the Thoughts of her dear Husband in God. And had not the Lord taken this Course with her, she concluded that Blow had not been possible to be born by her; she must have sunk without such a Preparative.

A Husband, a Wife, a Child, are great, very great Things, as they stand by other Creatures; but surely they will seem little Things, and next to nothing, when the Lord shall set himself by them before the Soul.

And how know you, but God hath bid these earthly Comforts stand aside this Day, for to make way for Heavenly ones; it may be God is coming to communicate himself more sweetly, more sensibly than ever to your Souls; and these are the Providences which must cast up and prepare the way of the Lord. Possibly God's Meaning in their [Page 93]Death is but this; Child, stand aside, thou art in my Way, and fillest my place in thy Parent's Heart.

14. Consid. Be careful you exceed not in your Grief for the loss of earthly Things, con­sidering that Satan takes the Advantage of all Extreams.

You cannot touch any Extream, but you will be touched by that Enemy; whose greatest Advantages lye in assaulting you here.

Satan is called the Ruler of the Darkness of this World, Eph. 6.12. (i. e.) his Kingdom is supported by Darkness. Now there is a twofold Darkness, which gives Satan great Advantage: The Darkness of the Mind, viz. Ignorance; and the Darkness of the Condition, viz. Trouble and Affliction. Of the former the Apostle speaks chiefly in that Text: But the latter also is by him of­ten improved, to carry on his Designs upon us: When it's a dark Hour of Trouble with us, then is his fittest Season to tempt.

That cowardly Spirit falleth upon the People of God when they are down and low in Spirit, as well as State. Satan would never have desired that the Hand of God should have been streched out upon Job's Person, Estate, and Children; but that he promised himself a notable Advantage therein to poyson his Spirit with vile [Page 94]Thoughts of God. Do this, saith he, and he will curse thee to thy Face.

What the Psalmist observes of natural, is as true of metaph [...]rical Darkness, Psal. 104.20. Thou makest Darkness, and it is night, wherein all the Beasts of the Forest do creep forth, the young Li [...]ns roar after their Prey.

When it is dark Night with Men, it is Noon-Day with Satan; i. e. our suffering Time is his busiest working Time, many a dismal Suggestion he then plants and grafts upon our Affliction, which are much more dangerous to us than Affliction it self.

Sometimes he injects desponding Thoughts into the afflicted Soul. Then said I, I am cut off from bef [...]re thine Eyes, Psalm 31.22. and Lam. 3.18, 19. My hope is perished from the Lord, remembring my afflicti [...]n and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

Sometimes he suggests hard Thoughts of God. Ruth 1.20. The L [...]rd hath dealt very bitterly with me. Yea, that he hath dealt more severely with us than any other, Lam. 1.12. See and beh [...]ld, if there be any s [...]rrow like unto my Sorrow which is d [...]ne unto me, wherewith the Lord. hath afflicted me in the Day of his fierce Anger.

And sometimes murmuring and repining Thoughts against the Lord; the Soul is dis­pleased at the hand of God upon it. Jonah was angry at the Hand of God, and said, [Page 95] I do well to be angry even unto Death, Jonah 4.9. What dismal thoughts are these? And how much more afflictive to a gracious Soul than the Loss of any outward Enjoy­ment in this World?

And sometimes very Irreligious and Athe­istical Thoughts, as if there were no Privi­lege to be had by Religion, and all our Pains, Zeal and Care about Duty were lit­tle better than lost Labour, Psalm. 73.13, 14. Verily I have cleansed my Heart in vain, and washed my Hands in Inn [...]cency, for all the Day long I have been plagued; and chasten­ed every Morning.

By these things Satan gets no small Ad­vantage upon the Afflicted Christian; for albeit these Thoughts are his Burthen, and God will not impute them to the Condem­nation of his People; yet they rob the Soul of Peace, and hinder it from Duty, and make it act uncomely under Affliction, to the stumbling and hardening of others in their Sin; beware therefore lest by your Excesses of Sorrow ye give Place to the Devil: we are not ignorant of his Devices.

15. Consider. Give no way to excessive Sorrows upon the Account of Affliction, if ye have any Regard to the Honour of God and Religion, which will hereby be exposed to Re­proach.

If you slight your own Honour, don't [Page 96]slight the Honour of God and Religion too. Take heed how you carry it in a Day of Trouble, many Eyes are upon you. It is a true Observation that a late worthy Author had made upon this Case: ^* What will the Atheist, and what will the prophane Sc [...]ffer say when they shall see this? So sottish and malicious they are, that if they do but see you in Affliction, they are streightway scorn­fully demanding: Where is your God?

But what will they say, if they should hear you your selves unbelievingly cry out; Where is our God? Will they not be ready to cry, This is the Religion they make such boast of, which you see how little it does for them in a Day of Extremity: they talk of Promises, rich and precious Promises; But where are they now? Or to what Purp [...]se do they serve? They said they had a Treasure in Heaven; What ails them to mourn so then if their Riches be there?

O beware what you do before the World; they have Eyes to see what you can do, as well as Ears to hear what you can say; and as long as your Carriage under your Trou­bles is so much like their own, they will never think your Principles are better than theirs. Carnal Worldlings will be drawn to think that whatever fine Talk you might have about God and Heaven, your Hearts [Page 97]were most upon the same Things that theirs were, since your Grief for their Removal is as great as theirs.

They know by Experience what a stay it is to the Heart to have an able faithful Friend to depend upon, or to have Hopes of a great Estate shortly to fall to them; and they'll never be perswaded you have any such Ground of Comfort, if they see you as much cast down, as they that pre­tend to no such Matter.

By this Means the Precepts of Christ to Constancy and Contentment in all Estates, will come to be lookt upon (like those of the Stoicks) only as a magnifica verba, brave Words, but such as are impossible to be practised? and the whose of the Gospel will be taken for an airy Notion, since they that profess greatest Regard to it, are no more helped thereby.

O what a shame is it that Religion should in this Case make no more Difference be­twixt Man and Man? Wherefore shew to the World, whatever their common Cen­sures are, that it is not so much your Care to differ frem them in some Opinions; and little Strictness, as in Humility, Meekness, Contempt of the World, and Heavenly­mindedness; now let these Graces display [...]hemselves by your chearful, patient De­ [...]rtment under all your Grievances.

