Containing divers practical instructive inferences from this

Containing divers practical instructive inferences from this

ParticularInferencesfrom theTrialofGrace.

CHAP.

XI.

Containing divers practical instructive inferences from this doctrine ; with a serious exhortation to self-trial and thorough examination.

SECT.

RE there such variety of trials appointed to Infer. 1.A examine the fincerityof mens graces ; how great a vanity then is hypocrisy, and to how little purpose do men endeavour to conceal and hide it ? We say, Murder will out; and we may as confidently affirm, Hypocrisy will out.

WhenRebeccahad laidtheplot todisguiseherfon Jacob, and bypersonating his brother, to get the blessing, Jacob thus objects against it, " My father, peradventure, will feel me,

" and I shall feemto him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a "curse upon me, and not a blessing," Gen. xxvii. 12. as if heshouldsay,but what if my father detect the cheat,how then shall I look him in the face? How shall I escape a curse ? After the fame manner every upright foul scares itself from the wayofhypocrify.

If I dissemble, and pretend to be what I am not, my Father will find me out. Ah 1 there is no darkness nor shadow of death that can conceal the hypocrite, but outitwillcome at last,let him use all the arthecan to hide it.

OftentimesGoddiscovers him by the trials he appoints in this world; and men in that day shall" return anddifcern betwixt

"the righteous and the wicked, between kim that ferveth "God, and him that serveth him not," Mal. iii. 18. But if hemakeanhard shift to get by a private way to hell, carrying this comfort with him to the last step, That nobody knows or thinks he is gone thither; yet there will be a daywhenGod will strip him naked before the great assembly of angels and men, and all shall point at him, and say, Lo! this is the man thatmadenotGodhishope.

This is he that wore agarmentofprofession to deceive, but God hath now stript him out of it, and allmen seewhathe is: For, " There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed, and hid, thatthall not be known," Matth.x. 26. And the apostle assures us, 1 Tim. v. 24, 25. "That they that are

"otherwise, cannot be hid."

If mensworks be not good, it is impoffiblethey shouldbehidlong: A gilded piece of bra is

CC2

Particular Inferences from theTrialofGrace. may pass from hand to hand a little while, but the touchstone will discover the base metal : If that do not, the fire will.

O sinners ! away with your hypocrisy, be honest, sincere, plainandhearty in religion : If not, contufionofface shall be yourrecompence from the Lord ; that is what you shall get by it.

Infer. 2. Secondly, Are there such trialsappointedand permitted by the Lord for the discovery of his people's sincerity in this world ? Then let none of God'speopleexpectaquietstation in this world : Certainly you shall meet with noresthere, you must out of one fire into another; and it isa merciful condescension of the Lord topoorcreatures, thus toconcernhimself for their safety and benefit: "What is in an, that thou shouldst

" magnify him ? and that thou shouldst set thine heart up- " on him? that thou shouldst visit him every morning, and " try him every moment ?" Job vii. 17, 18.

O it is a great deal ofhonour put upon a poor worm, when Godwillevery moment try him and visit him ; it argues the great esteem the gold-smith hath of his gold, when he will fit by the furnace himself, and order the fire with his own hand; when he pries so often, and so curiously into the fining-pot, to see that none of his precious metal, upon which he sets his heart, be loft.

Think it not then adebasing to you to be so often exposed to trials. IfGoddid not value you highly, he would not try you so frequently ; What would become of you, ifyourconditionhere should be more settled and quiet than now it is? I believe you finddross enough in your hearts after all the fires intowhichGodhath cast you: Surely there is filth enough in the best of God's people to take all this, it maybe a great deal moretroublethantheyhaveyet met with. We fancy it a brave life to live at ease; and if we meet with longer refpites and intervals of trial than usual, we are apt to say, We shall never be moved, as David did, Psal, xxx. 6. or we shall die in ourneft, as it is Job xxix. 18. Our hard anddifficultdays are over; but woe to us if God should give us the desire of our hearts in this.

See whatthetemper of those mens spirits is, that meet with no changes, Psal. lv. 19. "Because they have

" no changes, therefore they fear not God." O it is better to be preserved sweet inbrine, than to rot in honey !

Infer. 3. Thirdly, Let none boast ina carnal confidence of their own strength and stability.

You are yet in a state of trial:

Hitherto God hath kept you upright in all your trials ; bless God, but boast not ; you are but feathers in the wind of

Particular Inferences from the Trial of Grace.

temptation, ifGodleaveyou to yourselves. PetertoldChrist, (and doubtless he spoke no more than he honestly meant)

" Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I:" And you know what he did when the hour of his trial came, Matth. xxvi. 35. Angels left to themselves have fallen: It is better tobeanhumble worm, than a proud angel.

Ah! how many Pendletons will this professing age shew, if onceGodbringus to the fiery trial ? " Let him that thinks he

" stands, take heed lest he fall."

You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. None stand upon firmer ground than those that fee nothing in themselves to stand upon; hethatleans uponhisownarm, usuallybenumbs it, and makes it useless .

Infer. 4. Fourthly, Doth God kindle somanyfires in Sion, and set his furnaces inJerufalem, to discover and feparatethe dross from the gold? How contrary are those men to God, that allow, yea, and prize the dross ofhypocrify, which God hates, and stick not to make the holy God a patronifer, and countenancer of it in the hearts and livesofmen ?

It is amazing to read what popish pens have impudently writtenaboutthis matter : * Sylvester puts the question, Whether it be a finto make a false shew of sanctity ? And answers it thus: I fit be for the honour of God, and profit of others, it is no fin. Nay, they have a reverence for hypocrisy, as an holy art. Vincent i us spends a whole chapter in commendation of the hypocrisy of St. Dominic, and entitles it, Defancta ejushypocrifi; i. e. Of the holy hypocrisy of that saint ; reckoning it among his commendations, that he had the artofdifsembling. And yet,one peg higher, a religious person (faith † another) that feigns himself to have more holiness than he hath, that others maybe edified, fins not, butrathermerits.

Blush, O heavens ! that ever such factors for hell should openandvendfuch ware as this in the public market, and invitetheworld to hypocrisy, as that which makes for the glory of God, the edification of men, and a work meritorious in the hypocrite himself: This is the doctrine of devils indeed !

Infer. 5. Fifthly, If it be so, that allgracemust come to the test, and be tried as gold in the fire, eveninthisworld ; how areallmenconcerned to lay a solid foundation at first, and thoroughly deliberate the terms upon which they close with Christ,and engage in the profession of his name ? " Which of "you,(faith Christ)intendingtobuildatower, sittethnotdown

* Afum advfimulatio, n. 4. ↑Rosella in v. hypacrisis,n.1.

AJeribus Exhortation to Self-examination.

"first, and counteth the cost?" Luke xiv. 28. If some mert hadsetdown at first, and pondered the conditions and terms of

Christ, they had not fat down now discouraged, and tired in the way.

The apostle Paulwent to work at another rate; he accounted allbutdung and dross for Christ, Phil. iii. 8. and was of the same mind when the actual trial came; for then he tells us, " He counted not his life dear unto him," Acts xx.

24. And the apostle Peteradmonishes believers " not to think "it strangeconcerningthe fiery trial which was to try them,"

1 Pet. iv. 12. q.d. Let none of these things be surprisals to you; you are told before-hand whatyoumust trust to ; every

Christian must bea martyr, at least inthedispositionand resolution of his heart.

Othat menwouldbalance the advantages and disfadvantages of religion, and thoroughly ponder the matter in their deepest thoughts ! To the test you must come; the rain will fall, and the storm beat upon your buildings; look carefully therefore to the foundations.

Infer. 6. Sixthly, and lastly, Learn from this pointtheunavoidableness of scandals and offences in the way of religion ; for if there be a necessity of trial, there is also a necessity of scandal. " Itmustneeds be that offences come," Luke xvii.

1. Why, must it needs be ? The reason is evident ; all must come to the trial, and all are not able to bear it.

Our Lord tells us, Matth. xxiv. 8, 9, 10. of a day of great straits and perplexitycoming: " And then (faith he) shall many be of- " fended."

The dayoftrial is the day of scandal : By these offences some are put a searching themselves, and some fall a cenfuring all others; but the holy God brings about his end both ways in them that are saved, andinthemthat perish.

W SECT.

II.

ELL then, ifitbeso that all must into the furnace, leteverymantry his own work ; examine yourselves, professors, search your hearts, commune with your reins, nothingmoreconcerns you in all the world than this doth. O that you wouldbemore in your closets, and oftner upon your knees ! O that youwouldlook into the Bible, then into your hearts, and then to God, saying, with David, " Search me,

" OGod, and know my heart; prove me, and try my reins, " and see if there be anyway of iniquity in me !" Never did religion thrive in the world sincemens heads have been so overheated with notions and controverfies, and their hearts to

Aferious Exhortation to Self-examination.

fenfiblycooledintheircloset-work. I have elsewhere ‡ more largely pressed this duty upon the professors of this generation, and thither shall refer the reader for the present, to seethe neceflityand importance of this work.

Here Ishallonlyurge the dutyoffelf-trial bysomepreffing motives, and awakening considerations.

Motive 1. And the first shall be, the exceeding difficulty of this work; difficulty insomecases maybe adiscouragement ; butwhere the matter is of absolute necesslity, as it is here, nothing provokes more to diligence;" Strive (faith our Lord) to " enter in at the strait gate, for many will seek to enter in,

" and shall not be able," Luke xiii. 24. A double difficulty ' is found attending this work offelf-trial: Difficulty in bringing the heart to it ; and difficulty in the right and successful management of it. Who finds it not hard to persuade his heart to such work as this ? Nature declines it, flesh and blood relish it not: It isone of the great feverities in religion : It is no easy thingtobring am an and his own heart together.

Itisinthis case, as inthestudyof geography ; we are more inquisitive to know, anddelightedwhenwe discover, the rarities of foreign countries, and strange things in the remote parts of the world, than those of our own native country.

I fear there bemanyprofeffors of religion that can spenddayafter day in hearing, and love to be disputing fruitless controverfies, that never spentoneday in searching what influence all those sermons they have heard have had upon their hearts, orinrightlyftating anddeterminingthatgreat controversy, in whose right and possession their foulsare, andwhichwaythey shall goas soon as death hathdividedthem from those mortal bodies ; yea, I doubt, many sinful hours are spent in prying into, reporting andcensuring the failings of others, and not one hour faithfully employedinjudging their own hearts before the Lord: Oh ! men had rather be about anyotherwork than this , there is no pleasure in it to the flesh.

