Part 23
How unmercifully do we load our bodies in times of a How do we not only waste their strength by sorrow, but c and necessary refreshment.'* They must carry the load, but ed no refreshment : If they can eat the bread of affliction, tears, they may feed to the full ; but no pleasant bread, sleep is permitted them. Surely you would not burden t you do your own bodies : You would pity and relieve a bi groaning and sinking under an heavy burden, but you wiJ nor relieve your own bodies.
Some men's souls have given such deep wounds to the that they are never like to enjoy many easy or comfort more whilst they dwell in them.
Now, this is vei'v sinful and displeasing to God ; for i such a tender care for our bodies, that he would not hav( lowed up of over much grief, no, though it be for sin, 2 but even to that sorrow sets bounds ; how much less witl sorrow for tem}X)ral loss ? May not your stock of natural st employed to better purposes, think you, than these .'* 1 come, that you may earnestly wish you had that health an( again to spend for God, which you now so lavishly waste, digally cast away upon your troubles, to no purpose or a(
It was therefore an high point of wisdom in David, and no doubt for our imitation, who, when the child was dead mourn, arose, washed himself, and eat bread, 2 Sam. xii.
Fifthly, when affliction sours the spirit with discon makes it inwardly grudge against the hand of God, trouble is full of sin, and we ought to be humbled for it 1 Lord.
Whatever God doth with us, or ours, still we should good thoughts of him. A gracious heart cleaves nearer ai to God in affliction, and can justify God in his severe sti knowledging them to be all just and holy, Psal. cxix. 75.
" also that thy judgments are right, and that thou in fai
hast afflicted me." And hereby the soul may comfort dence to itself its own uprightness and sincere love to God hath hppn nf sinoi-iilflr iisp to some Roiils. to take rifrht me
A TOKE\ FOR MOtRN'EKS.
ftst comforts, argues plainly that we love him for l)imself, an< for his gifts only. And thus his interest in the heart is deeper any creature-interest is. And such is the comfort that hath res to some from such discoveries of their own hearts by close smj afflictions, that they would not part with it, to have their eon
(whose removal occasioned them) given back in lieu of it.
But to swell with secret discontent, and have hard thoughts of as if he had done us wrong, or dealt more severely with us than O this is a vile temper, cursed fruit springing from an evil n> very carnal, ignorant, proud heart ; or at least from a very di pered, if renewed, heart. So it was with Jonah when God i his gourd : " Yea, (saith he) I do well to be angry even unto d< Jonah iv. 9Poor man ! he was highly distempered at this and out of frame ; this was not his true temper, or ordinary f but a surprize ; the effect of a paroxism of temptation, in wlii( passions had been over-heated.
Few dare to vent it in such lan^uaffe : But how manv have hearts imbittered by discontent, and secret risings against the I Which, if ever the Lord open their eves to see, will cost them trouble than ever that affliction did, which gave the occasion (
I deny not but the best heart mav be tempted to think and frowardly concerning these works of the Lord ; that envious a sary, the devil, will blow the coals, and labour to blow up our « at such times into high discontents: The temptation was strono upon David himself, to take up hard thoughts of God, and tc elude, •' Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain ;" q. d. Ho tie privilege from the worst of evils hath a man by his godli
But he soon suppressed such motions: "If I should say thus, Isi
" offend against the generation of thy children :'' ^Meaning, ib. should condemn the whole race of godly men through the world ; for who is there among them all, but is, or hath bee may be, afflicted as severely as myself ?
" Surely, it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne ch£
" ment, I will not of!end any more,"" Job xxxiv. 31. Whi God doth with you, speak well, and think well of him, an works.
Sixthly, Our sorrows exceed due bounds when zee continual cite and provoke them by Tcilling irritations.
Grief, like a lion, loves to play with us before it destroy us. Etrange it is that we should find some kind of pleasure in rousin sorrows. It is * Seneca's observation, and experimentally true
622 A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS.
" When they saw that she went out hastily, followed hei
she goeth to the grave to weep there," John xi. 32, as saith* Calvin, ' that seek to provoke their troubles, by go
grave, or often looking upon the dead body.' Thus we delight to look upon the relics of our decease and often to mention their actions, and sayings, not so mui matter of holy, and weighty instruction, or imitation, for tl warrant, and commend the action ; but rather to rub the W( fetch fresh blood from it, by piercing ourselves with some lit yet wounding circumstances. I have known many that w talk of the features, actions and sayings, of their chiJ hours together, and weep at the reliearsal of them, and many months after they are gone ; so keeping the wound c< open, and excruciating their own hearts, without any ber by them : A lock of hair, or some such trifles, must be kej purpose to renew their sorrow daily, by looking on it. (J count, Jacob would not have his son called Benoni, lest renew his sorrow, but Benjamin.
I am far from commending a brutish oblivion of our dear and condemn it as much as I do this childish and unpro membrance. O friends ! we have other things to do unde than these : Were it not better to be searching our hearts, ai when God's rod is upon us, and studying how to answer 1 it, by mortifying those corruptions which provoke it .'' Sure works not kindly till it comes to this.
Lastly, Our sorrows may then be pronounc when they deafen our ears to all the wholesome, and i words of counsel, and comfort, offered us for our relief, anc
Jer. xxxi. 15. " A voice was heard in Ramah, lament;
bitter weeping: Rachel weeping for her children, wou " comforted for her children, because they were not." SI] mit no comfort, her disease is curable by no other means I storation of her children ; give her them again, and sli quiet ; else you speak unto air, she regards not whatever ;
Thus Israel, in the cruel bondage in Egypt, Moses br: the glad tidings of deliverance ; '' But they hearkened ni
" because of the anguish of spirit, and their cruel bondage vi. 9.
Thus obstinately fixed are many, in their trouble, that of advice, or comfort, find any place with them ; yea, I ha some exceeding quick and ingenious, even above the rat
A TOKEN FOE MOURNERS.
sav wliat you will, they mind it not, or, at most it abides not them. Let proper, seasonable advice, or comfort be ten( they refuse it ; your counsel is good, but they have no heart now. Thus, Psal. Ixxvii. 10. " My soul (saith he) refused
" comforted."
To want comfort in time of affliction, is an aggravation of c fliction ; but to refuse it when offered us, wants not sin. Tim come when we would be glad to receive comfort, or hear a w support, and shall be denied it.