[Page 98] Wherefore hath God planted those ex­cellent Graces in your Souls, but that he might be glorified, and you benefited by the Exercises of them in Tribulation? Should these be supprest and hid, and nothing but the Pride, Passion, and unmortified Earth­liness of your Hearts set on work and dis­covered in Time of Trouble, what a Slur, what a Wound will you give to the glorious Name which is called upon by you? And then if your Hearts be truly gracious, that will pierce you deeper than ever your Af­fliction which occasioned it did.

I beseech you therefore be tender of the Name of God, if you will not be so of your own Peace and Comfort.

16. Consid. Be quiet and hold your Peace; you little know how many Mercies lie in the Womb of this Affliction.

Great are the Benefits of a sharp rouzing Affliction to the People of God at some Times, were they more careful to improve them. Holy David thankfully acknow­ledgeth. Psal. 119.71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted.

And surely there's as much good in them for you, as for him; if the Lord sanctifie them to such Ends and Uses as his were sanctified unto.

Such a smarting Rod as this came not before there was need enougb of it, and [Page 99]possibly you saw the Need of some awa­kening Providence your selves; but if not, the Lord did; he took not up the Rod to smite you, till his Faithfulness and ten­der Love to your Souls called upon him to co [...]rect you.

You now sit pensive under the Rod, sadly lamenting and deploring the Loss of some earthly Comfort, your Heart is sur­charged with Sorrow, your Eyes run down upon every Mention and Remembrance of your dear Friend. Why, if there were no more, this alone may discover the need you had of this Rod; for doth not all this Sorrow at parting, plainly speak how much your Heart was set upon, how fast your Heart was glewed to this earthly Comfort?

Now you see that your Affections were sunk many Degrees deeper into the Crea­ture than you are aware of: and what should God do in this Case by you? Should he suffer you to cleave to the Creature more and more? Should he permit it to purloin and exhaust your Love & Delight, and steal away your Heart from himself? This he could not do and love you. The more impatient you are under this Afflict­on, the more need you had of it.

And what if by this Stroke, the Lord will awaken your drowzy Soul, and reco­ver you out of that pleasant but dange­rous [Page 100]spiritual Slumber you were fallen in­to, whilst you had pillowed your Head upon this pleasant, sensible Creature En­joyment? Is not this really better for you, than if he should say, Sleep on: He is joyned to Idols, let him alone, he is depart­ing from Me the Fountain, to a broken Cistern, let him go?

Yea, What if by this Stroke upon one of the pleasantest Things you had in this World, God will discover to you, more sensibly and effectually than ever, the Va­nity both of that and all other earthly Comforts, so as that you shall from hence­forth never let forth your Heart, your Hope, your Love and Delight to any of them, as you did before? You could talk before of the Creature's Vanity; but I question whether ever you had so clear & convincing a Sight of its Vanity as you have this Day. And is not this a conside­rable Mercy in your Eyes?

Now, if ever, God is weaning you from all fond Opinions, and vain Expectations from this World; by this your Judgment of the Creature is rectified, and your Affe­ctions to all other Enjoyments on Earth moderated: And is this nothing? O doubt­less it is a greater Mercy to you, than to have your Friend alive again.

And what if by this Rod your wander­ing, [Page 101]gadding Heart shall be whipped home to God? Your neglected Duties revived, your decayed Communion with God re­stored, a Spiritual Heavenly Frame of Heart recovered? What will you say then?

Surely you will bless that meaciful Hand which removed the Obstructions: And adore the Divine Wisdom and Goodness, that by such a Device as this recovered you to himself. Now you can pray more constantly, more spiritually, more affectio­nately than before. O blessed Rod which buds and blossoms with such Fruits as these! Let this be written among your best Mer­cies; for you shall have cause to adore and bless God eternally for this beneficial Affliction.

17. Consid. Suffer n [...]t your selves to be transported by Impatience, and swallowed up of Grief, because God hath exercised you under a smart Rod; for as smarting as it is, it's comparatively a gentle Stroke to what other, as good as your selves have felt.

Your dear Relation is dead; be it so, here is but a single Death before you; but others have seen many Deaths contrived into one upon their Relations, to which yours is nothing.

Zedekiah saw his Children murthered before his Eyes; and then had these Eyes (alas too late) put out. The worthy [Page 102]Author of that excellent Book fore­mentioned, ^* tells us of a choice and god­ly Gentlewoman in the North of Ireland, who when the Rebellion brake out there, fled with Three Children, one of them upon the Breast; they had not gone far, before they were stripped naked by the Irish, who to their Admiration spared their Lives (it's like, concluding Cold & Hunger would kill them) afterwards going on at the Foot of a River which runs to Locheah, others met them, & would have cast them into the River: But this Godly Woman, not dis­mayed, asked a little Liberty to pray, and as she lay naked on the frozen Ground, got Resolution not to go on her own Feet, to so unjust a Death, upon which having called her, and she refusing, was dragged by the Heels along that rugged Way to be cast in with her little Ones and Com­pany.

But she then turned and on her Knees says, You should, I am sure, be Christians, and Men I see you are; in taking away our miserable Lives you do us a Pleasure: But know, That as we never wronged you, nor yours, you must remember to die al­so, your selves, and one Day give an Ac­count of this Cruelty to the Judge of Hea­ven and Earth: Hereupon they resolved [Page 103]not to murder them with their own Hands, but turned them all Naked upon a small Island in the River without any Provision, there for to perish.

The next Day, the Two Boys having crept aside, found the Hide of a Beast which had been killed, at the Root of a Tree; which the Mother cast over them lying upon the Snow. The next Day a little Boat goes by, unto whom she calls for God's sake to take them out; but they being Irish, refused: She desired a little Bread, but they said they had none, then she begs a Coal of Fire, which she obtain­ed, and thus with some fallen Chips, made a little Fire, and the Children taking a Piece of the Hide, laid it on the Coals, and began to gnaw the Leather; but with­out an extraordinary Divine Support, what could this do?

Thus they lived Ten Days without a­ny visible Means of Help, having no Bread but Ice and Snow, nor Drink ex­cept Water. The two Boys being [...]ear starved, she pressed them to go out of her Sight, being not able for to see their Death: Yet God delivered them as miraculously at last, as she had supported them all that while.

But, judge whether a natural Death, in an ordinary Way, be comparable to such [Page 104]a Tryal as this! And yet thus the Lord did by this Choice and eminently graci­ous Woman.