And yet how difficult soever it be to bring our hearts to the work, it is certainly much moredifficultto manage it successfully, and bring the great question of our sincerity to a clear result and issue. O how many upright hearts have fat close tothisworkmanyayear, and lifted up many a cry to heaven, andshedmanyfecret undissembledtears about it; and yet sti'l are in the dark, and their minds greatly perplexed, and filled with fear about it! What would they not do ? What would

‡ See before, my Saint Indeed, .

Aferious Exhortation to Self-examination. they not suffer?What pleasant enjoymentwouldtheynotgladly part with, to arrive at the desire of their souls, thefullafsurance of their sincerity? It was the saying ofa pious woman, I have born faidshe, seven children,and they have cost me as dear as ever children cost a mother, yet I would be content to endure all that sorrow over again, to be assured of the loveofGodtomy foul.

Motive 2. Secondly, And as the work is fullofdifficulty, fo the discovery of your sincerity will be full of sweetness and joy unspeakable: Itwillneverrepentyou, that you have prayedandmourned, that you have trembled and feared, that you have searched and tried :1: Nay, it will never repent you, that God hath tried you by thousands of sharp afflictions and deep sufferings, if, after all, your finceritymaybe fully cleared up to the satisfaction of your souls ; for in the same day your sincerity shall be cleared, your title to Christ will be made as clear to your souls as your sincerity is; you may then go to the promises boldly, and take your own Christ into the arms of your faith, and say, " My Beloved is mine, and I am his!"

Yea, you may be confident, it shall be well with you in the judgment of thegreatday, for"God will not cast away the

"uprightman," Job viii. 20. If the word clear you now, it cannot condemn youthen.

Owhat an ease is it to the soul, when the fears and doubts that hang about it are gone !When a man sees what he is, and whathehath in Christ and the promises, and what he hath to do; even to spend the time betwixt this and heaven, in admiring the grace of God that hath delivered him from the ruining mistakes and miscarriages by which so great a part of theprofeffing world to all eternity.

Motive 3. Thirdly, The deep concernment of your souls in themattertobe tried, should awaken you to the utmost diligence about it. The trials of men for their life, at human bars,

: is but a trifle to this : It is your eternal happiness that stands or falls with your sincerity.

It is said in the trial of opinions, that if am an superstruct hay or stubble upon the foundation, he shall suffer loss ; yet hehimselfmaybe saved, 1 Cor. iii. 12. But if hypocrisy be in the foundation, there is no such relief,there is no possibility of salvation in that case.

Ah,reader, thou must be cast for ever according to the integrityorhypocrify of thy heart with God. Summon in then all the powers of thy foul: bringthythoughts as close as it is poffibletobringthemtothis matter: If there be anyfubject of con

Aferious Exhortation to Self-examination.

fideration abletodrinkupthefpirits of am an,here it is : Never was time put to an higher improvement; never were thoughts spentuponamore important business, than this is : Happy is the man that rescues the years, months, days, yea, the very moments of his life from otheremployments toconfecratethem unto this solemn, awful, and most important business !

Motive 4. Fourthly, How evidential will it be of your fin cerity, when you are willing to come to the trial of your own hearts?

Suppose your doubtsandfears should infomedegree remain with you , yet in this you may take some comfort, that ifhypocrifybe in your heart, it is not thereby consent: You are not loth torife and come to trial, because, like Rachel, you fit upon your idols: Certainly it is a good sign thy heart is right,when it is filled with fomuch fear lest it should be false.

You know all the disciples said, " Master, is it I ?" before Judas,who was the traitor, spake a word. " Last of all(faith the

**text) Judas said, Is it I ?" Our willingness to be tried, is a good sign that the desire of our soul is to be rightwithGod.

Motive 5. Fifthly, Conclude it to be your great advantage to be thoroughly tried, whatever you be found to be in the trial: If you be found sincere, you are richly rewarded for all your pains and labour: Neverdidthat man repentofdigging and toiling,thatafterallhit upontherichvein that hedigged for: What is avein of gold to a veinoffincerity!

If upon fearchyou find the contrary, afalfe,hypocritical, unfoundheart, yet in that very fad discovery you meet with the greatest advantage that ever you had in your lives for salvation.

This discovery is your great advantge: For now your vain confidence being over-turned, and your ungrounded hopes destroyed ; you lie open to the stroke of a deep and effectual conviction of your fin and misery,which istheintroductive mercy to all other mercies to your souls; and surely till you come to that, to give up your false hopes, and quit your vain pretensions, there is no hope of you.

Chrifttold the Pharifees, Matth. xxi. 31. Publicans and harlots enter intothekingdom of heaven before you : Publicans were the worst sortofmen, and harlotsthe worst fort of women, and yet they stood in a fairer way for heaven than the hypocritical

Pharifees, because conviction had easier access to their confeiences :They had not thosedefences andpleas of duty and strictness towardoffthe word, that the self-cozening Pharifees had.

Imaysay of your vain and groundless hopes, as Christ, in

VOL. VII.

Rules to be observed in the Trials of Grace, another sense, said to the officers that came to seize him in the garden, If you seek me, let thesego their way.

So it is here, if you expect Christ, and salvation by him, let your vain confi. dences go their way; away with your masques and vizards, if ever you expect to see Christ. O it is your happiness to have all these things stript off, and your nakedness and poverty discovered, that you may be rich, as the text speaks.

Motive 6. Sixthly, Confider how near the day of death and judgment approach you. O these are searching days wherein you cannot be hid: Will your consciences, think you, be put off in a dying day as easily as they are now ? No, no, you know they will not.

I have heard of a good man that consumed notonlythegreatest part of the day, but a very considerable part of the night also in prayer, to the great weakening of his body; and being asked by a relation whyhedid so, and prayed to favour himself, he returned this answer, O I must die, I must die ; plainly intimating, that so great is the concernment of dying in a clear assured condition, that it is richly worth the expence of all our time and strength to secure it.

You know also that after death the judgment, Heb. ix. 27. you are hastening to the judgment of the great and terrible God,

Death will put you into his balance to be weighed exactly ; and what gives the soul a louder call to search itself with all diligence, whilst it stands at the door of eternity, and its turn is not yet come to go before that awful tribunal : O that these considerations might have place upon our hearts !

CHAP.

XII .

Containing divers helps for the clearing offincerity, and discovery of hypocrisy.

Y SECT .

OU fee of what importance the duty of self-examination is, and how many things put a necessity and a solemnity upon that work. Now, in the close of all, I would offer you some helps for the due management thereof, that is as far as I can carry it; the Lord persuade your hearts to the diligent and faithful application and use of them.

The general rules to clear sincerity are these that follow :

Rule 1. We may not presently conclude we are in the state of

Rules to be observed in the Trials of Grace.

hypocrisy, because wefindsome workings of it, and tendencies to 't in ourfpirits : The best gold hath some dross and alloy in it.'

Hypocrifyis a weed naturally springing in all ground, the best heart is not perfectly clear or free of it: It may be we are stumbled, when we feel some workings or grudgings of this disease in ourselves, and looking into such scriptures as these,

John i. 47. " Behold an Ifraelite indeed, in whom there is no " guile:" andPfal. xxxii. 1. " Blessed is the man unto whom

" the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile."

« This I saymaystumblesome upright foul,not understanding in what an allayed and qualified sense those scriptures are to be understood : For by afpirit without guile, is not understood aperfon absolutely free from all deceitfulness, and falfeness of heart ; this was the sole prerogative of the Lord Jesus, who was separated from sinners, in whose mouth was no guile found: In whom the prince of this world, in all his trials and attempts upon him, found nothing: But we must understand it of reigning and allowed hypocrisy; there is nosuchguile in any of the saints : distinguish the presence from the predominance ofhypocrify,and the doubt is resolved.

Rule2. Every true ground ofhumiliationforfin, is not afufficient groundfordoubting and questioning our estate and condition.

There be manymorethings to humble us upon the account of our infirmity, than there are to stumble us upon the account of our integrity: It is the fin and affliction offomegood fouls tocalltheircondition in question, upon every flip and failing in the course of their obedience. This is the waytodebarourselves from all the peace and comfort of the Christian life :

We find that Joseph was once minded to put away Mary his espousedwife, not knowing that the holy thing which was conceivedinherwasby the holy Ghost.

It is the fin of hypocrites to takebrafs for gold, and the folly of faints to call their. gold brass: Be as severe to yourselves as you will, always provided you be just: " There is that maketh himself rich, and " yet hath nothing; and there is that maketh himself poor,

" and yet hath great riches," Prov. xiii. 7. Hiram called the cities Solomon gave him, Cabul, Dirty, for they pleased him not, I King six. 13. It is but an ill requital, an ungrateful return to God for the best of mercies, to undervalue them in our hearts, and be ready upon alloccafions to put them away as worth nothing Dd2

Rules to be observed in the Trials of Grace.

Rule 3. Aftronger propenfion in our nature, and more fre quent incidence in our practice to onefin than another, doth not presently infer ourhypocrify, and the unfoundness of our hearts in religion.

It is true,every hypocrite hathsomewayofwickedness: Somepeccatum in deliciis, iniquity that he delights in and rolls as a sweet morsel under his tongue, some luftthathe is not willing to part with, nor can endure that the knife of mortification should touch it; and this undoubtedly argues the infincerityand rottenness of his heart : And it is true, also,that the nature and constitution of the most sanctified man inclines him rather to one fin, than to another, though he allow himself in none; yea, though he set himself more watchfully against that sin than another, yet he may still have more trouble and vexation, more temptation and defilement from it,thananyother.

As every man hath his proper gift, one after this manner, and another after that, as the apostle speaks, 1 Cor. vii. 7. so everymanhath his proper fin also,one after this manner, and another after that ? For it is with original fin, as it is with the juice or sap of the earth, which though it be the common matter of all kinds of fruits, yet it is specificated according to the different forts of plants and feeds which it nourishes ; in one it becomes an apple, in another a cherry, &c.