O it is a mercy to the afflicted to have Barnabas with them, terpreter, one among a thousand ; and it will be the great sin folly of the afflicted, to spill like water upon the ground, tho cellent cordials, prepared and offered to them, out of a frowa dead spirit, under trouble. Say not with them. Lam. iii. 1 " My hope is perished from the Lord, remembering mine afl
" and mv misery, the wormwood and the gall.'" It is a the pities the wormwood and gall of affliction should so disgust a tlan, as that he should not at any time be able to relish the ness that is in Christ, and in the promises. And thus I ha^ patched the first part of ray design, in shewing you wherein 1 of mourners doth not lie, and in what it doth.
Secondly, Having cleared this, and shewn you wherein the s danger lies ; my way is now prepared to the second thing pro namely, to dissuade mourners from these sinful excesses of so and keep the golden bridle of moderation upon their passions ii of affliction. And O that ray words may be as successful ujxtr pensive souls that shall read them, as Abigail's were to Da Sam. XXV. 32. who, when he perceived how proper and seas( they were, said, " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sei
this day to meet me, and blessed be thv advice." I am sensible how hard a task it is I here undertake, to down and allay mutinous, raging, and tumultuous passions ; t a check to the torrent of passion, is ordinarily but to provoke make it rage and swell the more.
The work is the Lard's, it wholly depends upon his pow( blessing. He that saith to the sea when the waves thereof n still, can also quiet and compose the stormy and tumultuous se rages in the breasts of the afflicted, and casts up nothing b froth of vain and useless complaints of our misery, or the dirt ful and wicked complaints of the dealings of the Lord with w
The rod of affliction goes round, and visits all sorts of p
624 A TOKEN FOR MOURXEllS.
Here, therefore, I must have respect to two sorts of •whom I find in tears upon the same account ; I mean, the los dear relations, the regenerate, and the unregenerate. I am to both, and shall endeavour their support and assistance, fo; unregenerate call for our help and pity, and must not be and wholly slighted in their afflictions. We must pity them not pity themselves *. The law of God commands us to hel if fallen under its burden ; how much more a man sinking load of sorrows ?
I confess, uses of comfort to the unregenerate are not (oi in use among us, and it may seem strange whence any thing c should be drawn for them that have no special interest iu the promises.
1 confess also I find myself under great disadvantages for t I cannot offer them those reviving cordials that are con
Christ and the covenant, for God's afflicted people ; but ye the goodness of God even to his enemies, that they ar< wholly without supports or means to allay their sorrow.
If this, therefore, be thy case, who readest these lines ; and unsanctified, mourning bitterly for thy dead friends, j cause to mourn for thy dead soul, christless and graceless, i childless or friendless : no comfort in hand, nor yet in hope trouble, and no vent by prayer or faith to ease thy heart.
Poor creature ! thy case is sad, but yet do not wholly sink fer thyself to be swallowed up of grief: thou hast laid thy in the grave, yet throw not thyself headlong into the grj him ; that will not be the way to remedy thy misery : but a while, and ponder these three things.
First, That of' all persons in the icorld, thou hast most ret tender over thy life and healthy and careful to preserve it.-j ti'OtMes destroy thee, thou art eternally hst, undone for ever.
]y sorrow (saith the apostle) works death." And if it v* death, it works thy damnation also ; for hell follows that pj Rev. vi. 8. If a believer die, there is no danger of hell to second death hath no power over him ; but woe to thee if it thee in thy sin : beware, therefore, what thou dost against tl and life ; do not put the candle of sorrow too near that tl which thou hangest over the mouth of hell.
O it is far better to be childless or friendless on earth, th less and remediless in hell.
Secondly, Own and admire the bounty and goodness of G ^„„»«,i ♦^ *i — ;>, +k;, „flfj;^*;^r. . *K„f ,.,u^., ^i^.,«u ^o,v,« ;^f^ fV
A TOKEN rOR MOURKEES.
thy name been in the commission, thou hadst been now past h b the sparing mercy of God ! the wonderful long-suffering of towards thee ! Possibly that poor creature that is gone never voked God as thou hast done : thy poor child never abused me neglected calls, treasured up the ten thousandth part of that guili thou hast done : so that thou mightest well imagine it should r have cut thee down, that hadst so provoked God, than thy little one.
But, O the admirable patience of God ! O the riches of his suffering ! Thou art only warned, not smitten by it : is there no in this worth thankful acknowledgment? Is it not better to black for another on earth, than in the blackness of darkness for ( Is it not easier to go to the grave ^vith thy dead friend, and there, than to go to hell among the damned, where there is wee and wailing, and gnashing of teeth ?
Thirdly y This affliction for which thou moumest, may be the ^ est mercy to thee that ever yet befel thee in this world. God now made thy heart soft by trouble, shewed thee the vanity o world, and what a poor trifle it is which thou madest thy happi there is now a dark cloud spread over all thy worldly com Now, O now ! if the Lord would but strike in with this affli and by it open thine eyes to see thy deplorable state, and take o heart for ever from the vain world, which thou now seest hat thing in it ; and cause thee to chuse Christ, the only abiding for thy portion. If now thy affliction may but bring thy sin membrance, and thy dead friend may but bring thee to a sense < dead soul, which is as cold to God and spiritual things, as his b to thee ; and more loathsome in his eyes than that corpse is, or si
Avill be to the eyes of men : then this day is certainly a day ( greatest mercy that ever yet thou sawest. O happy death, thai prove life to thy soul.
Why this is sometimes the way of the Lord with men, Job ?
8, 9. *' If they be bound in fetters, and liolden in cords of affli " then he sheweth them their work and their transgression, " they have exceeded : he openeth also their ear to discipline " commandeth them that they shall return from iniquity."
O consider, poor pensive creature, that which stole away thy from God is now gone ; that which eat up thy time and thoi that there was no room for God, soul, or eternitv in them, is i all the vain expectations that thou raisedst up unto thyself, fror poor creature which now lies in the dust, are in one dav quite per
6^6 A TOKEN FOE MOURNEES.
from yoU) they belong to the people of God, and you hi thing to do with them.
I shall therefore turn from you to them, and present so comforts to them, to whom they properly belong, which great use to you in reading, if it be but to convince you of privilege and state of the people of God in the greatest troubles in this world, and what advantages their interesi gives them for peace and settlement, beyond that state y
And here I do with much more freedom and hope of s ply myself to the work of counselling and comforting tl You are the fearers of the Lord, and tremble at his word sin is more formidable to you than the greatest affliction ; you would rather chuse to bury all your children, than pi grieve your heavenly Father. Your relations are dear, 1 is dearer to you by far.
Well then, let me persuade you to retire a while into yc redeem a little time from your unprofitable sorrows, ease ; your hearts before the Lord, and beg his blessing upon tlu quieting, and heart-composing considerations that follow which are more general and common, some more particuls cial ; but all of them such as, through the blessing of Gc very useful at this time to your souls.