And Mr. Wall, in his None but Christ, relates as sad a Passage of a poor Family in Germany, who were driven unto that Extremity in the Famine, that at last the Parents made a Motion one to the other to sell one of the Children for Bread to sustain themselves and the rest: But when they came for to consider which Child it should be, their Hearts so relented and yearned upon every one, that they resol­ved rather all to die together. Yea, we read in Lam. 4.10. The Hands of the piti­ful Women have sodden their own Children.

But what speak I of these Extremities? how many Parents, yea, some Godly ones too, have lived to see their Children dy­ing in Prophaneness, and some by the Hand of Justice, lamenting their Rebellions with a Rope about their Necks.

Ah, Reader, little dost thou know what Stings there are in the Afflictions of o­thers: Surely you have no Reason to think the Lord hath dealt more bitterly with you than any. It's a gentle Stroke, a merciful Dispensation, if you compare it with what others have felt.

18. Consid. If God be your God, you have really lost nothing by the Removal of any Crea­ture-Comfort.

[Page 105] God is the Fountain of all True Com­fort: Creatures, the very best and sweet­est, are but Cisterns to receive and convey to us what Comfort God is pleased to com­municate to them; and if the Cistern be broken, or the Pipe out off, so that no more Comfort can be conveyed to us that way, he hath other Ways and Mediums to do it by, which we think not of: and if he please he can convey his Comforts to his People without any of them; and if he do it more immediately, we shall be no Losers by that; for no Comforts in the World are so delectable and ravish­ingly sweet, as those that flow immediate­ly from the Fountain.

And it is the Sensuality of our Hearts that causes to affect them so inordinate­ly, and grieve for the Loss of them so immoderately, as if we had not enough in God without these Creature-Supple­ments.

Is the Fulness of the Fountain yours, and yet do you cast down your selves, because the broken Cistern is removed? The best Creatures are no better, Jer. 2.13. Cisterns have nothing but what they receive, and broken ones cannot hold what is put in them. Why then do ye mourn, as if your Life were bound up in the Creature? You have as free an Ac­cess [Page 106]to the Fountain, as you had before. It is the Advice of an Heathen, ^* (and let them take the Comfort of it) to re­pair by a new earthly Comfort, what we have lost in the former.

Thou hast carried forth him whom thou lovedst (saith Seneca) seek one whom thou mastest love in his stead: it's better to repair than bemoan thy Loss.

But if God never repair your Loss, in Things of the same kind, you know he can abundantly repair it in himself.

Ah Christian! Is not one Kiss of his Mouth, one Glimpse of his Countenance, one Seal of his Spirit, a more sweet and substantial Comfort than the sweetest Re­lation in this World can afford you! If the Stream fail, repair to the Fountain, there's enough still, God is where he was, and what he was, though the Crea­ture be not.

19. Consider. Though you may want a little Comfort in your Life, yet surely it may be recompensed to you by a more easie Death.

The Removal of your Friends before you, may turn to your great Advantage, when your Hour is come that you must follow them. Oh how have many good Souls been clogg'd and ensnared in their [Page 107]dying Hour, by the Loves, Cares, and Fears they have had about those they must leave behind them in a sinful World.

Your Love to them might have proved a Snare to you, and caused you to hang back as loth to go hence; for these are the Things that make Men loth to die. And thus it might have been with you, except God had removed them before Hand, or should give you in that Day such Sights of Heaven, and taste of divine Love, as should master and mortifie all your earthly Affections to these Things.

I knew a gracious Person, now in Hea­ven, who for many Weeks in her last Sickness complained, That she found it hard to part with a dear Relation, as that there was nothing proved a greater Clog to her Soul than this; 'Tis much more easier to think of going to our Friends, who are in Heaven before us, than of part­ing with them, and leaving our desireable and dear ones behind us.

And who knows what Cares and dis­tracted Thoughts you may then be peste­red and distracted with upon their Ac­count? What shall become of these when I am gone! I am now to leave them, God knows to what Want, Miseries, Temp­tations, and Afflictions, in the midst of a deceitful, defiling, and dangerous World.

[Page 108] I know it's our Duty to leave our Fa­therless Children, and Friendless Relati­ons with God: to trust them with him that gave them to us: And some have been enabled chearfully to do so when they were parting from them. Luther could say, Malchir Adam in vita Luthe­ri. Lord, thou hast given me a Wife and Children, I have little to leave them; nou­rish, teach and keep them; O th [...]u, Father of the Fatherless, and Judge of Widows. But every Christian hath not a Luther's Faith. Some find it an hard Thing to disentangle their Affections at such a Time: But now if God have sent all yours before you, you have so much the less to do. Death may be easier to you than others.

20. Consid. But if nothing that hath been yet said, will stick with you; then lastly re­member, that you are near that State and place which admits no Sorrows nor sad Re­flections upon any such Accounts as these.

Yet a little while and you shall not miss them, you shall not need them, but you shall live as the Angels of God. We now live partly by Faith, partly by Sense, part­ly upon God, and partly upon the Crea­ture. Our State is mixed, therefore our comforts are so too: But when God shall be All in All, and we shall be as the An­gels of God in the Way and Manner of [Page 109]our Living; how much will the Case be altered with us then, from what it is now!

Angels neither Marry nor are given in Marriage; neither shall the Children of the Resurrection; when the Days of our Sinning are ended, the Days of our Mourn­ing shall be so too. No Graves were o­pened till Sin entered, and no more shall be opened when Sin is excluded.

Our glorified Relations shall live with us for ever, they shall complain no more, die no more; yea, this is the Happiness of that State to which you are passing on, that your Souls being in the nearest Con­junction with God the Fountain of Joy, you shall have no Concernment out of him. You shall not be put upon these Exercises of Patience; nor subjected to such Sor­rows as now you feel, any more. It is but a little while and the End of all these Things will come. Oh therefore bear up as Persons that expect such a Day of Ju­bilee at Hand.

And thus I have finished the second general Head of this Discourse, which is a Disswasive from the Sin of immoderate Sorrow.

3. I now proceed to the third. Thing proposed, namely, To remove the Pleas and Excuses for this immoderate Grief. It's natural to Men, yea to good Men to [Page 110]justify their Excesses, or at least extenuate them, by pleading for their Passions, as if they wanted not Cause and Reason e­nough to excuse them. If these be fully answered, and the Soul once convinced, and left without Apology for its Sin, it is then in a fair Way for its Cure, which is the last Thing designed in this Treatise.

My present Business therefore is to sa­tisfie those Objections, and answer those Reasons which are commonly pleaded in this case, to justify our excessive Grief for the loss of Relations And though I shall carry it in that Line of Relation to which the Text directs, yet it's equally applica­ble to all others.