Just so it is in original corruption, which is turned into this or that tempt at i on, or fin, according to this or that constitution, or employment it finds us in; in one it is passion, in another lust, ina third covetousness, in a fourth levity, and so on. Now I fay the frequent assaults of this fin, provided we indulge it not, but, by setting double guards, labour to keep ourselves from our own iniquity, as as Daviddid, Psalm xviii. 23. will not infer the he hypocrily of our hearts, Rule4.A greater backwardness and indisposedness to onedu ty rather than another, dath not conchide the heart to be unsound, and false with God, provided we do not inwardly dislike and disapprove any duty of religion, or except against it in our agreement with Christ, but that it riseth merely from the present weakness anddistemper we labour under.

There are some duties in religion, as suffering for Christ, bearing sharp reproofs for fin, &c. that even an upright heart underapresent distemper, may find a great deal ofbackwardness and lothness to ; yet still he consents to the law, that it is good, is troubled that he cannot comply more chearfullywith his duty, anddefûres to stand complete in all the will of God:

Perfection is his aim,and imperfections are his sorrows.

Rules to be observed in the Trials of Grace.

Some Christians have much ado to bring their hearts to fixed, solemn meditation ; their hearts fly off from it, but this is their burden, that it should be so with them.

True, it is a very dangerous sign of hypocrisy, when a man's zeal runs out inonechannel of obedience only, and he hathnotrefpect to all

God's commandments ; as physicians observes, the sweating of one part of the body, when all the rest is cold, is symptomatical, and argues an ill habit : But whilst the soul heartily approves all the will of God, and sincerelydefires to come up to it, and mourns for its backwardness, anddeadness, to this or that duty, and this is not fixed, but occasional, under some present indisposition, out of which the soul riseth by the same degrees as fanctification riseth in him, and the Lord comes in with renewed strength upon him ; this, I say, may consist, and is very ordinarily found to be the case of upright-hearted ones.

Rule 5. The glances of the eye at self-ends in duties, whilst self is not the weight that moves the wheels, theprincipalendand design we drive at, and whilst thase glances are corrected, and mourned for, do not conclude the heart to be unsound, and bypecritical in religion : For even among the most deeply sanctified, few can keep their eye so steady and fixed, with pure, and unmixed respects, to the glory of God, but that there will be

(alas! too frequently) some bye-ends, insinuating and creeping intotheheart.

These, like the fowls, seize upon the sacrifice, let the soul take what pains it can to drive them away : It is well that our

High-priest bears the iniquities of ourholythings for us. Peter had too much regard to the pleasing of men, and did not walk with that uprightness towards the Gentile Christians, and the believing Jews, in the matter of liberty, as became him, Gal. ii. 13, 14. for which, as Paul faith, he ought to be blamed, and he did blame him: But yetfuchafailing as that in the end of his duty, did not condemn him.

In public perform an ees there may be too much vanity, in works of charity too much oftentation; these are all workings of hypocrisy in us, and matters of humiliation to us; but whilst they aredisallowed, corrected, and mourned over, are confiftentwithintegrity.

Rule 6. The doubts and fears that hang upon, and perplex our spirits about the hypocrisy of our hearts, do not conclude that therefore we are what we fear ourselves to be. God will not condemn everyone for a hypocrite that suspects, yea, or charges himself with hypocrisy.

Holy David thoughthisheartwas not right with God, after that great flip of his in the matter of Uriah; and therefore begs of God to renewaright spirit in

Heart-founding Questions. him, Psal. li. 10, 11, 12. his integrity was indeed wounded, and he thought destroyed by that fall.

Holy Mr. Bradford fo vehemently doubted the sincerity of his heart, that he subscribed some of his letters, as Mr. Fox tells us, John Bradfordthehypocrite ; a very paintedfepulchre:

And yet in so saying, he utterly misjudged the state and temper of his own soul.

W SECT.

II.

TELL ELL then, let not the upright be unjust to themselves, incenfuring their own hearts; they are bad enough, but let us notmakethem worse than they are, but thankfully own, and acknowledge the least degrees of grace and integrity in them; and possibly our uprightness might be sooner discovered to us, if, in a due composure of spirit, we would fit down, and attend the true answers of our own hearts to such questions as these are.

Quest. 1. Do I make the approbation of God, or the applause of men, the very end and main design of my religious performances, according to Theff. ii. 4. Col. iii. 23. will the acceptationof my duties with men fatisfyme, whether God accept my duties and períon, or not ?

Quest. 2. Is it the reproach and shamethatattends fin at present, and the danger and misery that will follow it hereafter, that restrains me from the commission of it ? Or is it the fear of God in my foul, and the hatred I bear to fin as it is fin ? ac cording to Psal. xix. 12. and Psal. cxix. 113.

Quest. 3. Can I truly and heartily rejoice to see God's work carried on in the world, and his glory promoted by other hands, though I have no share in the credit and honour of it, as Paul did? Phil. i. 18 .

Quest. 4. Is there no duty in religion so full of difficulty and self-denial, but Idefire to comply with it ? And is all the holy and goodwill of God acceptable to my soul, though I cannot rise up with like readiness to the performance of all duties; according to that pattern ? Psal. cxix . 6.

Quest. 5. Am I fincerelyrefolvedto follow Christandholiness at all seasons, however the aspects of the times maybeuponreligion ? Or do I carry myself so warily and covertly as to shun all hazards for religion ; having a secret reserve in my heart to launch out no farther than I may return with safety; contrary to the practice and resolution of upright fouls ? Psalm cxvi. 3.

Psal. xliv. 18, 19. Rev. xxii. 11.

Rules to be observed in the Trials of Grace.

Quest. 6. Do I make no conscience of committing secret fins, or neglecting secret duties ? Or am I conscientious both in the one and other, according to the rules and patterns of integrity ?

Matth. vi. 5, 6. Píal. xix. 12.

Afewsuchquestions solemnlypropounded to our own hearts, in a calm and serious hour, would found them, and discover

much of their sincerity towards the Lord.

SECT.

III .

ND as upright hearts are too apt to apply to themselves the A : threats and miseries of hypocrites, so hypocrites, on the contrary, are as apttocatch hold of the promises and privileges pertaining to believers.

To detect therefore the soul-damning mistakes of such deceived fouls, O that these following rules might be studied, and faithfully applied to their conviction and recovery.

Rule 1. It is not enough to clear a man from hypocrisy, that he knows not himself to be an hypocrite.

All hypocrites are not designing hypocrites; they deceive themselves as well as others :

66 Many will tay tome in that day, Lord, have we not prop he- " fied in thy name," &c. Matth. vii. 22.

Hell will be a mere furprizal to multitudes of professors : am an may live and die in a blind, ungrounded confidence of his safe condition, and not fear his ruin, till he begins to feel it.

X Rule 2.

Zeal and forwardness in the cause of God, and for the reformation of his worship, will not clear a man from the danger of hypocrisy.

Jehu was a zealous reformer, and yet but a painted sepulchre.

In the year 1549, reformation grew fo much in reputation, even among the nobles and gentry inGer. many, that many of them caused these five letters, V. D. M. I.

Ae. being the initial letters of these words, Verbum Do mini manet in aeternum : i. e The word of the Lord abideth for ever, to be wrought, or embroidered, or set in plates, some upon their clokes, and others upon the sleeves of their garments ; tothew to all the world, faith * my author, that forsaking all

Popish traditions, they would now cleave to the pure doctrine and discipline of the eternal Word.

And no doubt they would have been as good as their word, if what was embroideredontheirclokes,had beenengraven on their hearts ; but, Come, see my zeal, mars all.

Rule 3. It is nofufficient evidence ofa man'sown integrity, that * JohnWolfe, Left. Memor. Tom. 2. ad An no 1549.

Heart-founding Questions. he hates hypocrifyinanother : for, as oneproudmanmayhatea not her, and he that is covetoushimself, will be apt tocenfure another for being so; lusts maybe contrary to one another, as well as all of them contrarytograce; so may an hypocrite loath that in another, which yet he alloweth in himself : Nay, it is the policy of some todeclaim against the hypocrifyof others, thereby tohidetheirown.

Hypocrites are none of the most modest cenfurers of others, Psal. xxxv. 16. Afalt jest seasoned their meat.

Rule 4. Themereperformance ofprivatedutieswillnot clear a man from hypocrisy. The influence of education, or support of reputation, or the impulse ofaconvincedconfciencemayinduce am an to it; and yet all this while his heart may not be carried thither with hungry and thirstydefires after God : it is not the matter of any duty that distinguishes the found and unsound professors; but the motives, designs, and ends of the soul in them.

Rule 5. Thevogueand opinionsyouhavegotamong Christians, ofyourfincerity, will not be sufficient to clearyoufrom the danger of hypocrisy.

Christ tells the angel of Sardis, Rev. iii. r.

"Thou hast a name that thou livest, andartdead." The fall of Hymeneus andPhiletus,couldneverhave fhakenthe faith of the faints as it did,had they not had great credit in the church, and beenmen of renown for piety among them.

Rule 6. Your respects and love to them that are the sincere anduprightfervants of God, will not clear you from the danger of being hypocritesyourselves : for thebareloving ofaChriftian is not characteristicalandevidential of am an'sownChriftianity, except he love him, qua talis, as he is a Christian, or ashe belongs to Christ ; and so his finceritybecomes the attractive of thy affection.

There are a thousand by-considerations, and respects, that may kindle a man's love to the saints, besides their integrity.

SECT.

IV.

WELL, then, if thou wouldst indeedseetheunfoundness of thy own heart, propound such heart-founding questions as these, tothytelf.

Quest. 1. Do I engage my heart toapproachuntoGod in the course of my duties ?

Or do I go in the round of duties, taking no heed to my heart in them ?

If fo, compare this symptom of thy hypocrisy with that in 2 Kings x. 3. and that in Ezek. xxxiii. 31, 32.

Necessary Counsels to all Professors.

1 Quest. 2. Am I not swayed and moved by self-interest and Carnal respects in the ways of religion, the accommodation of somewordly interest, or getting a name and reputation of godliness ?

If so, how apparently do the same symptoms of hypocrisy appear upon my soul, which diduponJudas, John xii.

6. and on Jehu, 2Kings ix. 13, 14.