Consideration 1. Consider, in this day of sorrow, who is. t and author of this rod by which you iww smart ; is it not And if the Lord hath done it, H becomes you mceMy to sub xlvi. 10. " Be still, and know that I am God."
Man and man stand upon even ground ; if your fello does any thing that displeases you, you may not only en did it, but why he did it ? You may demand his ground sons for what he hath done ; but you may not do so here pected that this one thing, The Lord hath doTie it, shouk any farther disputes or contests, silence and quiet you, wh£ that he hath done. Job xxxiii. 13. " Why dost thou sti*i
" him ? For he giveth not an account of any of his matte Supreme being must needs be an unaccountable and unco Being.
It is a shame for a child to strive with his father ; a sh servant to contend with his master ; but for a creature to q strive with the God that made him, O how shameful is i it is highly reasonable that you be subject to that will w proceeded, and that he who formed you and yours should
A TOKEX FOR MOUUXERS.
vvas cropt off by him that owTied it, yea, by him tliat fonne<I it. bis dominion be absolute, sure his disposal should be acccptabh
It was so to gotxi Eli, 1 Sam. iii. 18. '• It is the Lord, let hir '• what seemeth him good T And it was so to David, Psai. xxxi:
I was dumb, I opened not my mouth ; because thou didst it.' let it be for ever remembered, " That he whose name alone is Ji
" vah, is the Most High over all the earth," Psalm ixxxiii. 18. The glorious sovereignty of God, is illustriously displayed in things, his decrees and his providences : With respect to the he saith, Rom. ix. 1.5. " I will have mercy on whom I will have mei Here is no ground of disputing with him ; for so it is said, ver.
Who art Ihou, O man, that repliest against God .' Shall the tl *' formed sav to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thi Hath not the pottter power over the clay ?
And as to his providences, wherein his sovereignty is also m fested ; it is said, Zech. ii. 14. " Be silent, O all flesh, before
Lord, for he is raised up out of his habitation." It is spoken of providential working in the changes of kingdoms and desolations i attend them.
Now, seeing the case stands thus, that the Lord hath done it : his pleasure to have it so, and that if it had not been his will, it cc never have been as it is; he that gave thee (rather lent thee) thy r tion hath aJso taken him : O how quiet should this consideration le thee.'* If your landlord, who has many years suffered you to d\ in his house, does at last warn you out of it, though he tells you why ; you will not contend with him, or say he has done you wro Much less if he tells vou it will be more for his profit and accomi dation to take it into his own hand, than let it to you any longe
Doubtless, reason will tell vou, you ought quietly to pack up i quit it. It is vour great landlord, from whom you hold (at pleasi your own, and your relations lives, that hath now warned ^ out from one of them, it being more for his glory, it may be, to t. it in his own hands, by death ; and must you dispute the case m him ?
Come, Christian, this no way becomes thee, but rather, '• 1
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken awav, blessed be the na " of the Lord." Look off from a dead creature, lift up thine e to the sovereign, wise, and holy pleasure that ordered this afflictic Consider who he is, and what thou art ; yea, pursue this conside tion till thou canst say, I am now filled with the will of God.
Consideration 2. Ponder xcell the qualify of the comfort you t
628 A TOKEN Foil MOUKNEfiS.
said of the wicked, Psal. Ixxvii. 14. that they are full of yea, and of children that do survive them too ; for they i substance to their babes. Full of sin, yet full of children, children live to inherit their parents sins and estates toge
It is the mistaking of the quality and nature of our enjoyi so plunges us into trouble when we lose them. We thii so necessary a connection betwixt these creatures and our that we are utterly undone when they fail us.
But this is our mistake ; there is no such necessary cor dependence ; we may be happy without these things : father, mother, wife, or child, in which our chief good a lies; we have higher, better,, and more enduring things tl all these may perish, and yet our soul be secure and safe our comfort in the way, as well as end, may be safe enouj these are gone : God hath better things to comibrt his p than these, and worse rods to afflict you with than the i these. Had God let your children live and flourish ; and ease and rest in your tabernacle, but in the mean time infl tual judgments upon your souls; how much more sad hac been ?
But as long as our best mercies arc all safe, the things salvation in them remain, and only the things that havi them are removed; you are not prejudiced, or much hin( the attainment of your last end, by the loss of these thin
Alas! it was not Christ's intent to purchase for you a s( tent in the enjoyment of these earthly comforts ; but to r from all iniquity, purge your corruptions, sanctify your nai your hearts from this vain world, and so to dispose and present condition, that, finding no rest and content here, the more ardently pant and sigh alter the rest which rem; people of God. And are you jiot in as probable a way to end now, as you were before ? Do you think you are not a these methods of providence, to be weaned from the wc more ])leapant and prosperous ones ? Every wise man re station and condition to be best for him, which most pr( secures his last end and great design.
Well then, reckon you are as well without these thir them ; yea, and better too, if they were but clogs and s your afi'ections; you have really lost nothing if the thin your eternal happiness consisteth be yet safe. Many of G( children have been denied such comforts as these, and
A TOKEN' FOR MOURXERS.
Before this relation, whose loss you lament, was born, the tii vour enjoyment and separation was unalterably fixed and limit heaven bv the God of the spirits of all flesh : And although it ^ secret to vou whilst your friend was with you ; yet now it is a and evident thing that this was the time of separation before app ed ; and that the life of your friend could by no means be protr; or abbreviated, but must keep your company just so far, and part with you.
This position wants no full and clear scripture authority fc foundation : How pregnant and full is that text, Job xxiv. 5,6. * " ing his days are determined, the number of his months are
thee : thou hast appointed him his bounds, which he cannot j The time of our life, as well as the place of your habitatior prefixed before we were born.
It will greatly conduce to your settlement and peace to be W€ tablished in this truth ; that theappointed time was fully come vou and vour dear relation parted ; for it will prevent and save a deal of trouble which comes from our after-reflections.
O if this had been done, or that omitted ; had it not bee such miscarnages and oversights, my dear husband, wife, or < had been alive at this dav ! No, the Lord's time was fullv come, all things concurred, and fell in together to bring about the pie; of his will ; let that satisfv vou : Had the ablest physicians i; world been there, or had they that were there prescribed an course, as it is now, so it would have been when they had don Only it m.ust be precautioned, that the decree of God no way exi any voluntary, or sinful neglects or miscarriages. Go<i overthese things to serve his own ends, but no wav approves them ; it greatly relieves, against all our involuntary and unavoidable sights and mistakes about the use of means, or the timing of tl for it could not be otherwise than now it is.