1 Plea. You Press me by many great Consi­derations to Meekness and quiet Submission under this heavy stroke of God: But you little know what Sting my Soul feels now in it.

This Child was a Child of many Pray­ers, it was a Samuel begg'd of the Lord, and I concluded when I had it, that it brought with it the Returns and Answers of many Prayers. But now I see it was nothing less: God hath no Regard to my Prayer about it; nor was it given me in that special way of Mercy as I imagined it to be. My Child is not only dead, but my Prayers in the same Day shut out and denied.

[Page 111] 1 Ans. That you prayed for your Children before you had them was your Duty, and if you prayed not for them submissively, referring it to the Pleasure of God to give or deny them, to continue or remove them as should seem good to him; that was your Sin; you ought not to limit the Holy One of Israel, nor prescribe to him, or capitulate with him, for what Term you should enjoy your outward Comforts. If you did so, it was your Evil, and God hath justly rebuked it by this Stroke: If you pray conditionally, and submissively, referring both the Mercy asked, and Con­tinuance of it to the Will of God as you ought to do; then there is nothing in the Death of your Child, that crosses the true Scope and Intent of your Prayer.

Ans. 2. Your Prayers may be answered, tho' the Thing pray'd for be with-held, y [...], or though it should be given for a little while and snatch'd away from you again. There are Four Ways of God's Answer­ing Prayers: By giving the Thing pray­ed for presently, Dan. 9.22. or b [...] sus­pending the Answer for a Time, and gi­ving it afterwards; Luk. 18.7. or by with-holding that Mercy which you ask, from you, and giving you a much better Mercy in the Room of it, Deut. 3.24. compa­red with Deut. 34.4, 5. or lastly, by giving you Patience to bear the Loss or Want of it, 2 Cor.

[Page 112] Now if the Lord have taken away your Child or Friend, & in lieu thereof given you a meek, quiet, submissive Heart to his Will, you need not say he hath shut out your Cry.

8 Plea. But I have lost alovely, obliging and most endearing Child, one that was beauti­ful and sweet; it is a stony Heart that would not dissolve into Tears, for the Loss of one so desireable, so engaging as this was. Ah it's no common Loss.

1. Answer. The more lovely and enga­ging your Relation was, the more excel­lent will your Patience and Contentment with the Will of God in its Death be; the more Loveliness, the more Self-deni­al; and the more Self-denial, the more Grace. Had it been a Thousand Times more endearingly sweet than it was, it was not too good to deny for God. If there­fore Obedience to the Will of God do in­deed master natural affections, and that you look upon Patience and Contentment as much more beautiful than the sweetest and most desireable Enjoyment on Earth; it may turn to you for a Testimony of the Truth and Strength of Grace, that you can, like Abraham, part with a Child whom you so dearly love in Obedience to the Will of your God whom you love infinitely more.

2. Ans. The Loveliness and Beauty of our Children and Relations, tho' it must be acknowledged a good Gift from the Hand [Page 113]of God; yet it is but a common Gift, and oftentimes becomes a Snare, and is in its own Nature but a transitory & vanishing Thing, and therefore no such great Aggra­vation of the Loss as is pretended.

I say, it is but a common Gift; Eliah, Adonijah, and Absalom, had as lovely a Presence as any in their Generation▪ Y [...] it's not only common to the Wicked, with the Godly, but to brute Animals, as well as Men, and to most that excel in it, it becomes a Temptation; the Souls of some had been more beautiful & lovely, if their Bodies had been less so. Besides, it's but a Flower which flourishes in it's Month & then fades. This therefore should not be reflected on as so great a Circumstance to aggravate your Trouble.

3. Answ. But if your Relation sleep in Jesus, he will appear Ten Thousand Times more lovely in the Morning of the Resur­rection than ever he was in this World. What is the exactest, purest Beauty of Mor­tals, to the incomparable Beauty of the Saints in the Resurrection: Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun, in the King­dom of their Father, Mat. 13.43. In this Hope you part with them, therefore act suitably to your Hopes.

3. Plea. Oh but my Child was [...]ipt off by Death in the very Bud, I did but see, and love, and part: Had I enjoyed it lon­ger, [Page 114]and had Time to suck out the Sweet­ness of such an Enjoyment, I could have born it easier, but its Months or Years with me were so few, that they only served to raise an Expectation which was quickly, & therefore the more sadly disappointed.

1. Ans. Did your Friend die young, or was the Bond of any other Relation dis­solved almost as soon as made? Let not this seem so intolerable a Load to you; for if you have Ground to hope they died in Christ, ^* then they lived long enough in this World. It's truly said, he hath sailed long enough, that hath won the Har­bour; & he hath fought long enough that hath obtained the Victory; he hath run long enough that hath touched the Goal; and hath lived long enough on Earth, that hath won Heaven, be his Days never so few.

2. Ans. The sooner your Relation died, the less Sin hath been committed, and the less Sorrow felt: What can you see in this World but Sin or Sorrow? A quick Pas­sage through it to Glory, is a special Pri­viledge. Surely the World is not so de­sireable a Place that Christians should desire an Hour's Time longer in it for themselves or theirs, then serves to fit them for a better.

3 Ans. And whereas you imagine the parting would have been easier, if the En­joyment had been longer, it is a fond and [Page 115]groundless Suspicion. The longer you had enjoyed them, the stronger would the En­dearments have been. A young & ten­der Plant may be easily drawn up by a single Hand, but when it hath spread and fixed its Roots many Years in the Earth, it will require many a strong Blow and hard Tug to root it up. Affections like those under ground Roots, are fixed and strengthened by nothing more than Con­suetude, and long Possession; it's much easi­er parting now, than it would be hereafter, whatever you think. However, this should satisfie you, that God's Time is the best Time.

4. Plea. O but I have lost all in one, it is my only one, I have none left in its room to repair the Breach, and make up the Loss; if God had given me other Children to take Com­fort in, the Loss had not been so great; but to lose all at one Stroke, is in supportable.

1. Ans. Religion allows not unto Chris­tians a Liberty of expressing the Death of their dear Relations by so hard a Word as the Loss of them is. They are not lost but sent before you. ^* And it is a shameful Thing for a Christian to be reproved for such an uncomely Expression by an Hea­then. It is is enough to make us blush to read what an Heathen said in this Case. Never say thou hast lost any thing saith E­pictetus ^†) but that it is returned. Is thy [Page 116]Son dead? he is only restored? Is thy Inhe­ritance taken from thee? It is also returned. And a while after he adds, (i. e.) Let every Thing be as the Gods will have it.