Quest. 3. Have I not some secret reserves in my heart, notwithstanding that face and appearance of zeal which I put on ?

Certainly if there be any sin that I cannot part with, any suffering for Christ which I resolve against in my heart; I am none of his disciples, my heart is not right with God, the searcher of hearts himself being Judge, Luke xiv. 26, 27.

Quest. 4. What conscience do I make of secret fins ? Do I mourn for a vain heart, wandering thoughts, spiritual deadness ?

And do I conscientiously abstain from the practice of secret fins, when there is no danger of discovery, no fear of forfeiting my reputation by it ? Is it God's eye, or man's, that awes me from commission of fin ?

Certainly, if I allow myself in secret fins, I am not of the number of God's upright people, whose spirits are of a contrary temper to mine, Psal. cxix. 113. and Plal. xii. 12.

SECT.

I Will shutupallwith five or fix concluding counsels, (which the Lord impress upontheheartofhim that writes, and those that shall read them) to preserve and antidote the soul against the dangerous insinuation and leavenof hypocrisy.

Counsel. 1. Intreat the Lordnightandday, for a renewed and right spirit.

All the helps and directions in the world will not antidote and preserve you from hypocrisy, nothing will be found able tokeepyou right, till fanctification hath first set you right.

Ezek. xxxvi. 27. " I will put my Spirit within you ; and cause " you to walk in my statutes."

A bowl may keep bya strait line, so long as the impressed force of thehandthatdelivered it remains strong upon it; but as that wears off, so its motions fail, and its own biass sways and turns it. A fright of conscience, a pang of warm affection, or the influence of some great example, or a good education, may influence anunrenewed foul, and push it on in the way of religion for a season ; but the heart so influenced, must, and will return to its own natural course again. And I think there wants nothing but time, or a suitable temptation, todifcaverthetrue temper of many a professor's spirit : pray, therefore,

VOL. VII.

Necessary Counsels to all Professors. asthatholyman did, Psal. cxix. 80. " Let my heart be found

" in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed."

Counsel 2. Always suspect and examine your ends inwhatyou do.

Sincerity and hypocrisy lie much in your ends and designs ; as they are, so are you. The intentions of the heart lie deep; amanmaydothe same action to an holy end, and his person and service be accepted with God; which another doing for a corrupt end, it maybe reckoned his fin, and both his person and service beabhorredbythe Lord. We find twomenriding in one chariot, and both of them concerned in the fame expedition, Jehu, the son of Nimshi, and Jonadab, the son of Rechab, 2 Kings x. 15, 23.

But though the work they engaged in was one, and the fame, yet the different ends they aimed at, made the fame action an excellent duty inJonadab, and an act of vile hypocrisy in Jehu: Idem quodduo faciunt, non eft idem : It was the saying of agoodfoul, commended for a good action : the work indeed is good, but I fear the ends of it.

Self ends are creeping, andinfinuatingthings into the belt actions.

Counsel 3. Scare yourselves with the daily fears of the fin that is in, and the misery that will follow hypocrisy. Look up. on it as the most odious fin in the eyes of God and men : to want holiness, is bad enough, but to diffimulate and pretend it, when we have it not, is double impiety: to make religion, the most gloriousthing in the world, a mere stirrup to preferment, and a covert to wickedness : O how vile a thing is it!

God made Christ a sacrifice for fin, and the hypocrite will make him a cloak for fin.

And as to the punishments that follow it, they are suitable to the nature of the fin; for as hypocrisy is out of measure sinful, so the rewardandpunishment of it will be out of measure dreadful. Matth. xxiv. 51. " He shall cut him asunder, and appoint

" him his portion with hypocrites; there fhallbeweeping and gnashing of teeth."

Counsel 4. Be daily at work in the mortification of those lusts that breed bypocrify.

It is plain, without much sifting, that pride, vain-glory, self-love, and awordly heart, are the feeds out of which this cursed plant springs up in the souls of men.

Dig but to the root, and you shall certainly find these things there; and till the Lord help you to kill and mortify these, hypocrisy will spring up in all your duties to God, and in all your converfes withmen.

Counsel 5. Attend the native voice of your own consciences in the day offickness, fear or trouble, and take special notice of its

Necessary Counsels to allProfeffors.

21.9

-checks, or upbraidings, which, like a Aitch in yourfide, will gird you at such times : Commonly in that lies your greatest danger : Beware of that evil which conscience brands and marks at such times, whether it be your living in the practice of some secret fin, or in the neglects of some known duty : These frights of conscience mark out the corruption, wherein your danger mostly lies.

Counsel 6. Let us all that profess religion he uniform andfleadyin the profession and practice of it, without politic reserves, and bye-ends.

O take heed of this Laodicean neutrality and indifferency which Christ hates: Be sure your ground be good, and then be sure you stand your ground.

The religion of time-servers isbuthypocrify: They have sluices in their consciences which theycanopenor shut as occasion requires : Every fox will have at least two holes to his den, that if one be stopt, he may escape at the other. The hypocrite poseth himself so evenly in a mediocrity, that, as it is said of Baldwin, Let Anthony win, letAugustus win, all is one : So let Christ win, or let Antichrist win, he hopes to make every wind that can blow serviceable towaft him to the port of his own interest.

Thehypocritehath always more of themoonthanofthe sun; little light, many spots, and frequent changes: It is easier to him to bow to the cross, than to bear the cross , to fin, than to suffer.

Our own ftorytells us of a poor simple woman that lived both in the reigns of queen Mary and queen Elizabeth, and would constantly lay her prayers both in Latin and English, that the might be sure to please one side or other ; and let God, said she, take which likes him best.

What is noted as an act of ridiculous simplicity in her, the time-serving hypocrite accounts a point of deep policy in himself.

1 The times under Dioclesian were Pagan; underConstantine, Christian; under Conftantius, Arian; under Julian, Apostate ; and under Jovian, Christian again : And all this within the space of seventy years, the age of one man.

O what shifting and huffling was there among the men of that generation ! The changes of weather shew the unfoundness of men's bodies, and the changes of times, the unfoundness of their souls,

Christian, if ever thou wilt manifest and maintain thine integrity, beam an but of one design, and be sure that be anhoneft and good design, to secure heaven, whatever becomes of Ee2

Necessary Counsels to all Professors. earth: To hold fast integrity, whatever thou art forced to let gofor its sake.

Take heed of pious frauds: Certainly it was the devil that first married these two words together, for they never did, nor can agree betwixt themselves, nor was ever such amarriagemade in heaven.

Never study to model religion, and the exercises thereof, in a consistency with, or subserviency to your fleshly interests : If your religion be but a mock religion, your reward shall be but amockheaven, that is a real hell.

Othevanityand inutilityoftheseprojects and designs ! Men strive to cast themselves into such modes, and stint themselves to such measures of religion, as they think will best promote, or secure their earthly interests : but itoftenfalls out, contrary to their expectation, that their deep policies are ridiculous follies ; they become the grief and shame of their friends, and the scorn and song of their enemies. And often it fares with them, as with him that placed himself in the middle of the table, where he could neither reach the dish above him, nor thatbelowhim, Efuriunt medii, &c. and, which is the very best of it, if earthly interest be accommodatedby sinful neutrality, and a Laodicean indifferency in religion, yet no good man should once feel a temptation to embrace it, except he think what is wanting in the fsweetness of his sleep, may be fullyrecompenfed to him by the stateliness of his bed, and richer furniture of his chamber ; I mean, that a fuller and higher condition in the world, can make him amends for the loss of his inward peace, and the quiet repose of a good conscience: These bye-ends and self-interests are the little passages through which hypocrisy creeps in upon the professors of religion.

"Oletthisbe be your rejoicing, which was Paul's, " The testimony of yourconfcience, that in all fincerityand godly fim- " plicity, not in fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, you

" have had your conversations in this world," 2 Cor. i. 12.

Let that be your daily prayer and crytoheaven, which was David's, Psal . xxv. 21. " Let integrity and uprightness preserve

" me, for I wait on thee."

Counsel 7. Keep your hearts day and night under the awe of God's all-feeingeye : Remember he beholds all your ways, and ponders all your thoughts; how covertly soever hypocrifymay be carried for a time, all must and will out at last, Luke xii. 3.

Secrefy is the maininducement to hypocrisy, but it will fall out with the hypocrite, as it did withOttocarthe king ofBohemia, who refused to do homage toRodolphus the emperor, till at last

A Token for Mourners.

chastisedwith war, he was content to do him homage privately in a tent : But the tent was so contrived by the emperor's servants, that, by drawing one cord, it was taken all away; and fo Ottocar presented on his knees doing homage in view of three armies.

Reader, Awe thy heart with God's eye, know that he will bring every secret thing into judgment.

Thus did Job, and it preserved him, Job xxxi. 1, 4.

Thus did David, and itpreservedhim, Psal. xviii. 21, 22, 23.

Thusdothou also, and it will preserve thee blameless, and without guile to the day of Christ.

A TOKEN FOR

MOURNERS.

OR, The Advice of CHRIST to a distressed Mother, bewailing the Death of her dear and only Son: Wherein the Boundaries of Sorrow are duly fixed, Excesses restrained, the common Pleas answered, and divers

Rules for the support of God's afflicted Ones prescribed.

The EPISTLE DEDICATOR Y.

To his dearly beloved brother and sister, Mr. J. C. andMrs. E. C. theAuthorwishethgrace, mercy, and peace.

DEAR FRIENDS,

THE double tye of nature and grace, beside the many endearing passages that for so many years have linked and glewed our affections so intimately, cannot but beget a tender sympathy in me with you, under all your troubles, and make

The Epistle Dedicatory... me say of every affliction which befals you, Half'smine..I find it is with our affections, as with the strings of musical instru ments exactly set at the fame height, if one be touched, the other trembles, though it be at some distance.

Our affections are one, and so in a great measure have been our afflictions also. You cannot forget that in the years lately past, the Almighty visited my tabernaclewith the rod, and in one year, cut off from it the root, and the branch, the tender mother, and the only son.

What the effects of those strokes, or rather of my own unmortified passions were, I have felt, and you and others have heard.

Surely I was as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke.

Yea, I may say with them, Lam. iii. 19, 20. " Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the worm.