Objection. But many things are alleged against this position, that with much seeming countenance from such scriptures as tl
Psal. liv. 2.5. " Blood-thirsty men shall not live out half their d
Eccl." vii. 18. " Why shouldst thou die before thv time.'' Psa 24. " O my God, take me not away in the midst of my davs." xxvii. 10. '• I am deprived of the residue of mv vears.*' x\nd, ] X. 27. '* Tlie fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years o
wicked shall be shortened." It is demanded what tolerable we can give these scriptures, whilst we assert an unalterable fix of the term of death.
6S0 A tOKEN FOR MOUllXEES.
or the vigour and soundness of his natural constitution ; foi edness either drowns nature in an excess of riot and luxu poses him to the hand of justice, which cuts him off for h ness before he hath accomplished half his days. • Again, we must distinguish of the term or limit for dei is either General, or Special.
The general limits are now seventy or eighty yeai's, Ps " The days of our years are threescore j^ars and ten, and it " of strength they are fourscore years, yet is their strength ] " sorrow." To this short limit the life of man is generall since the flood ; and though there are some few exceptioi general rule is not thereby destroyed.
The special limit is that proportion of time, which G< own counsel and will hath allotted to every individual pei it is only known to us by the event : This we affirm to 1 and immoveable term ; with it all things shall fall in, ar the will of God in our dissolution at that time. But b( general limit is known, and this special limit is a secret hi own breast; therefore man reckons by the former account be said, when he dies at thirty, or forty years old, to be the midst of his days : For it is so, reckoning by the gcnen though he be not cut oft' till the end of his days, reckon special limit.
Thus he that is wicked, dies before his time ; (i. g.) tl might attain to in an ordinary way ; but not before the hath appointed : And so in all other objected scriptures.
It is not proper at all, in a subject of this nature, to di| controversy : Alas ! the poor mourner, overwhelmed -^ hath no pleasure in that ; it is not proper for him at this therefore I shall, for the present, wave the controversy, ar this consideration with an humble, and serious motion to t): that they will wisely consider the matter. The Lord's time your relations lived with you every moment that God inte for you before you had them.
O parents ! mind this, I beseech you ; the time of y continuance in the womb, was fixed to a minute by the 1 when the parturient fulness of that time was come, Avere y« ling it sliould be delivered thence into the world .'' The ther would not have it abide one minute longer in the \^ well soever she loved it ; and is there not the same reason be willing, when God's appointed time is come to have i
A TOKEN FOR ilOLUXERS.
lie that appointed the seasons of the year appointed the s< of our comfort in our relations: And as those seasons canr altered, no more can these. All the course of providence is guit an unalterable decree; what falls out casually to our appreht yet falls out necessarily in respect of God's appointment. 0 therefore be quieted in it, this must needs be as it is. Consider. 4. Hath God smitten your darling, and taken ai^-ay light of your eyes ivith this stroke ? Bear this stroke xtnthpatien quiet submission: For how know you but your trouble mighthax greater /"rom the life, than it noic is from the death of your chii
Sad experience made a holy man once say, It is better to we ten dead children, than for one living child : A living chili prove a continual dropping, yea, a continual dying to the p heart. What a sad word was that of David to Abishai, 2 Sai
11. " Behold, (saith he) my son, which came out of my b
seeketh mv life.'' I remember Seneca, in his consolatory ep his friend Marullus, brings in his friend thus aggravating the of his child.
* O, (saith Marullus) had my child lived with me, to how
' modesty, gravity, and prudence, might my discipline have f * and moulded him .' But, saith * Seneca, (which is more to b
ed) he might have been as others mostly are ; for look, (sai * what children come even out of the worthiest families ; sue
' exercise both their own, and others lusts; in all whose life tl
not a day without the mark of some notorious wickedness uj 1 know vour tender love to your children will scarce admii jealousies of them ; they are for the present, sweet, lovely, im companions, and you doubt not but by your care of their edu( and prayer for them, they might have been the joy of your h
Why doubtless Esau, when he was httle, and in his tende promised as much comfort to his parents as Jacob did ; and I tion not but Isaac and Rebecca (a glorious pair) spent as many pr and bestowed as many holy counsels upon him, as they did up brother ; But when the child grew up to riper years, then he b a sharp affliction to his parents; for it is said, Gen. xx\
" That when Esau was forty years old, he took to wife Judi " daughter of Berith the Hittite, which was a grief of mind to " and Rebecca.'' The word in the original comes from a roc signifies to imbitter -f- : This child imbittered the minds of his p by his rebellion against them, and despising their counsels.
And I cannot doubt but Abraham disciplined his familv ass
632 A TOKEN^ FOR MOURKERS.
many and as frequent prayers for his cliildren, and partici his son Ishmael, as any of you : We find one, and that a ve tical one, recorded, Gen, xvii. 18. " O that Ishmael migh
" fore thee :"" And yet you know how he proved, a son tha him no more comfort than Esau did to Jacob and Rcbecc
O how much more common is it for parents to see the evils of their children, than their virtues and graces ? A one parent lives to rejoice in beholding the grace of Go forth in the life of his child, there are twenty, it may be an that live to behold, to th<;ir vexation and grief, the workin ruption in them.
It is a note of * Plutarch, in his morals, Nicoles (saith he] to see the noble victory obtained by Themistocles his son ; i ades, to see the battle his son Cimon won in the field ; no pus, to hear his son Pericles preach and make orations. Ari?
heard his son Plato's lectures and disputations ; but men i commonly live to see their children fall a gaming, revelling, and whoring: Multitudes live to see such things to the And if thou be a gracious soul, O what a cut would this very heart ! to see those (as David spake of his Absalom) out of thy bowels, to be sinning against God, that God w lovest, and whose honour is dearer to thee than thy very 1
But admit they should prove civil and hopeful children, ^ est thou not live to see more misery come upon them than th( endure to see.'' O think what a sad and doleful sight was t] dekiah, Jer. 1. 10. " The king of Babylon brought his chi
" slew them before his eyes." Horrid spectacle ! and tha Consider. 5. How know you, but hj this stroke which onent, God Hath taken them away J'rom the evil to corned
Is it God's usual way, when some extraordinary cala coming upon the world, to hide some of his weak and tt out of the way by death, Isa. Ivii. 1, 2. he leaves some, an( others, but taketh care for the security of all. He provide ibr Methuselah before the flood. The grave is an hidin some, and God sees it better for them to be undcr-gr above ground in such evil days.
Just as a careful and tender father, who hath a son school, hearing the plague is broke out in or near the pL his horse presently to fetch home his son before the dangei culty be greater. Death is our Father's pale horse whicl to fetch home his tender children, and carry them out of h
A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. »
him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor sc
native country."^ And is there not a dreadful sound of troubles now in our ears not the clouds gather blackness? Surely all things round abo seem to be preparing and disposing themselves for aftliction.
days may be nigh in which you shall say, " Blessed is the \ " that never bare, and the paps that never gave suck."