2. Ans. It is no fit Expression to say, you have lost all in one, except that one be Christ, and he being once yours, can never be lost. Doubtless your Meaning is, You have lost all your Comfort of that kind; And what though you have? Are there not Multitudes of Comforts yet re­maining of a higher kind, & more preci­ous and durable Nature? If you have no more of that Sort, yet so long as you have better, what cause have you to rejoyce?

3. Ans. You too much imitate the way of the World in this Complaint; they know not how for to repair the Loss of one Comfort, but by another of the same Nature, which must be put in its Room to fill up the Vacancy: But have you no o­ther Way to supply your Loss; have you not a God to fill the Place of any Creature that leaves you? Surely this would better be­come a Man whose Portion is in this Life then one that professes God is his All in All.

5. Plea. Oh but my only one is not on­ly taken away, but there remains no Ex­pectation or Probability of any more [...] must now look upon my self as a dry [...], never to take Comfort in C [...]en, [...]y more, which is a cutting Though [...] [...].

[Page 117] 1. Ans. Suppose what you say, that you have no Hope nor Expectation of another Child remaining to you; yet if you have a Hope of better Things than Children; you have no Reason to be cast down: Bless God for higher and better Hopes than these, in Isa. 59.4, 5. The Lord comforts them that had no Epectation of Sons or Daughters, with this, That he will give unto them in his House, and with­in his Walls a Place, and a Name better than of Sons or Daughters; even an everlasting Name that shall not be cut off. There are better Mercies, and higher Hopes than these; though your Hopes of Children, or from Children should be cut off; yet if your Eternal Hopes be secure, and such as shall not make you ashamed, you should not be so cast down.

2. Ans. If God will not have your Com­forts to lye any more in Children, then resolve to place them in himself, and you shall never find cause to complain of Loss by such an Exchange. You will find that in God which is not to be had in the Crea­ture: One Hour's Communion with him shall give you that which the happiest Pa­rent never yet had from his Children, you will exchange Brass for Gold, perishing Vanity, for solid and abiding Excellency.

6 Plea. But one Suddenness of the Stroke [...]amazing. God gave little or no Warn­ing [Page 118]to prepare for this Trial: Death exe­cuted its Commission as soon as it opened it. My dear Husband, Wife, or Child, was snatcht unexpectedly out of my Arms by a surprizing Stroke; and this makes my Stroke heavier than my Complaint.

1. Ans. That the Death of your Relation was so sudden and surprizing, was much your own Fault, who ought to have lived in the daily Sense of his Vanity, and Ex­pectation of your Separation from it; you knew it to be a dying Comfort in its best Estate; and it is no such wonderful Thing to see that dead, which we knew before to be dying: Besides, you heard the Changes ringing round about you in other Families; you frequently saw other parents, Hus­bands, and Wives carrying forth their Dead; And what are all these but Warnings given you to prepare for the like Trials?

Surely then it was your own Security and Regardlessness that made this Afflicti­on so surprizing to you, and who is to be blamed for that, you know.

2. Ans. There is much Difference be­twixt the sudden Death of Infants, and that of grown Persons: The latter may have much Work to do, many Sins actually to Repent of, and many Evidences of their Interest in Christ to examine and clear, in order to their more comfortable Death: And so sudden Death may be deprecated by them.

[Page 119] But the Case of Infants who exercise not their Reason is far different, they have no such work to do, but are purely passive; all that is done in order to their Salvation, is done by God immediately upon them, so it comes all to one, whether their Death be more quick or slow.

3. Ans. You Complain of the Suddenness of the Stroke; but another will be ready to say, Had my Friend died in that manner, my Affliction had been nothing to what now it is; I have seen many Deaths contrived into one. I saw the gradual Approaches of it upon my dear Relation who felt every Tread of Death as it came on toward him, who often cried with Job, Chap. 3.20. Wherefore is Light given to him that is in Misery, and Life to the bitter in Soul? Which long for Death, but it cometh not, and dig for it more than for hidden Treasures: Which re­joice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find the Grave.

That which you reckon the Sting of your Affliction, others would have reckoned a Favour and Privilege. How many tender Parents, and other Relations, who loved their Friends as dearly as your selves, have been forced to their Knees upon no other Errand but this, to beg the Lord to hasten the Seperation, and put an End to that Sorrow, which to them was much greater than the Sorrow for the Dead.

[Page 120] 7. Plea. You press me to Moderation of Sorrows, and I know I ought to shew it; but don't know how the Case stands with me: There is a Sting in this Affliction that none feels but my self; and O how intole­rable is it now! I neglected proper Means in Season to preserve Life, or miscarried in the Use of Means. I now see such a Neglect or such a Mistake about the Means, as I can­not but judge greatly to contribute to that sad Loss which I now (too late) lament.

O my Negligence, O my Rashness and Inconsiderateness! How doth my Consci­ence now smite me for my Folly! and by this aggravate my Burden beyond what is usually felt by others. Had I seasonably applied my self unto the Use of proper Means, and kept strictly to such Courses and Counsels as those that are able and skilful might have prescribed, I might now have had a living Husband, Wife or Child: Whereas I am now not only bereaved, but am apt to think I have bereaved my self of them. Surely there is no Sorrow like unto my Sorrow.

1. Ans. Though it be an Evil to neglect and slight the Means ordained by God for Recovery of Health, yet it's no less Evil to ascribe too much to them, or rely too much on them. The best Means in the World are weak and ineffectual without God's Assistance and Concurrence, and they ne­ver [Page 121]have that his Assistance or Concurrence, when his Time is come; and that it was fully come in your Friend's Case, is mani­fested now by the Event. So that if your Friend had had the most excellent Helps the World affords, they would have availed nothing. This Consideration takes Place only in your Case, who see what the Will of God is by the Issue, and may not be pleaded by any whilst it remains dubious and uncer­tain, as it generally doth in Time of Sickness.

2. Ans. Do you not unjustly charge and fault your selves for that which is not really your Fault or Neglect? How far you are chargeable in this Case will best appear by comparing the Circumstances you are now in, with those you were in when your Re­lation was only arrested by Sickness; and it was dubious to you what was your Duty and best Course to take.

Possibly you had observed so many to perish in Physicians Hands, and so many to recover without them, that you judged it to be safer for your Friend to be without those Means, than to be hazarded by 'em.