" wood and the gall, my soul hath them till in remembrance, " and is humbled in me."

I dare not say that ever I felt my heartdiscontentedly rising and swelling against God ; no, I could still justify him, when I most sensibly smarted by his hand: If he had plunged me into a sea of sorrow, yetI could say, in all that sea of sorrow, there is not a drop of injustice: But it was the over-heating, and over-acting of my fondandunmortified affections and passions that made so sad impressions upon mybody, andcaftme under thosedistempers which soon embittered all my remaining comforts to me.

It was my earnest desire, so soon as I had strength and opportunity for so great a journey, tovisityou, that so, if the Lord. had pleased, I might both refresh, and be refreshed by you, after all my fadand disconsolate days. And you cannot imaginewhatcontent and pleasure I projected in that visit; but it proved to us, as all other comforts of the same kind ordinarily do,more in expectation than in fruition: For how soon after our joyful meeting and embraces did the Lord overcast and darken our day, by sending death into your tabernacle, to take away thedefireof your eyes with a stroke! To crop off that sweet and only bud from which we promised ourselves so much comfort.

But no more of that, I fear I am gone too far already.

It is not my design to exasperate your troubles, but to heal them; and for that purpose have I sent you these papers, which I hope may be of use both to you and many others in your condition, since they are the after-fruits of my own troubles ; things that I have not commended to you from another hand, but which I have, in some measure, proved and tasted in my own trials.

The Epistle Dedicatory.

But I will not hold you longer here, I have onlyafewthings to desire for, and from you, and I have done.

The things 1desire, are, First, That you will not be too hasty to get off the yoke which God hath put upon your neck. Remember when your child was in the womb, neither of you desired it should be delivered thence till God's appointed time was fully come; and nowthatyou travail again with sorrow for its death : O desire not to be delivered from your sorrows one moment before God'stime for your deliverance be fully come also. Let patience have its perfect work ; that comfort which comes in God'sway and season, will stick by you, and do you good indeed.

Secondly, I desire, that though you and your afflictionshad afad meeting, yet you and they may have a comfortable parting.

If they effect that uponyourhearts which God fentthem for, I doubt not butyouwillgive them a fair testimony when theygooff.

If they obtain God's blessinguponthem in their operation, surely they will have your blessing too at their valediction. And what you entertained with fear, you will dismits with praise.

How sweet is it to hear the afflicted foul say, when God is loofinghishands, " It is good for me that I have been afflicted."

Thirdly, I heartily with that these searching afflictions may make the more satisfying discoveries; that you may now fee more of the evil of fin, the vanity of the creature, and the fulness of Christ, than ever you yet saw. Afflictions are searchers, and put the soul upon searching and trying its ways, Lam. iii.

14.

When our fin find us out by affliction, happy are we, if, by the light of affliction, we find out fin.

Blessed is the manwhomGodchasteneth, and teacheth out of his law, Psal. xciv. 12.

There are unseen causes, many times, of our troubles; you have an advantage now to fist out the feeds, and principle from which they spring.

Fourthly, I wish that all the love and delight you bestowed on your little one, maynowbe placed, to your greater advantage, upon Jesus Christ ; and that the stream of your affection to him maybe so much the stronger, as there are now fewer channels for it to be divided into.

If God will not have any part of your happiness to lie in children, then let it wholly lie in himself.

If the jealousy of the Lord hath removed that which drew away too much of your heart from him, and hath spoken by this rod, saying, Stand aside, child, thou art in my way, and filleftmore room in thy parents hearts than belongs to the

The Epistle Dedicatory.

O then deliver up all to him, and say, Lord, takethewhole heart entirely, and undividedly, to thyself.

Henceforth let therebenoparting, sharing, or dividing of the affectionsbetwixtGod and the creature, let all the streams meet, and centre in thee, only.

Fifthly, That you may be strengthened with all might in the inner man; to all patience, that the peace of God may keep your hearts and minds. Labour to bring your hearts to a meek submission to the rod of your Father. We had fathers of the flesh, who corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much more be insubjection to the Father of spirits, and live ?

Is it comely for children to contest, and strive with their father ?

Or is it the way to be freed from the yoke, by struggling under it ? O that your hearts might be in a like frame with his that said, Lord, thou shalt beat, and I will bear.

It was agoodobservation that one made, Animafedendo etquiescendofitfapiens : The soul grows wise by fitting still and quiet under the rod. And the apostle calls those excellent fruits which the saints gather from their sanctified afflictions, " The peace- " able fruits of righteousness," Heb. xii. 11.

Lastly, My heart's desire, and prayer to God for you, is, that you may die daily to all visible enjoyments, and by these frequent converses with death in your family, you maybe prepared for your own change and dissolution, when it shall come.

Ofriends ! how many graves have you and I seen opened for our dear relations ? How oft hath death come up intoyourwindows, and summoned the delight of your eyes ?

It is but a little while, and we shall go to them; we and they are diftinguishedbutby short intervals.

Tranfiverepatres, fimulhinc tranfibimus omnes.

Our dear parents are gone, our lovely and desirable childrenaregone, ourbosom relations, that were as our own souls, are gone ; and do not all these warning-knocks at our doors acquaint us, that we must prepare to follow shortly after them?

Othat by these things our own death might be both more easy, and familiar to us ; the oftner it visits us, the better we should be acquainted with it; and the more of our beloved relations it removes before us, the less of either snare or intanglement remains for us when our turn comes.

My dear friends, my flesh, and my blood, Ibeseechyou, for religion's fake, for your own sake, and for my fake, whofecom

A Token for Mourners.

fort is, in great part, bound up in your prosperity, and welfare, that you read frequently, ponder seriously, and apply believingly these scripture confolations and directions, which, in some haste, I have gathered for your use; and the God of all consolation be with you.

I am, Your most endeared brother,

JOHN FLAVEL.

A TOKEN FOR MOURN ERS.

LUKEVii 13. And when theLordsaw her, he hadcompaffion on her, andfaidto her, Weep not.

TO be above the stroke of passion, 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 regulate 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 amongst the worst of heathens;and he that is able rightly to manage them, deserves to be numbered with the best of Christians. Though, when we are sanctified we put on the divine nature, yet, till we are glorified, we put not off the infirmities of our human nature.

Whilst we are within the reach of troubles, we cannot be without the danger, nor ought not to be without the fear of fin; and it is as hard for us to escape sin, being in adversity, as becalming in prosperity.

VOL . VII.

A Token for Mourners.

Howapt are we totransgress the bounds, both of reason and religion, under a sharp affliction, appears, as inmost 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 andwailings of this distressed mother, moved the tender compaffions of the Lord in beholding them, and stirred up more pityinhisheartforher, than could be in her heart for her dear, and only son.

In the words we are to confider, 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 fad an hour it was with her when Christ met her, ap pearsbywhat is so distinctly remarked by the evangelist, in ver. 12. where it isfaid, "Now, whentheycame nigh to the

" gate of the city, behold, there was adeadman carried out, " the only fonofhis mother, and the was a widow, and much

" people of the city was with her."

In this one verse, divers heart piercing circumstances of this affliction are noted.

First, It was the death of afon *.

To bury a child, any 'child, must needs rendthe heart ofa tender parent; for what are children but the parent multiplied ? A child is a part of the parent made up in another skin: Dutto lay a son in the grave, a fonwho continues the name, and supports the fami ly; this was ever accountedavery great affliction.

Secondly, This fonwas not carried from the craddle to the coilin, nor stripped out of its swathing, to be wrapped in its winding-cloth. Had he died in his infancy,before he had engaged affection, or raised expectation, the affliction had not been so pungent, and cutting as now it was death smore the foninthe flower, and prime of his time. He was a man, (faith the evangelist) ver. 12. a young man, (as Christ calls him) ver. 14. he was now arrived + at that agewhichmadehim caΦιλίας μεγίσος δισμος ει τεκνων γονal. i. e. To be parents to children, is the firmes tye of affection, Graec.Com.

† He died in his youth, and was therefore the more to be lamented, because he was cut off in the flower of his age, unto which he was conducted from a child, by the great care and labour of his

Darents. Dion. Cat, on the place.

A Token for Mourners.

pable of yielding his mother all that comfort which had been the expectation, and hope ofmanyyears, and the reward and fruit of many cares, and labours : yet then, when the endearmentsweregreatest, and her hopes highest, even in the flower of his age, he is cutoff.

Thus Basil bewailed the death of his son : * I once had a son, who was a young man, myonlyfuccessor, the solace of • my age, the glory of his kind, the prop of my family, arrived to the endearing age ; then was he snatched away from • me by death, whose lovely voice but a little before 1I heard,

•who lately was a pleasant spectacle to his parent.'

Reader, if this hath been thine own condition, as it hath been his that writes it, I need say no more toconvincethee that it was a sorrowful state indeed, Christ met this tender mother in.

Thirdly, And which isyetmore, he was not only a son, but an only son : so you find, inver. 12. " He was the only son

" of his mother †;" one in whom all her hopes and comforts, of that kind, were bound up. For, Omnis in Ascanioftat chari cura parent is, Virgil.

All her affections were contracted into this one object. If we have never fo many children, we know not which of them to spare; if they stand, like olive-plants, about our tables, it would grieve us to fee the least twig amongst them broken down.

But surely the death of one out of many, is much more tolerable than all in one †.

Hence it is notedinscripture as the greatest of earthly sorrows, Jer. vi. 26. " O daughter of my people, gird thee with

" sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes. Make thee mourn- " in gas for anonlyfon, most bitter lamentation."

Yea, fo deep and penetrating is this grief, that the Holy Ghoftborrows it to express the deepest spiritual troubles by it, Zech.

Ff2 * Filius mihi erat, adolefcens, folus vitaefuccessor, folatium Senectae,gloria generis, flos aequalium,fulcrumdomus, aetatem gratiofiffimam age bat ; hicraptus per i it, qui paulo antejucundam vocem edebat, et jucundiffimum spectaculum parent is oculis crat.

† Shewouldhaveborne his death more patiently, had he no been anonlyfon; or if the had had but another left behind him

, to mitigate her sorrow.

Ambrose.

As there is nothing dearer than an only son, fo that grief upon the accountofhisdeath, must be the greatest of all.

Carth. on the place,

A Token for Mourners. xii. 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 superaded, ver. 12. "And she was a widow."