It was in the day wherein the fiiith and patience of the saints exercised, that John heard a voice from heaven, -saying to
" Write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from h
Thy friend by an act of favour is disbanded by death, whiLl thyself art left to endure a great fight of affliction. And now if bles come, tliy cares and fears will be so much the less, and th\ death so much the easier to thee; when so much of thee is in ven already. In this case the Lord, by a merciful dispensati providing both for their safety, and thy own easier passage to
In removing thy friends before-hand, he seems to say to th he did to Peter, John xiii. 7. " What I do thou knowest not
" but thou shalt know hereafter." The eye of providence h. prospect far beyond thine ; probably it would be a harder tas thee to leave them behind, than to follow them.
A tree that is deeply rooted in the earth, requires many st to fell it ; but when its roots are loosed before-hand, then an stroke lays down upon the earth.
Consider. 6. A parting time must needs come, and zcjiy is no as good as another ? You knew before-hand your cliild or frien^ mortal, and that the thread that linked you together must b If any one, (saith Basil), had asked you when your child was What is that, which is born .'^ What would you have answ( Would you not have said. It is a man ? And if a man, then a m vanishing thing. And why then are you surprized with w( to see a dying thing dead ?
He, (saith * Seneca), who complains that one is dead, com] that he was a man. All men are under the savne condition, to \ share it falls to be born, to him it remains to die.
We are indeed distinguished by the intervals, but equalized ; issue : " It is appointed to all men once to die," Heb. ix. 2T. 1 is a statute law of heaven in the case.
Ppssibly you think this is the worst time for parting that coal had you enjoyed it longer, you could have parted easier ; bul
634; A TOKEX FOR MOUE^TEttS.
Had God given you such a privilege as was once grar English parliament; that the union betwixt you and yourfrii not be dissolved till you yourself were willing it should be when, think you, would you have been willing it should be
It is Avell for us and ours that our times are in God's 1 Hot in our own. And how immature soever it seemed to
Was cut down ; yet it " came to the grave in a full age, as
corn in its season,"" Job v. 26. They that are in Chri the covenant, never die unseasonably, whensoever they c one upon the text), ' They die in a good old age; yea, th * die in the spring and flower of youth ; they die in a goc * i. e. they are ripe for death whenever they die. Wh * godly die, it is harvest time with him ; though in a natur * he be cut clown while he is green, and cropt in the bud o ' yet in his spiritual capacity he never dies before he is ripe * ripen him speedily, he can let out such warm rays and b( * Holy Spirit upon them, as shall soon mature the seed
into a preparedness for glory.' It was doubtless the most fit and seasonable time for thei they could die in, and as it is a fit time for them, so fo Had it lived longer, it might either have engaged you m your parting would have been harder; or else have pi stumbled you more by discovering its natural corruption what a stinging aggravation of your sorrow would that 1
Surely the Lord of time is the best judge of time ; and do we more discover our folly and rashness, than in presu the times either of our comforts or troubles ; as for our cc never think they can come too soon ; we would have them whether the season be fit or not, as Num. xii. 13. " Hej;
" Lord." O let it be done speedily ; we are in post-hai comforts, and for our afflictions we never think they enough ; not at this time. Lord, rather at any other timt
But it is good to leave the timeing botii of the one an( to him, who^e works are all beautiful in their seasons, doth any thing in an improper time.
Consider. 7. Call to mind in this day of trouble, the co have with God, and zchat you solemnly promised him in i took him for your God.
It will be very seasonable and useful for thee, Christ time to reflect upon these transactions, and the frame o in tliosc days, when an heavier load of sorrow prest thy
A TOKEN FOR MOUUXEEfl.
ili)or of iiope ; all ! what goocl news wouldst thou then have acco ed it, to escape that clanger with the loss of all earthly comforts
Was not this thy cry in those days ? ' Lord, give me Christ, * deny me whatever else thou pleasest. Pardon my sin, save my 5 * and, in order to both, unite me with Christ, and I will never re
or open my mouth. Do what thou wilt with me ; let m« * friendless, let me be childless, let me be poor, let me be any tl
rather than a christless, graceless, hopeless soul." And when the Lord hearkened to thy cry, and shewed thee me when he drew thee off' from the world into thy closet, and t treatecl with thee in secret, when he was working up thy heart tc terms of his covenant, and made thee willing to accept Christ i his own terms ; O then, how heartily didst thou submit to his y as most reasonable and easy, as at that time it seemed to thee ?
Call to mind these days, the secret places where Christ and made the bargain ; have not these words, or words to this sense, 1 whisperetl by thee into his ear with a dropping eye, and mel heart ?
' Lord Jesus, here am I, a poor guilty sinner, deeply laden ' sin ; fear and trouble upon one hand, and there is a just Go
' severe law, and everlasting burnings, on the other hand ; ' blessed be God, O blessed be God for Jesus the Mediator, wh
' terposeth betwixt me and it. Thou art the only door of hop * which I can escape, thy blood the only means of my pardon
' salvation. Thou hast said, " Come unto me all ye that lab
' and are heavy laden." Thou hast promised, that he that cor
' to thee, shall in no w ise be cast out.
' Blessed Jesus, thy poor creature cometh to thee upon thest
' couragements : I come, O but it is with many staggerings,
many doubts and fears of the issue ; yet I am willing to come
make a covenant with thee this day.
I take thee this day to be my Lord, and submit heartily to al ' disposals ; do what thou wilt with me, or mine, let me be ric
' }XK)r, any thing or nothing in this world : I am willing to b ' tliou wouldst have me, and I do likewise give myself to thee ' day, to be thine ; all I am, all I have shall be thine, thine to s
' thee, and thine to be disposed of at thy pleasure. Thou :
' henceforth be my highest Lord, my chiefcst good, my last en(
Now, Christian, make good to Christ what thou so solemnly mised him : He, I say, he hath disposed of this thy dear rela as pleased him, and is thereby trying thy uprii'htness in the (
636 A TOKEN FOR MOUUNEIIS.
this dear child ; I reserve this out of the bargain ? I shall dure that thou shouldst kill this comfort. If so, thou d this but prove thyself an hypocrite ; if thou wast since covenant, as Christ had no reserve on his part, so thou h on thine.
It was all without any exception thou then resignedst tc now wilt thou go back from thy word, as one that had out himself, and repents the bargain .? Or, at least, as onetha gotten these solemn transactions in the days of thy distress!
hath Christ failed in one tittle that he promised thee .'' Cli if thou canst, with the least unfaithfulness ; he hath been a tittle on his part, O be thou so upon thine ; this day i the proof, remember what thou hast promised him.