Or if divers Methods and Courses were prescribed and perswaded to, and you now see your Error in preferring that which was most improper, and neglecting what was more safe and probable; yet as long as it did not so appear to your Understand­ding at that Time, but you followed the [Page 122]best Light you had to guide you at that Time, it were most unjust to charge the Fault upon your selves for choosing that Course that then seemed best to you, whe­ther it were so in it self or not.

To be angry with your selves for do­ing or omitting what was then done, or omitted according to your best Discretion and Judgment, because you now see it by the Light of the Event far otherwise than you did before, it is for to be trou­bled that you are but Men, or that you are not as God, who only can foresee Issues and Events; & that you acted as all ratio­nal Creatures are bound to do, according to the best Light they have, at the Time & Season of Action.

3. Ans. To conclude, Times of Great Af­fliction are, ordinarily times of great Temp­tation, and it's usual with Satan than to charge us with more Sins than we are re­ally guilty of, and also make those Things seem to be Sins, which upon impartial Ex­amination will not be found to be so.

Indeed, had your Neglect or Miscarri­age been knowing or voluntary, or had you really preferred a little Money (being able to give it) before the Life of your Rela­tion, and did deliberately chuse to hazard this, rather than part with that, no doubt then but there had been much Evil of Sin mixed with your Affliction: And your Con­science [Page 123]may justly smite you for it, as your Sin. But in the other Case which is more common, and I presume yours; it's a false Charge, & you ought not to abet the Design of Satan in it.

Judge by the Sorrow you now feel for your Friend, in what a Degree he was dear to you, and what you could now willing­ly give to ransome his Life, if it could be done with Money. Judge I say, by this how groundless the Charge is that Satan now draws up against you; & you are but too ready to yield to the Truth of it.

8. Plea. But my Troubles are upon a high­er Score and Account. My Child or Friend is passed into Eternity, & I know not how it is with his Soul. Were I sure my Relation were with Christ, I should be quiet; but my Fears of the contrary are overwhelming? O it's terrible to think of the Damnation of one so dear to me?

1. Ans. Admit what the Objection sup­poses, That you have real Grounds to fear the eternal Condition of your dear Rela­tion, yet it's utterly unbeseeming you, even in such a Case as this, to dispute with or repine against the Lord.

I do confess, it's a sore and heavy Trial, & that there is no Case more sad & sinking to the Spirit of a gracious Person. Their Death is but a Trifle to this; but yet if you be such as fear the Lord, methinks his in­disputable [Page 124]Soveraignty over them, and his distinguishing Love & Mercy to you, should at least silence you in this Matter.

First, His indisputable Sovereignty over them, Rom. 9.22. Who art thou, O Man, who disputest with God? He speaks in the Mat­ters of Eternal Election and Reprobation. What if the Lord will not be gracious to those that are so dear to us? Is there any wrong done to them or us thereby? Aa­r [...]n's two Sons were cut off in the Act of Sin by the Lord's immediate Hand, & yet he held his Peace, Lev 10.3. God told A­braham plainly, That the Covenant should not be established with Ishmael, for whom he so earnestly prayed, O let Ishmael live before thee) & he knew that there was no Salvation out of the Covenant, & yet he sits down silent under the Word of the Lord.

Secondly, But if this do not quiet you, yet methinks his distinguishing Love & Mercy to you should do it. O what do you owe to God, that Root and Branch hath not been cast together into the Fire! that the Lord hath given you good Hope thro' Grace, that it shall be well with you for ever. Let this stop your Mouth & quiet your Spirit, tho' you would have Grounds for this Fear.

2. Ans. But pray examine the Grounds of your Fear, Whether it mayn't proceed from the Strength of your Affections to the eter­nal Welfare of your Friend, or from the Sub­tilty [Page 125]of Satan, designing hereby to over­whelm and swallow you up in suppos'd, as well as from just Grounds & Causes? In two Cases it's very probable your Fear may pro­ceed only from your own Affection or Sa­tan's Temptation.

First, If your Relation died young, before it did any Thing for to destroy your Hopes. Or,

Secondly, If grown, & in some good De­gree hopeful; only he did not in Life, or at Death manifest & give Evidence of Grace with that Clearness as you desired.

As to the Case of Infants in general, it's none of our Concern to judge their Condition; & as for those that sprang from covenanted Pa­rents, it becomes us to exercise Charity to­wards them: The Scripture speaks very favourably of them.

And as for the more Adult, who have escaped the Pollutions of the World, and made Conscience of Sin and Duty, albeit they never manifested what you could de­sire they had; yet in them, as in young A­bijah, may be found some good Thing towards the Lord, which you never took Notice of. Reverence of your Authority. Bashfulness & Shamefacedness, Reservedness of Dispo­sition, & many other Things may hide those small & weak Beginnings of Grace that are [...]n Children, from the Observations of the Parents. God might see that in them that you never saw; he despiseth not the Day of small Things.

[Page 126] However it be, it's now out of your watch, your Concernment rather is to improve Affliction to your own Good, than judge and determine their Condition which be­longs not to you, but God.

9 Plea. O but I have sinned in this Re­lation, & now God hath punisht my Sin in dissolving it. O, saith one, my Heart was set too much upon [...], I even idolized it, that was my Sin; and saith another, I wanted the Affections, and did not love my Re­lation, at least not so spiritually as I ought, that was my Sin. Now God is visiting me for all the Neglects and Defects that have been in me towards my Relations.

1. Ans. There is no Man so throughly sanctified, as not to fail and come short in many things pertaining to his Relative Du­ties. And to speak as the Thing is, the Cor­ruptions of the holiest Persons are as much discovered in this, as in any other Thing whatsoever; and it's a very common Thing for Conscience, not only to charge these Fai­lures upon us, but to aggravate them to the utmost, when God hath made the Separa­tion. So that this is no more than what is usual and also very common with Persons in your Case.

2. Ans. Admit that which the Objection supposes, that God hath afflicted you for your Sin, and removed that Comfort from you, which you idolized & too much do­ted [Page 127]on; yet there is no Reason you should be so cast down under your Affliction; for all this may be, and probably is the Fruit of his Love to, and Care of your Soul, Rev. 3.19. He tells the Afflicted for their Com­fort, Whom I love, I rebuke and chasten. How much better is it to have an idoliz'd En­joyment taken from you in Mercy, than if God should say concerning you as he did of Ephraim, Hos. 4.17. He is joyned to I­dols; let him alone.