So that the staff of her age, on which she leaned, was broken * : she had now none left to comfort or assist her, in her helpless, comfortless state ofwidowhood; which is a condition not only void of comfort, but exposed to oppression, and contempt.

Yea, and being a widow, the whole burthen lay upon her alone; the had notanhusbandto comfort her, as Elkanah did

Hannah, in 1 Sam. i. 8. "Why weepest thou, and why is " thy heart grieved ? Am not I better totheethanten sons?"

This would have been a great relief; but her husband was dead, as well as her son, both gone, and the onlyfurviving, to lament the loss of those comforts that once she had.

Her calamities came not single,but one after another, and this reviving, and aggravating the former.

This was her case, and condition, when the Lord met her.

Secondly,Let us confiderthe counsel which Christ gives her, with respect to this her fad, and sorrowful case : " And when

" the Lordfawher, he had compassion on her, and said unto " her, Weep not." Relieving and supporting words ; wherein we shall confider,

1. The occasion.

2. The motive.

3. The counsel itself.

1. 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 seems, yet, without doubt, it was providentially suited to the work intended to be wrought: The eye of his omniscience foresaw her, and this meetingwasbyhimdesigned as an occasion of that famous miracle which he wrought upon theyoungman.

Christ hath a quick eye todifcern poor, mourning, anddisconsolate creatures:And though he be now in heaven, and stands out of our fight, so that we see him not; yet he fees us, and his eye (which is upon all our troubles) still affects his heart, and moves his bowels for us.

2. The motive stirring him up to give this relieving, and comfortablecounseltoher, was his own compassion : She neiHewas most dear to her on atwofold account, both because he was her only son, and that he was the comfort and support of her widowhood.

Pifcator on the place.

A Token for Mourners.

ther expected, nordefired it from him ; but fo full of tender pity was the Lord towards her, that he prevents her with unexpected consolation : Her heart was nothing fo 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 hebe now exalted to the highest glory, yet still he continues as merciful as ever, and as apt to be touched with thesenseofour iniferies, Heb. iv. 15.

Lastly, The counsel itself, Weep not ; herein fulfilling the office of a comforter to them that mourn, whereunto he was anointed, Ifa. xvi. 1, 2, 3. Yet the words are not an absolute prohibition of tears, and sorrow; he doth not condemn all mourning as inful, or all expressions of grief for dead relations, asuncomely; no,Christ would not have his people stus pid, andinsensate ; he only prohibits the excesses, and 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, beingignorantofthat 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, and 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 the did: I say, this is not to be expected by any that now lose their relations; the occasion and reason of such miraculous, special refurrections, being removed, by a sufficient and full evidence, and confirmation of Christ'sdivine power and Godhead ; yet those that now bury their relations, if they be such as die in Christ, have as good and sufficient reason to moderate their passions, as thismournerhad, 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 confider, what offupport or comfort can a particular and present resurrection from the deadgiveus,more than that it is,and as it is,a specimen,handsel, or pledge of the general resurrection ? It is not the returning of the foul to its body, to live an animal life again, in this world of finand sorrow, and shortly after to undergo the agonies, and pains of death again, that is in itselfanysuchprivilege as may afford much comfort to the person raised, or his

A Token for Mourners. 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 matter of trouble to many dying saints, to hear of the likelihood of their returning again,when they are gotfo nigh to heaven.

It was once thecaseofagodly minister of this nation,who was much troubled at his return, and 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 hear his home, and then mustgo back to fetch somewhat he had forgotten ; or an apprentice,whose time is almost expired, and then mustbegina new term .

But to die, and then return again from the dead, hath less of privilege, than to return only from the brinkofthegrave; for the fickhath 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 αμησια, forgetfulness, and insensibleness, ofallthatwhich they saw, or enjoyed, in their estate of separation : It being necessary, both for them and others, that it should be.

For them selves it is necessary, that they maybe content to live, and endure the time of separation from that blessed and ineffable state, quietly and patiently * ; and for others, that they may live by faith, and not by sense; and build upon divine, and not human authority and report.

So that here you fee, their agonies,andpangs are doubled, and yet their lives not sweetened by any sense of their happiness, which returns and remains with them; and therefore it can be no such privilege to them.

And for their relations : Though it be some comfort to receive them again from the dead; yet the consideration that they are returnedtothem into the stormy sea,to partake of new sorrows and troubles, from whichtheywere lately free: And ina short time they must part with them again, and feel the double sorrows ofa parting pull,which others feel but once; furelyfuch a particular resurrection, considered in itself, is no fuchgroundofcomfort as at first we might imagine it to be.

It remains, then, that the ground of allfolidcomfort and *Victurosque diicelant, ut viveredurent.

Howlongorshortmen live is kept a mystery, To make us both live well and less afraid to die.

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relief, against the death of our relations, lies in the general and last resurrection, and what is ina particular one, is but, as it were, a specimen * and evidence of the general ; and there the apostle places our relief, I Thef. iv. 17. that we shall fee, and enjoy them again, at the Lord's coming. And furelythis is more than if(with this mother in the text) we should presently receive them from the dead, as shedidher son: And if we judge not fo, it is because our hearts are carnal, and measure things ratherbytime and sense, than by faithandetenity.

Th Thus you see the counsel,with its ground, which, for the most part, is common to other Chriftianmourners with her'; f the difference being but in considerable, and of little advantage.

Here, then, you find many aggravations of for row 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 theirforrowsfor

theirdeadrelations, how many afflicting circumstances,and aggravationsfoever meet together in their death.

Itisascommonwithmen,yea, with good men,to exceed in their sorrows for dead relations †, as it is to exceed in their love and delights to living relations; and both of the one, and the other, we may say, as they say of waters,It ishardtoconfinethemwithintheir bounds.

It is therefore grave advice which the apostle delivers in this case, 1 Cor. vii. 29, 30.

" But this I fay,brethren,the time is short; itremaineth that "boththeythathavewives, be as though theyhadnone; and " theythatweep, as though they wept not ; and those that re- "joice, asthoughthey rejoiced not." As if he had said, the floating world is near its port ; God hath contracted the fails of man's life; it is but a point of time we have to live, and shortly it will not be a point to chuse whether we had wives or not, children or not.

All these are time-eaten things, and before the expectedfruitofthesecomfortsbe ripe,we ourselves maybe rotten.

It is therefore an high point of wisdom to look upon things which shortly will not be, as if already they were not, and to behave ourselves,in the loss of these carnal

* Therein we have a noble specimen of the future resurrection.

Calvin on the place.

† Whatever we love ardentlywhile we have it, we lament bitterly when we lose it.

Greg mor.

+ Καιρος συνεςαλέθνος, 1. c. the time is contracted.

A Token for Mourners. enjoyments, as the natural man hehaves himself intheuseof fpiritualordinances ; he hears as ifheheardnot,and we should weep as if we wept not; their affections are a little moved, sometimes by spiritual things, but they never lay them soto heart, as to be broken-hearted for the fintheyhearof, or deeply affected with the glory revealed. We also ought to be sensible of the ftrokeofGod upon our dear relations; but yet still we must weep, as if we wept not ; this is, we must keep due bounds, and moderation in our sorrows, and not to be too deeply concerned for these dying, short-lived things.

To this purpose the apostle exhorts,Heb. xii. 5. " My son, "despise not the chaftening of the Lord, neither faint when

" thou art rebuked of him."

These are two extremes, despising, and fainting : when God is correcting, to 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 chastening; andGodcannotbear it, that we should bear it thus lightly.

There is alsoanotherextreme, and that is fainting: if, when goods are taken away, the heart be taken away, and when children die, then the fpiritofthe parent dies also ; this is faintingunderthe rod.

Thou lamentest, saith Seneca, thy deceafedfriend; but I would not have thee grieve beyond what is meet: that thou shouldst 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 let them overflow : weep thou mayest, but wal thou must not.

Happyman, 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 propose to proceed, shall be, 1. To discover the signs.

2. To dissuade from the fin..

3. To remove the pleas.

4. To propose the cure ofimmoderate sorrow.

First, I shall give you the signs ofimmoderate sorrow, and shew you when it exceeds its bounds, and becomes sinful, even a for row to be forrowed for ; and, for clearness sake, I will first allow what maybe allowed to the Christian mourner, and then youwillthebetter difcernwherein the excess and finfulness of your for row lies.

And, First, How much soever we censure, and condemn immoderate sorrow; yet the afflicted must be allowed an awa kened, and tender sense of the Lord's afflicting hand upon them.

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It is no virtue to bear what we do not feel; yea, it is a most unbecoming temper, not to tremble when God is smiting.The Lord faith to Moses, in the case ofMiriam, Numb. xii. 24. " If her father had spit in her face, should she not be

" ashamed seven days ?" The face is the table, and feat of beauty andhonour; but when it is spit upon, it is made the fink of shame.

Had her own father spit upon her face when thehaddifpleased him, would the not have gone aside, as one ashamed by such a rebuke, and not have shewed her face to him again,in seven days ? How much more should the 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? SurelyGodwillbe ashamedofthosethat are not ashamed when he rebukes them.

It is notmagnanimity,but stupidity, to make lightofGod's corrections ; and for this the afflicted are smartly taxed, Jer. v. 3. " I have smitten them, but they have not grieved."

When God smoteJob 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 afflictingGod; which,as plainlyfhewed,he was not contumacious, andunfubmiflive.

Secondly, We must allow the mourning, afflicted foul, a due, and comely expression of his grief,and sorrow, in his complaints, bothtoGodand men.

It ismuchmorebecoming a Christian, ingenuoufly to open his troubles,than fullenly to smother them.

There is no fin in complaining to God, but much wickedness in complaining of him.

Griefs are eased by groans, and heart-pressures relieved by utterance.

This wasDavid's course, and constant way, who was a man of afflictions, Psalm cxlii. 2, 3. " I " poured out my complaint before him, I shewed before him

" my trouble; when my spirit was overwhelmed within me, " then thou knowest my path,"

To whom should children go, but to their father, to make.. theirmoan ? Whence may they expect relief, and comfort, but from him ? The 102d Psalm is intituled, " APfalm for " the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, andpoureth out his

" complaint before the Lord."