Consider. 8. But if' thy covenant loith God will not quie methinks God's covenant with thee might be presumed to
Is thy family, which was lately hopeful, and flourishing ful tabernacle, now broken up and scattered ? Thy poste which thou raisedst up to thyself great expectations of < old age, cut off? So that thou art now like neither to hai or memorial left thee in the earth.
Dost thou sit alone, and mourn to think whitherto thy comforts are now come ?
Dost thou read over those words of Job, chap. xxix. ve
4, 5. and comment upon them with man}' tears ; " O that " in months past, as in the day when God preserved me ! " candle shined upon my head, and when by his light " through darkness ! as I was in the days of my youth, " secret of God was upon my tabernacle, when the Aim
" yet with me, when my children were about me."" Yet let the covenant God hath made with thee, comfo this thy desolate condition.
You know what domestic troubles holy David met wit succession, not only from the death of children, but, which worse, from the wicked lives of his children. There w murder, and rebellion in his family ; a far sorer trial thai their infancy could have been ; And yet see how sweetly \ himself from the covenant of grace, in 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. "
" my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with m " lasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for thii " salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to
I know this place principally refers to Christ, who was
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those that were left were not such as he desired ; so it may ab dantly comfort you also, whatever troubles, or deaths, are U] vour families, who have an interest in the covenant. For,
First, If you are God's covenant people, though he may afil yet he will never forget you, Psalm iii. 5. he is ever mindful of covenant : You are as much upon his heart in your deepest afl tions, as in the greatest flourish of your prosperity.
You find it hard to forget your child, though it be now turnec a heap of corruption, and loathsome rottenness ; O how doth y mind run upon it night and day ! your thoughts tire not upon t object : Why surely it is much more easy for you to forget your d child, whilst living, and most endearing, (much more when d and undesirable) tlian it is for your God to forget you. Isa. x
15. " Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should " have compassion on the son of her womb .'' Yea, they may forj
yet will not I forget thee." Can a rcoman, the move aSeci\oxi:\Xe sqx^ forget hemiclcing ch her own child, and not a nursing child .'' Her own child, whils hangs on the breast, and, together with the milk from the bre draws love from its mother's heart ; can such a thing as this b nature ? possibly it may, for creature-love is fickle, and varial
But, I icill not forget thee ; it is an everlasting covenant.
Secondlij, As he will never forget you in your troubles, so he order all your troubles for your good : It is a ■well-ordered covem or a covenant orderly disposed ; so that every thing shall work gethcr for your good.
The covenant so orders all vour trials, ranks and disposes your v ous troubles so, as that they shall, in their orders and places, swe co-operate, and join their united influences to make you happy.
Possibly you cannot see how the present aflBiction should be your good ; vou are readv to say, with Jacob, Gen. xlii.
" Joseph is not, and Simeon is not ; and ve will take Benja
awav ; all these thino^s are against me."" But could vou once how sweetly, and orderly all these afflictions work under the I sing and influence of the covenant, to your eternal good, you w( not only be quiet, but thankful for that which now so much aflf and troubles you.
Thirdly, This covenant is not only well ordered in all things, sxire : the mercies contained in it are called, "the sure mercie
" David,'' Isa. Iv. 3. Now how sweet, how seasonable a sup doth this cnnsiderntinn cnvo to God's nfflirtpd iindpr thp rod '
638 A TOXEX FOR MOURNERS.
Work of tlielr hands, but also, in enjoying the fruit of tl pains for him.
Probably such thoughts you have hsd, and raised ii selves great expectations of comfort in your old age fi now you see you built upon the sand, and where were you had not a firmer bottom to build upon ? But bless the covenant-mercies are more sure, and solid ! God, heaven, never start or fade, as these things do.
The sweetest creature-enjoyments you ever had or \ world, cannot say to you, as your God doth, " I will
thee, nor forsake thee." You must part with your dea how well soever you love them; you must bid adieu to your bosom, how nearly soever your afl'ections be linked deUghted in her. Your children and you must be separa they are to you as your own soul.
But though these vanish away, blessed be God there i that abides. ' Though all flesh be as grass, and the goo
as the flower of the grass, though the grass witheret *' flower thereof fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lc
upon it ; yet the word of our God shall stand for ev( 6, 7, 8. There is so much of support contained in th sidcration, that could but your faith fix here, to realize it, I might lay down my pen at this period, and say, done, there needs no more.
Consideration 9T^e hope of the resurrection should restrain all excesses of sorroxo in those that do profess it
Let them only mourn without measure, who mourn wi The husbandman doth not mourn when he casts his set the earth, because he sows in hope ; commits it to the groi expectation to receive it again with improvement. Why the case here, and just so the apostle states it, 1 Tliess. " But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, *' them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as o " have no hope ; for if we believe that Jesus died, and *' even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring Q. d. Look not upon the dead as a lost generation ; th death hath annihilated, and utterly destroyed them : O i not dead, but only asleep ; and if they sleep, they shaU a You do not use to make outcries and lamentations for yo and friends, when you find them asleep upon their be death is but a longer sleep, out of which they shall as su
A TOKEN FOB MOUB.KERS.
that reckoned I roust part with them; and I part with thei
one that makes account to have them."' He speak?, no doubt, of liiat enjoyment of them, which his plea contemplations of their virtuous actions could give him ; for he wliollv unacquainted with the comfortable, and heart-suppoi doctrine of the resurrection. Had he kno^vn the advantages w result thence, at what a rate may we think he would have spoki the dead, and of their state ; But this you profess to believe, an( sink at a strange rate. O suffer not Gentilism to outvie Christiai let not Pagans challenge the greatest Believers, to out-do them quiet, and cheerful behaviour under afflictions.
I beseec"li thee, reader, if thy dec^sed friend have left thee solid ground of hope that he died interested in Christ, and the < nant ; that thou wilt distinctly ponder these admirable sup] which the doctrine of the resurrection affords.
Firsty That the same body which was so pleasant a spectac thee shall be restored again ; yea, the same numeiicalhj. as w( the same specifically ; so that it shall not only be -l^IuU it was, the zchii it was, " These eyes shall behold him, and not anotl Job xix. 27. The very same body you laid, or are now about t( in the grave, shall be restored again : Thou shalt find thine husband, wife, or child, or friend again: I say the self-same, not another.
And farther, this is supporting, tliat as you shall the same person that was so dear to you ; so you shall know t to be the same that were once endeared to vou on earth in so a tie of relation.