O it's better for you that your Father now reckons with you for your Follies with the Rod in his Hand, than to say as he doth of some, Let them go on, I will not hin­der them in, or rebuke them for their wic­ked, sinful Courses; but will reckon with them for all together in Hell at the last.

3. Ans. And as to what you now charge upon your self, that the Neglect of Duty did spring from the Want of Love to your Relation: Your Sorrow at parting may e­vidence that your Relation was rooted deep in your Affection: But if your Love was not so spiritual & pure, to love and enjoy them in God, that was undoubtedly your Sin, and is the Sin of most Christians; for which, both you, and all others ought to be humbled.

10 Plea. God hath blessed me with an Estate, & outward Comforts in the World, which I reckoned to have left to my Po­sterity: [Page 128]And now I have none to leave it with, nor have I any Comfort to think of it; the Purposes of my Heart are broken off, and the Comfort of all my other En­joyments blasted by this Stroke, in one Hour. How are the Pains and Cares of many Years perished!

1. Answer. How many are there in the World, yea, of our own Acquaintance, whom God hath either denied, or deprived both of the Comforts of Children & of E­states too? If he have left you those outward Comforts, you ought to acknowlege his Goodness therein, & not to slight these because he hath deprived you of the other.

2. Answ. Tho' your Children be gone, yet God hath many Children. left in the World, whose Bowels you may refresh with what he hath bestowed upon you; and your Charity to them will doubtless turn to a more comfort­able Account, than if you had left a large Estate to your own Posterity.

Surely we are not sent into this World to heap up our great Estates for our Children; and if you have been too eager in this Design, you may now read God's just Rebuke of your Folly. Bless God you have yet an Opportunity to serve him eminently by your Charity: and if God deny you other Executors, let your own Hands be your Executors to distribute to the Necessity of the Saints; that the Blessings of them that are ready to perish may come upon you.

11. Plea. O but the Remembrance of its witty Words and pretty Actions is wounding.

1. Answ. Let it rather lift up your Heart to God in Praise, that gave you so desireable a Child, than fill your Heart with Discontent at his Hand in removing it. How many Parents are there in the World, whose Chil­dren God hath deprived of Reason and Understanding, so that they only differ from the Beasts in external Shape and Figure? And how many shew betimes so perverse a Temper, that little Comfort can be expected from them?

[Page 129] 2 Answ. These are but small Circumstances and trivial Things in themselves; but by these little Things, Satan manages a great Design against your Souls to de­ject or exasperate it: And surely this is not your Bu­siness at this Time; You have greater Things than the Words and Actions of Children to mind; To search out God's End in the Affliction: To mortifie the Cor­ruption it is sent to rebuke; to quiet your Heart in the Will of God: This is your Work.

12 Plea. Lastly, It is objected. O but God hides his Face from me in Affliction: It is dark within as well as without; and this makes my Case most deplora­ble; greatly afflicted, and sadly deserted!

1. Ans. Though you want at present sensible Comfort, yet you have Reason to be thankful for gracious Sup­ports, Though the Light of God's Countenance shine not upon you; yet you find that the everlasting Arms are underneath you; the Care of God worketh for you, when the Consolations of God are withdrawn from you.

2 Ans. To have God hide his Face in the time of Trouble is no new, nor unusual Thing. God's dearest Saints, yea, his own Son hath experienced it; who in the deeps of inward and outward Trouble, when Wave called unto Wave, felt not those sweets sensible influences of Com­fort from God, which had always filled his Soul formerly. If Christ cry in Extremity, My God, wy God, why hast thou forsaken me? Then sure we need not wonder, as if some strange Thing had happpened to us.

3. Ans. May not your submissive Carrage under the Rod provoke God for to hide his Face from you? Pray consider it well, nothing is more probable than this, for to be the Cause of God's Withdrawment from you Could you in Meekness and Quietness receive that Cup your Father hath given you to drink; accept the Punishment of your Iniquities; say, that Good is the Word of the Lord, it is the Lord, let him do what he will; you would soon find the Case altered with you; but the com­forting Spirit finds no delight or Rest in a turbulent and tumultuous Breast.

[Page 130] And thus I have satisfied the most considerable Pleas urged in Justification of our Excesses.

4. I come now to the last Thing proposed, namely, The Means of curing and preventing these sinful Excesses of Sorrow for the Death of dear Relations.

And although much hath been said already to dissuade from this Evil, and I have enlarged already beyond my first Intention; yet I shall cast in some farther Help and Assistance towards the Healing of this Destemper, by prescribing the following Rules.

1. Rule. If you would not mourn excessively for the Loss of Creature-Comforts, then beware that you set not your De­light and Love excessively or inordinatly upon them whilst you do enjoy them

Strong Affections make strong Afflictions, the higher the Tide, the lower the Ebb. According to the Measure of our Delight in the Enjoyment, is our Grief in the Loss of these Things. The Apostles knits these two Graces, Temperance & Patience together in the Precept, 2 Pet. 1.16. And it's very observable, how Intemperance and Impatience are in­separably linked in Experience, yea, the Experience of the best Men, You read, Gen. 37.3. How Israel loved Joseph more than all his Children, because he was the on of his old Age; and made him a Coat of many Colours.

This was the Darling; Jacob's Heart was exceedingly set upon him; his very Life was bound up in the Life of the Lad, Now when the supposed Death of this Child was brought to him, how did he carry it See Ver. 34.35. And Jacob rent his Cloaths, and put Sackloth upon his Loins, and mourned for his Son many Days: And all his Sons & all his Daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to he Comforted; and he said, For I will go down to the Grave to my Son mourning. Thi [...] his Father wept for him.

Here, as in a Glass, are the Effect of excessive Love to a Child represented. Here you may see what Work immoderate Love will make, even in a sanctified Heart.

O therefore let your Moderation be known to all Men, in your Delights and Sorrows about earthly Things; for ordinarily the Proportion of the one is answerable to the other.

[Page 131] 2. Rule. If you would not be overwhelmed with Grief for the Loss of your Relations, be exact and careful in discharg­ing your Duties to them while you have them

The Testimony of your Conscience that you have la­boured in all Things to discharge the Duties you owed to your Relations, whilst they were with you, will prove an excellent Allay to your Sorrows for them when they are no longer yours. 'Tis not so much the single Affliction as the Guilt charged upon us in Times of Affliction, that makes our Load so heavy.

O what a terrible Thing is it to look upon our dead Friend, whilst Conscience is accusing and upbraiding us for our Duties neglected, and such or such Sins com­mitted? O you little think how dreadfula Spectacle this will make the dead Body of thy Friend to thee.