And happy were it, if every afflicted foulwouldchusethis waytoexpresshis sorrows. Did we complain more to God, hewouldcomplain less of us, and quickly abate the matters of

VOL. VII.

A Token for Mourners. our complaint. Oyou cannot think how moving, howmeite ing, how prevailing itiswithGod, when his poor, burdened, and afflicted people, in a dayofdistress,anddespondency,when deep calleth unto deep, and one wave drives on another, then for the opprefied foul, with humility, filial confidence, and faith, to turn itself to the Lord, andthusbetpeakhim :

Father,what shall I do ? My soul is greatly boweddown by trouble; I am full to the brim, myvainhearthath looked

*for reliefthisway, and that way,but none comes; every door of comfort is shut up against me: Thou hast multiplied my sorrows, and renewed my 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 opprefied, undertake for me.

Fathers of the • flesh pity their distressed children, when they complain to them; and wilt not thou,O Lord, whose compaffions as far exceed creature-compaffions, as the sea exceeds a drop, O my Father! pity me, support me, deliver me. "

Ohow acceptable is this to God! how advantageons to the soul!

We mayalfo make our complaint to men. So did Job, chap. xix. ver. 21. " Have pity, have pity on me, Oye my

" friends, for the hand of God hath touched me."

And it is amercyifwehave any friends that are wife, faithful, and experienced; they are born for such a time as this, Prov. xvii. 17 but be they what they will, they cannot pity as God, relieve, and fuccone as he; and oftentimes we may say, with Job, chap. xxi. ver. 4- "As for me,, is my complaint to men?

" And if it were,why should not myfpirit 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 afflictedperfon may (ordinarily) accuse, judge, and condemn himself,for being the cause, andprocurer of his own troubles.

He may lawfully be discontented, and vexed with himself for his own folly, when the iniquity of his heels com passeth him about.

And truly it is butfeldom that any great affliction befals agraciousperson, but he fawthe needoffuch a rod,before he felt it.

Hath God smitten thy child, or friend, and didstthou not foresce some harp trial coming? Did not thy fond, fecurs

A Token for Mourners. carnal temper, need such a scourge, to awaken, quicken, and purge thee ? Or, if you did not foresee it, it is now your duty to search, and examine yourselves.

So the church, in her affliction, resolved, Lam. iii. 40. " Let us search and try our

" ways."

When God issmiting, we should be a searching :

Surely our iniquities will enquire after us, if we will not enquire after them : Yea, in the day of affliction, a gracious foul is inquisitive about nothing more than the procuring, and provoking cause of his troubles.

Job x. 2. " Shew mewhere- " forethou 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, ingenuous foulswill shame themselves for it, and give glory to God, by an humble submission, and vindication of the equity of his proceedings.

Job vii. 20. " I have finned, what shall I " do unto thee, thou preserver of men?" He thinks it no shame freely to discover unto God,and deeply to abasehimself

-before him for this folly.

Irememberachoice note that * Mr. Brightmanhath,in his commentary upon the Canticles.

Holymen, faith he, after their hearts are renewed by repentance, are not ashamed to remember, and confess their flips, and shameful falls to the glory of God, for they account that glory which such confessions takefromthem, is not loft, whilst it goes to the glory of God.

If his glory may rife out of our shame,how willing should we be to take such shame to us? Holy David was not ashamed to acknowledge, Psal. xxxviii. 5. "My wounds stink, and are corrupted, because of my foolishness." He is the wisest man that thus befools

Mimselfbefore God.

It is true, God may afflict from prerogative, or for trial; but we may always fee cause enough in ourselves, and it is safest to charge it upon our own folly.

Lastly, The afflicted Christian may, in an humble, submissive manner, plead with God, and be earnest for the removal of the affliction.

*Nec enim pudet fanctos viros,postquam renovata cordafuerint perrefipifcentiam, lapsusfui &dedecoris ad Deigloriam meminisse.

Nihilnobis decedit, quod cedit in ill i us bonorem.

Brightmanin Cant, c. 1. V. 4. P. 11.

Gg2

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When affliction presseth us above strength, when it disables us for duty, or when it gives advantage to temptation ; then we may fay, with David,"Remove thy stroke from me, I am

"confumedby the blow of thine hand," Psal. xxxix. 10. Even our Lord Jesus Christ, in thedayofhis troubles, poured out his foul with strong cries,andmanytears,saying, " Father,

" if thou be willing, let this cup pass from me," Luke xxii.

42. Oppressednaturedefires ease,andevenourrenewed.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 caufethus to flight, and despise all our other mercies, andenjoyments, assmallthings, in comparison of what we have lost.

It often falls out, that the setting of one comfort,clouds, ⚫and be nights all the rest.

Our tears for our loft enjoyments, fo blind our eyes, that we cannot fee the many other mercies which yet remain: We take so much noticeofwhat is gone,. that we take little or no notice of what is left.

But this is very sinful, for it involves in it both ignorance, ingratitude, and great provocation.

It is a fin springing from ignorance. Didweknow thedefertofour fins, we should rather wonder to fee one mercy left, than that twenty are cut off.

They that know they have forefeitedevery mercy, should be thankful that they enjoy any, andpatientwhen they lose any of their comforts.

DidweknowGod, even that sovereign Lordatwhosedispose our comforts come and go, who can the next moment blast all that remain, and turn you into hell afterwards, you would prizethemercies he yet indulges to you, at an higher value.

Did you understand the fickle, vanithing, nature of the creature, what a flower, what a bubble it is; O how thankful would you be, to find so many yet lest in your possession!

Did you know the case of thousands, as good, yea, better than you, whosewholeharvestofcomfortinthis world is but a handful, to the gleanings of the comforts you still enjoy,whe in all their lives never were owners of such comfortable enjoy- : ments as you now overlook; furelyyou would not act as you

Besides, what vile ingratitude is in this? What, are all your remaining mercies worth nothing ? You have buried a child, a friend; well, but still you have a husband,a wife,

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other children; or, if not,you have comfortable accommodations for yourselves, with health to enjoy them ; or, if not, yet have you the ordinances of God, it may be, an interest in Chriftand in the covenant, pardon of fin, and hopes of glory.

What,andyetfink at this rate, as if all your mercies, comforts, and hopes, even in both worlds, were buried in one grave.

MustIchabodbe written upon your best mercies, because mortality is written upon one ? Fy, fy, what shameful ingratitude is here?

And really, friend,such a carriage as this under the rod, is no small provocation to the Lord togo on in judgment, and make a full end of all that remains, so that affliction shall not rifeup the second time.

What if God, taking notice how little thou regardest the manyundeserved favours thou yet poslessest, should say, well, if thou thinkest them not worth the owning, neither do I think themworththe continuing ? Go, death, there is a husband,a wife, other children yet left, smitethem 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 is yet sweet ; what would you think of this ?

And yet, if thou 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 towards thee ? Is it nothing that I have spared thee thus long in thy fins, and rebellions ?

Well, then, I will stretch out myhanduponthy life, cut off that threadwhichhath kept thee so many years from dropping into hell.

O think, then, whatyouhave done,by provoking the Lord, through your vile ingratitude! It is a dangerous thing toprovokeGod, when he is already in away 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 loft.

Should God cloud your souls with doubts, let loose Satan to buffet you, remove joy and peace from your innerman,how soon would you be convinced that the funeral of your dearest friend is but a trifle to this?

Well then,whatever God takes, be still thankful for what he leaves.

It was the great fin ofIfraelinthe wilderness, that thoughGodhad delivered them from their cruel servitude in Egypt, miraculously fed them in the desart, and was leading them ontoaland flowing with milk and honey; yet as foor

• 238 A Token for Mourners . as any wantdidbut begin to pinch them,presently all these mercies were forgotten and flighted,Numb. xiv. 12. "Would

" to God(faythey) we had died in Egypt." And,Numb. xi.

6. " There is nothing at all beside this manna." Beware of this,O ye mourning and afflicted ones. You fee both the fin that is in it, and the danger that attends it.

Secondly, And no less sinful are our sorrows,When theyfo wholly ingulphour hearts, that weeithermindnot at all, or are little or nothingsensibleofthe public evils and calamities, which lie upon the churchandpeople of God.

Some Christians have such public spirits,that the church's troubles swallow up their personal troubles.

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 ofthegraciousness andpublicness ofEli's spirit,who sitting in the gate, anxiously waiting for tidings from the army,when the tidings came that Israel fled before the Philistines, that his two sons Hophui and Phinehas were dead, and that 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 presaged the ifssue, he funkdown and died, 1 Sam. iv, 17. 18, O that was the finking, the killing word; had the messenger stopt 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 of daughters.

But how few such public spirits appear even among professors in this selfish generation ? May we not with the apostle complain, Phil. ii. 21. "Allfeektheirown,and not the things

" that are of Christ:" Fewmen have any great cares orde signs, lying beyond the bounds oftheirownprivate interest.

And what we say of cares,is as true offorrows: Ifa child die, we are ready to die too, but public calamities pierce us not.

How few suffer either their domestic comforts to be swallowed up in the church's troubles, or their domestic trou bles to be swallowed up by the church's mercies ! Now when it is thus with us,when we littleregardwhat mercies or miseries

* Cumque ille nominasset arcam Dei. q. d. nondum integram, fed inchoatam audiens narrationem, mentepraevolanset exitum praefagiens ruebat.

Merecz. inloc.

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fieupon others, but are wholly intent upon our own afflictions, this isa sinful sorrow, and ought to be forrowed for.

Thirdly, Our sorrows then become sinful and exorbitant, When they divert us from, or distract us in, our duties, fo that our intercourse with heaven isftopt and interrupted by them.

How longcanwe fit alone musing uponadead creature?

Here our thoughts easily flow; but how hard to fix them up. on 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 foulsjustly 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 compliancewithGod's design in afflicting thee? What, to grow a greater stranger to him than before ! Or is this the way to thycureandcomfort in affliction, to refrain prayer, and turn thy back upon God ?

Or if thou dareftnotwhollyneglect thy duty, yet thy af flictionspoils the success and comfort of it; thy heart iswandring,dead, distracted in prayer and meditation, so that thou haftno relief or comfort from it.

Rouze up thyself, Christian, andconfiderthis is not right.

Surely the rod works not 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 ?