Indeed you shall know them no more in any carnal relation, d dissolved that bond : But you shall know them to be such as > were your dear relations in this world, and be able to single t out among that great multitude, and say, this was my father, mol husband wife, or child ; this was the person for whom I wept made supplication, who was an instrument of good to me, c ■whose salvation God then made me instrumental.
For we may allow, in that state, ail that knowledge which is ct lath'ea.ndi perfect'we, whatsoever may enlarge and heighten our fel and satisfaction, as this must needs be allowed to do. Luther's ji meat in this point, * being asked by his friends at supper the e ing before he died, replies thus, What (saith he) befel Adam ? never saw Eve, but was in a deep sleep when God formed her; when he awaked and saw her, he asked not what she was, nor wh
640 A TOKEN FOR SIOURXERS.
tnanner we also shall be in the other life renewed by C shall know our parents, our wives, and children.
And this among other things, was that with which -fcomforted the lady Italica, after the death of her dear hu ling her that she should know him in the world to come ; glorified saints. Yea, and a greater than either of these, I n comforted himself, that the Thessalonians, whom he had cc
Christ, should be " his joy and crown of rejoicing, in th " of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming," 1 Thess. ii. 19; must needs imply his distinct knowledge of them in that < must be many hundred years after death hath separated each other. Whether this knowledge sliall be by the glc discerning any lineaments or property of individuation upon the glorified bodies of our relations; or whether it j immediate revelation, as Adam knew his wife, or as Pet and John knew Moses and Elias in the mount ; as it is determine, so it is needless to puzzle ourselves about it.
It is the concurrent judgment of sound divines, and it countenance from scripture and reason, that such a kn them shall be in heaven ; and then the sadness of this j: be abundantly recompensed by the joy of that meeting, considering.
Thirdhj, That at our next meeting, they shall be ui more desirable, sweet, and excellent, than ever they w world. They had a desirableness in them here, but the altogether lovely, and, in every respect, desirable ; the^ infirmities, both natural and moral ; but all these are i heaven, and for ever done away : No natural infirmities I glorified bodies, or sinful ones upon perfected spirits of tl what lovely creatures will they appear to you then, when is now sown in dishonour, shall be raised in honour ! 1 C And then, to crown all,
You sliall have an everlasting enjoyment c heaven, never to part again. The children of the resur die no more, Luke xx. 36. you shall kiss their pale lip cheeks no more ; you shall never fear another parting pi together with the Lord for ever, 1 Thes. iv. 14. An apostle thought an effectual cordial in this case when h the Thessalonians to " comfort one another with these w
Consid. 10. The present felicity into which all thai die in presently admitted^ should abundantly coin fort Christian
A TOKEN FOR M0UKNKR3.
and in the covenant. Yea, though they had died in silence, their conversations would speak for them, and the tenor of lives leave no ground of doubting touching their death. Oi dying in their infancy and youth, though they carried not sue actual ho{)e with them, yet they have left good grounds of behind them.
Parents, now ponder these grounds ; you have prayed for tl you have many times wrestled with the Lord on their behalf; liave taken hold of God's covenant for them, as well as for j selves, and dedicated them to the Lord ; and they have not, bv actions of theirs, destroyed those grounds of your hope, but that may, with much probability, conclude they are with God.
Why, if the case be so, what abundant reason have you 1 quiet, and well satisfied with what God liath done? Can the better than where they are ? Had you better provisions and e tainment f jr them here than their heavenly Father hath above
There is no Christian parent in the world, but would rejoice t his child out-strip and get before him in grace, that he may be i eminent in parts and services than ever he was : And what re can be given, why we should not as much rejoice to see our chil get before us in glory, as in grace f They are gotten to heav few years before you, and is tliat matter of mourning? Wouli your child (if he were not ignorant of you) say, as Christ did t friends, a little before his death, when he saw them cast down a thoughts of parting, John xiv. 28. " If ye loved me, ve wouh
" joice, because I go to the Father."" q. d. Do not value your sensible comfort, from my bodily presence with you, before my « and advancement in heaven. Is this love to me? Or is it not n self-love ?
So would your departed friend say to you : ' You have proft
' much love all along to me, my happiness seemed to be very de ' you. How comes it to pass, then, that vou mourn so exceedi * now ? This is rather the effect of a fond and fleshly, than
rational and spiritual love; if vou loved me with a pure spir ' love ye would rejoice that I am gone to my Father. It is
nitely better for me to be here, than with you on earth, unde
and sorrow. Weep not for me, but for yourselves.' Alas ! though you want your friends company, he wants yours ; your care was to provide for this child, but Jesus C hath provided infinitely better for it than you could ; you inte an estate, but he a kingdom for it; you thought upon such or
642 A TOKEN roR MOURNERS.
in his own ; stript them out of those garments you provi cloathed them in white robes, washed in the blood of tF
Let not your hearts be troubled, rather rejoice exceedii God made you instruments to replenish heaven, and brin^ heir for the kingdom of God.
Your child is now glorifying God, in an higher way can, and what though you have lost its bodily presence fc yet, I hope you do not reckon that to be your loss, whicl
God's greater glory.
When Jacob heard his Joseph was lord of Egypt, he rath himself with Joseph, than his Joseph Avith him in wants ar so should it be with you : You are yet rolling and tossir tempestuous sea, but your friend is gone into the quiet desire rather to be there than that he were at sea with yo
Consideration 1 1. Consider how vain a thing all your tn self-vexation is ; it no xcay betters your case^ nor eases yoi
As a bullock, by wrestling and sweating in the furrow, yoke to be more heavy, and galls his neck, and spends hi the sooner, and no ways helps himself by that : Why thus case with thee; if thou be as a bullock unaccustomed to
What Christ saith o£ caring-, we may say of grieving", ( 27.) " Which of you, by taking thought can add one ci " stature F
Cares may break our sleep, yea, break our hearts, but tl add to our stature, either in a natural, or in a civil notio sorrowing may sooner break our hearts, than the yoke Go( on you.
Alas ! -what is all this but as the fluttering of a bird i Avhich, instead of freeing, doth but the more entangle itse therefore a wise resolution of David in this very case, whc of God was signified in the death of his child, 2 Sam. xii.
" now he is dead, w herefore should I fast ? Can I bring
again ? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to m< Can I bring him back again ? No ; I can no more alte pose and work of God, than 1 can change the seasons ol or alter the course of the sun, moon and stars, or disturb of the day and night ; which are all unalterably establii firm constitution and ordinance of heaven.
As these seasons cannot be changed by man, so neithi course and way of his providences be changed. Job xxiii.