Conscience if not quite stupid, or dead, will speak at such a Time. O therefore, as ever you would provide for a comfortable parting at Death, or meet again at Judg­ment; be exact, punctual and circumspect in all your Re­lative Duties.

3. Rule If you would not be overwhelmed by Trouble for the loss of dear Relations, then turn to God under your Trouble, and pour out your Sorrows by Prayer into his Bosom.

This will ease and allay your Troubles? Blessed be God for the Ordinance of Prayer; How much are all the Saints beholden to it at all Times, but especially in Heart-sinking & distressful Times. It's some Relief, when in our Distress we can pour out our Trouble into the Bosom of a Wife, or faithful Friend; how much more when we leave our Complaint before the gracious, wise, and faithful God? I told you before of that Holy Man, who having lost his dear and only Son, got to his Closet, there poured out his Soul freely to the Lord, and when he came down to his Friends that were waiting below to comfort him and fearing how he would bear that Stroke; he came from his Duty with a chearful Countenance, telling them he would be content to bury a Son, if it were possible, every Day, provided he might enjoy such Comforts as his Soul had found in that private Hour.

[Page 132] Go thy way, Christian, to thy God, get thee to thy Knees in the cloudy & dark Day [...] Retire from all Crea­tures, that thou mayest have thy full Liberty with God, & there pour out thy Heart before him, in free, full & broken-hearted Confessions of Sin: Judge thy self worthy of Hell as well as of this Trouble: Justify God in all his smartest Strokes; beg him in this Distress to put under thee everlasting Arms, intreat one Smile, one gracious Look to inlighten thy Darkness & chear thy drooping Spirit. Say with the Prophet, Jer. 17.17. Be not thou a Terror to me; thou art my Hope in the Day of Evil. And try what Relief such a Course will afford thee. Surely if thy Heart be sincere in this Course thou shalt be able to say with that Holy Man, Psal. 94.29. In the Multitude of my Thoughts which I had within me, thy Comforts have de­lighted my Soul.

4. Rule. If you would bear the Loss of your dear Rela­tions with Moderation, eye God, in the whole Process of the Affliction, more, and secondary Causes and Circumstances of the Matter, less.

I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it, Ps. 39.9. Consider the Hand of the Lord in the whole Matter: And that,

First, As a Sovereign Hand which hath right to dis­pose of thee, and all thy Comforts without thy Leave or Consent, Job 33.13.

Secondly, As a Father's Hand correcting thee in Love & Faithfulness, Prov. 3.11. Whom the Lord loveth, he cor­recteth, as a Father the Son in whom he delighteth. O if once you could but see Affliction as a Rod in a Father's Hand proceeding from his Love, and intended for your eternal Good; how quiet would you then be?

And surely if it draw your Heart nearer to God, & mortify it more to this vain World, it is a Rod in the Hand of special Love: If it end in your Love to God, doubt not but it comes from God's Love to you.

Thirdly, As a just and Righteous Hand, Hast not thou procured this to thy self by thy own Folly? Yea, the Lord is just in all that is come upon thee: Whatever he hath done, yet he hath done thee no wrong

[Page 133] Fourthly, and Lastly, As a moderate & merciful Hand that hath punished thee less than thine Iniquities deserve [...] He hath cast thee into Affliction, he might justly have cast thee into Hell. It is of the Lord's Mercy that thou art not consumed, Why doth the Living Man complain [...]

5. Rule. If you would bear your Affliction with Mode­ration, compare it with the Affliction of other Men, and that will greatly quiet your Spirits

You have no Cause to say, God hath dealt bitterly with you, & that there is no Sorrow like unto your Sor­row: Look round about you, & impartially consider the Condition that others are in: And they nothing inferi­or to you in any Respect. You had one dead Child, Aa­ron had two at a stroke, Job all one stroke, and both these by an immediate Stroke from the Hand of God. Some Godly Parents have lived to see their Children die in their Sin by the Hand of Justice: Others have seen them live to the Dishonour of God, & breaking of their own Spirits: And would have esteemed it a Mer­cy if they had died from the Womb, and given up the Ghost when they came out of the Belly, as Job speaks.

In what Misery have some Parents seen their Chil­dren lie? God holding them as so many terrible Specta­cles of Misery before their Eyes; so that they have begged the Lord with Importunity, to let loose his Hands and cut them off: Death being in their Esteem, nothing to those continual Agonies, in which they have seen them lie sweltering from Day to Day. O you little know what a bitter Cup others have had given them to drink. Sure­ly if you compare, you must say, the Lord hath dealt gently and graciously with me.

6. Rule. C [...]refully shun and avoid whatsover may re [...]ai [...] your Sorrow, or provoke you to Impatience.

Increase not your Sorrow by the Sight of, or Discour­ses about sad Objects, and labour to avoid them, as Oc­casions presented by the Enemy of your Souls, to draw forth the Corruptions of your heart.

I told you before, why Jacob would not have the Child of which Rachel died, called after the Name his Wife had given, Benoni, the Son of my Sorrow, lest it should [Page 134]prove a daily Occasion of renewing his Trouble for the loss of his dear Wife; but he called his Name Benjamin.

Your Patience is like Tinder, or Gun-Powder, so long as you can prevent the Sparks from falling on it, there is no great Danger: But you that carry such dangerous prepared Matter in your own Hearts, cannot be too care­ful to prevent them. Do by murmuring as you do by blasphemous Thoughts, think quite another way, and give no Occasion.

7. Rule. In the Day of your mourning for the Death of your Friend, seriously consider your own Death as approach­ing, and that you & your dead Friend are distinguished by a small Interval and Point of Time. 2 Sam. 11.13. I shall go to him. Surely the Thoughts of your own Death as approaching also, will greatly allay your Sorrows for the Dead that are gone before you. We are apt to fancy a long Life in the World, & then the Loss of those Comforts which we promised ourselves so much of the sweetness & comfort of our Lives from, seems an intolerable Thing.

But would you realize your own Deaths more, you would not be so deeply concerned for their Death as you are. Could you but look into your own Graves more seri­ously, you would be able to look into your Friend's Grave more composedly.

And thus I have finished what I designed from this Scripture. The Father of Mercies and God of all Com­forts, whose sole Prerogative it is to comfort them that are cast down, write all his Truths upon your Hearts, that they abide there, and reduce your disordered Affections to that Frame which best suits the Will of God, & the Profes­sion [...]u make of Subjection and Resignation thereunto