*' is of one mind, and who can turn him ? And what his sot
A TOKEX FOn MOUBNERS. (
SO, his tears and cries to God before had the nature and use of tr.e to prevent the affliction : but when it was come, and could nol prevented, then they were of no use, to no purpose in the wor " Wherefore should I fast?" Q. d. To what end, use, or purj will it be now.
Well then, cast not away your strength and spirits to no ad^ tage; reserve them for future exercises and trials: Time mayco that you may need all the strength you have, and much more support greater burdens than this.
Consideration 12. The Lord is able to restore all your lost comj in relations double to you, if you meekly submit to him, and patie wait upon him under the rod.
When Esau had lost his blessing, he said, " Hast thou but
" blessing, my father ?" Gen. xxvii. 38. But your Father \ more blessings for you than one : his name is the " Father of r
" cies," 2 Cor. xiii. 11. He can beget and create as many mei for you as he pleaseth ; relations, and the comforts of them, ar his command.
It is but a few months, or years past, and these comforts, wl loss vou now lament were not in being; nor did you know wh< they should arise to you, yet the Lord gave the word, and comman them for you ; and, if he please, he can make the death of these like a scythe to the meadow that is mown down, or a razor to head tlrat is shaved bare ; which, though it lay you under the pre: trouble and reproach of barrenness, yet doth but make way fc double increase, a second spring with advantage.
So that even as it was with the captive church, in respect of special children, in the day of her captivity and reproach, the I made up all with advantage to her, even to her own astonishm
Isa. xlii. 20. " The children which thou shalt have, after thou
" lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, the place is too si
for me ; Give place to me that I may dwell.'' Thus may he deal with you, as to your natural children, and i tions ; so that what the man of God said to Amaziah, 1 Ch
XXV. 9. may be applied to the case in hand. " Amaziah said to " man of God, but what shall we do for the hundred talents.'' j " the man of God answered, the Lord is able to give thee m " more than this.''
O say not. What shall I do for friends and relations.'' Death 1 robbed me of all comfort in them. Why the Lord is able to : you much more. But then, as ever vou expect to see your fu
644! A TOKEN FOR MOUUNERS.
"whilst they were endearing each other by mutual express fection. This must be yielded to be an extraordinary tr meekly receives, and patiently bears it from the hand of;
You have heard of the patience of Job, (saith the apostl 11.) " and seen the end of the Lord." Not only the grs or intention of the Lord in all his afflictions, but the hapf issue the Lord gave to all his afflictions, of which you hi count, Job xlii. 10. " The Lord gave Job twice as much " before."" The number of his children was not double 1 had, as all his other comforts were : But though the Loi stored the same number to him again that he took a^v is likely the comfort he had in these latter children was what he had in the former. There is nothing lost by w tiently, and submitting willingly to the Lord's dispose. It is as easy with the Lord to revive, as it is to remove forts in relations. There is a sweet expression to this p
Psal. Ixxxi, 28. " For thou, Lord, will light my candle,
my God will enlighten my darkness." Every comfortable enjoyment, whether it be in relatic health, or friends, is a candle lighted by providence for oi in this world, and they are but candles, which will not a] and those that last longest will be consumed and waste but oftentimes it falls out with them as with candles, the}) out before they are half consumed ; yea, almost as soon up, and then we are in darkness for the present.
It is a dark hour with us, when these comforts arc pu
David's faith did, and ours may comfort us with this, that h out the candle, can light up another : " Thou, Lord, sha
candle, the Lord my God shall enlighten my darkne is, the Lord will renew my comforts, alter the present f am in, and chase away that trouble and darkness which lies upon me : Only beware of offending him, at whose lights and comforts come and go. Michal displeased the therefore had no child unto the day of her death, 2 Sam
Hannah waited humbly upon the Lord for the blessi dren, and the Lord remembered her ; he enlightened he with that comfort, when she was as a lamp despised. ^ comfort you have lost but God can restore it, yea, doubh if he sees it convenient for you. And if not, then,
Consideration 13. Consider^ though he should deny yo comforts of that l;ind, yet he hath far better to bestow such as these deserve not to he named with.
A TOKEX FOR MOUltXEBS.
Men's names are to be continued in their issue, in their mal^ especially, and consequently to fail in suoh as wan See English sue, Num. xvii. 4, and a numerous issue is deem Annotations small honour, Psal. cxxvii. 4, 5. God therefor on the place, mised here to supply, and make good the want of and whatsoever, either honour here, or memorial after, might from it have accrued to them, by bestowing upon matter of far greater honour, and more durable ; a name bet« before the names of sons or daughters.
It is a greater honour to be the child of God, than to ha^ greatest honour, or comfort, that ever children afforded their p in this world.
Poor heart, thou art now dejected by this affliction that lies thee, as if all jovand comfort were now cut off from thee in this ^
A cloud dwells upon all other comforts, this affliction hath > blttered thy soul, that thou tastest no more in any other earthlj forts, than in the white of an egg. O that thou didst but consid consolations that are with God for such as answer his ends in tion, and patiently wait on him for their comfort ! he hath cci for you far transcending the joy of children.
This some hath found when their children have been cut off them, and that in so eminent a degree, that they have little v their comfort in children, in comparison with this comfort.
I will therefore set down a pregnant instance of the point in as I find it record etl by the grave and worthy author of that esc bock intitled, The J'tilfilUng of the scripture. Another notable instance of grace, with a very remarkable p£ in his condition, I shall here mention. * One Patrick MackcA
' who lived in the west parts of Scotland, whoi^e heart, in a rei * able way the Lord touched, and after his conversion (as he si * to many Christian f^iend^^) was in such a frame, so affected \ ' new world, wherein he was entered, the discoveries of God, j
' a life to come; that for some months together he did seldom ' but was still taken up in wondering. His life was very remar ' for tenderness, and near converse with God in his walk; and, ^
was worthy to be noted, one day, after a sharp trial, having hi; ' son suddenly taken away by death, he retired alone for s( ' hours, and when he came forth did look so cheerfully, that to ' who asked him the reason thereof, and wondered at the sai
such a time; he told them. He had got that in his reliremenl * the Lord, that to have it afterwards renewed, he would be cc
64i6 A TOllEM FOR MOUUXEllS.
Would it please the Lord to make this sun arise and si you, now when the stars that shined with a dim and borro are gone down, you would see such gain by the exchange quickly make you cast in your votes with him we now m and say, Lord, let every day be such as this funeral day ; hours be as this, so that I may see and taste what I now 6 gladly would I part with the dearest and nearest creature-c own in this world. The gracious and tender Lord hath ] cordials reserved on purpose for such sad hours ; these are j given before some sharp trial, to prepare for it, and sometii to support under it.