Hathnaturaldeath seized him,and spiritualdeadness seized thee? Sure then thouhaft more reason to lament thy dead heart, than thy dead friend. Divert the stream of thy troubles

Speedily, andlabourtorecoverthyselfoutofthis temper quickly; left fadexperience shortly tell thee, that what thou now mournest for, is but at rifle to what thou shalt mourn for here after. To lose the heavenly warmth and spiritual liveliness ofthyaffections, is undoubtedly a far more considerable loss, than to lose the wife of thybosom, 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 burytenfons,than to remitonedegree of love or delight in God. The endofGodin smiting, was towinthy heart nearertohimby removing that which estranged it; howthendoft thou cross the very design of God inthisdifpenfation? Mult

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God then lose his delight in thy fellowship,because thouhaft loftthine in the creature ? Surely, when thy troubles thus ac company thee to thy closet, they are sinful and extravagant troubles.

Fourthly, Then you may also conclude your sorrows to he excessive and sinful, When they so overload and oppressyourbodies, as to endanger your lives, or render them useless and unfit for service.

Worldly sorrow works death, 2 Cor. vii. 10. that is, for row after the manner of worldly men * ; sorrow in a mere carnal, natural way, which is not relieved by any spiritual reasonings and considerations.

This falls so heavy sometimes upon the body, that it finks under the weight, and is cast into such diseases as are never more wrought off, orhealedinthisworld.

" Heaviness in the heart of a man makes it stoop," saith So lomon, Prov. xii. 25. The stoutest body must stoop under heart-pressures.

It is with the mind of man, faith one, as with the stone tyrhenus ; as long as it is whole it swimmeth ; but, oncebro ken, it finks presently. Grief is a moth, which, getting into the mind, will, ina short time, make the body, be it never for ftrongandwell-wrought apiece, like an old feary garment.

Philosophers and physicians generally reckon sorrow among the chief causes of shortning life. Christ was a man offorrows, and acquainted with grief, and this some think was the reason that he appeared as am an of fifty, when he was little more than thirty years old, John viii. 57. But his sorrows were of another kind †.

Many am an's foul is to hisbody, as as harp knifetoathin sheath,which easily cuts it through ; and what do we by poring and pondering upon our troubles, butwhetthe knife that itmaycutthe deeper and quicker ? Of all the creatures that ever God made (devils onlyexcepted) man is the most able andapttobehisown tormentor.

Howunmercifully do we loadourbodies in times of afflictions?How do we not only waste their strengthbyforrow,but } *Worldly sorrow is after the manner of the world, arifingfrom the love of it.

Eftius on the place.

† These things write 1unto you, whohaveweptso immoderately, that I am become an example (which I always abhorred) of those whom grief hath overcome. Yet this unreasonable conduct I now condemn myself for. Senes.

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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 to the 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 abrutebeast, groaning and finking under an heavy burden, but you will not pity nor relieve your own bodies.

Somemens fouls have given such deep wounds to their bodies, that they are never like to enjoy many easy or comfortable days morewhilft they dwell in them.

Now,this is very sinful anddifpleasing 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, though it be for fin,

2Cor. ii. 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 employed to better purposes, think you, than these ? Time may come, that you may earnestly with youhadthathealthand strength again to spend for God, which younowso lavishlywaste, and prodigallycaftawayupon your troubles, to no purpose or advantage.

It was therefore an high point of wisdom in David, and recordednodoubt for our imitation, who, when the child was dead, ceased to mourn, bat arose, washed himself, and eat bread, 2 Sam. xii. 20.

Fifthly, When affliction sowrs the spirit with discontent, and makes it inwardly grudge against the hand of God, then our trouble is full of fin, and we ought to be humbled for it before the Lord.

WhateverGoddothwith us, or ours, still we should maintain good thoughts of him. A gracious heart cleaves nearer andnearertoGod in affliction, and canjustifyGod in his severest strokes, acknowledging them to be all just and holy,

Psal. cxix. 75. " I know also that thy judgments are right, "andthatthouin faithfulness haft afflicted me." And hereby thefoulmay comfortablyevidenceto itself its own uprightness and sincere lovetoGod; yea, it hath been of singular use to some fouls, 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 anddearestcomforts, argues plainly that we love him for himself,and not for his gifts only.

And thus his interest in the heart is deeper than any creature interest is. And such is the comfort that hath resulted to some

VOL. VII.

A Token for Mourners. from fuchdifcoveries of their own heartsbyclose smartingafflictions, that they would not part with it, to have their coinforts (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 averydistempered, if renewed,heart. So it was with JonahwhenGodfmotehis gourd: "Yea, (faith he) Ido

" well to be angry, even unto death," Jonah iv. 9. Poor man, he was highlydistempered at this time, and out of frame ; this was not his true temper, or ordinary frame, but a fur prize; the effect of a paroxism of temptation, in which his passions had been over-heated.

: Few dare to vent it in such language: But how many have their hearts imbitteredby discontent, and secret rifings against the Lord? Which, i fever the Lord open their eyes to fee, will cost them more trouble than ever that affliction did, which gave the occafionof it.

I deny not but the bestheartmaybe tempted to think and speak frowardly concerning these works 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 Davidhimself, to take up hard thoughts of God, and to conclude,"Verily I have cleans- "edmyheart in vain ;" q. d. How little privilege from the worst ofevils hath a man by his godliness ? But he soon suppressed such motions : " IfI should say thus, I should offend

" against the generation of thy children :" Meaning, that he should condemn the whole race of godly nen through the whole world ; for who isthereamong them all,but is, or hath, or maybe, afflicted as severely as myself?

"Surely,it is meet to be faiduntoGod, I have born chastise- "ment, I will not offend any more," Job xxxiv. 31. Whatever

God doth with you, speak well, and thinkwellofhim, and his works.

* Sixthly, Ourforrows exceed due boundswhenwe continually excite and provoke them hy willing irritations.

Grief, like a lion,loves to play with us before it destroy'us.

And strange it is that we should find some kind of pleasure in rouzing our sorrows .

It is * Seneca's observation, and expe- ** Sorrow itself hasacertainkindofpleasure attending it, when the

A.Token for Mourners.

rimentally true, that even sorrow itself hath acertainkind of delight attending it. t The Jews, that were with Mary in the house to comfort her,

" When they saw that the went out hastily, followed her, fay " ing, the goeth to the grave to weep there," John xi. 32. as they do, faith †Calvin, that seek to provoke their troubles, by going to the grave, or often looking upon the dead bo dy.

Thus we delight to look upon the relics of our deceased friends, and often to mention 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, andfetchfresh blood from it, by piercing ourselves with fomelittle, trivial, yet wounding cir cumstances.

I have known many that will fit and talk of the features, actions and 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 thewoundcontinuallyopen, and excruciating their own hearts, without any benefit at all by them : A lock of hair, or some such trifles, must

⚫be kept for this purpose, to renew their forrowdaily, by look. ing on it. On this account, Jacob would not have his son calledBenoni, left it should renew his sorrow, but Benjamin.

I am far from commending a brutish oblivion of our dear relations, and condemn it as much as I do this childish, and : unprofitable remembrance.

O 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, andstudyinghow to answer the end of it, bymortifying those corruptions which provoke it ? Surely the rod works not kindly till it comes to this.

Seventhly, Lastly, Our sorrows may then be pronounced sinful,whentheydeafen our ears to all the wholesome, and seafonable words of counsel, and comfort, offered us for our relief, and support.

Jer. xxxi. 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."

Hh2 : the parents call to mind the pleasant sayings, the chearful conversation, and the filial affection of their children, then their eyes are refreshed as it were with a kind of joy.

† Ex eorum more qui luctusfui irritamenta quaerunt. Calvin.

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Shewilladmitno comfort, her disease is curable by no other means but the restoration of her children; give her them again, and the will be quiet; else you speak into air, the regards not whatever you say.

Thus Israel, in the cruel bondage in Egypt, Moses brings them the glad tidings of deliverance; " But they hearkened

" not to him, be cause of the anguish of spirit, and their cruel "bondage," Exod. vi. 9.

Thus obstinately fixed are many, in their trouble, that no words of advice, or comfort, find anyplace with them ; yea,

I have known some exceeding quick and ingenuous, even above the rate of their common parts and abilities, in invent ing shifts, and framing objections to turn off comfort from themselves, as iftheyhadbeen hired to plead against their own interest ; and if they be driven from those pleas, yet they are settled in their troubles, too fast to be moved ; fay what you will, they mind it not, or, at most, itabides 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. lxxvii. 10. "My foul(faith 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 fin.

Time may come when we would be glad to receive comfort, or hear a word of support, and shall be denied it.

Oit is a mercy to the afflicted to have Barnabas with them, an interpreter, one among a thousand; and it will be the great fin, and folly of the afflicted, to spill, like water upon the ground, those excellent cordials, prepared and offered to them, out of a froward, or dead spirit, under trouble.

Say not with them, Lam. iii. 18, 19. " My hope is perished from " the Lord, remembring mine affliction and my misery, the " wormwood and the gall."

It isa thousand pities the wormwoodandgall of affliction should fodisgusta 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 dispatched the first part of my design, in shewing you wherein the finof mourners doth not lie, and in what it doth.

Secondly, Having cleared this, and shewn you wherein the finanddanger lies ; my way is now prepared to the second thing proposed, namely, to dissuade mourners from these sin. fulexcesses offorrows, and keep the golden bridle of moderation upon their paflions in times of affliction. And O that my words may be as successful upon those pensive fouls that

A Token for Mourners.

shall read them, as Abigail's were to David, 1 Sam. xxv. 32. who,when he perceived how proper and seasonabletheywere, said, " Bleffedbe 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 allaymutinous, 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, it wholly depends upon his power, and blessing.

He that faith to the sea,when the waves thereofroar, be still ; can also quiet, and compose the stormy, and tumultuous sea, that rages in the breasts of the afflicted, and caftsup nothing but the froth of vain and useless complaints 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 forts of persons,without difference: it is upon the tabernacles of the just and the unjust, the righteous and the wicked; both aremourningundertherod.

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 fink undertheirunrelievedburdens.

Here, therefore, I must have respect to two forts of persons, whom I find intearsupon the fame account ; I mean, the loss oftheirdearrelations, the regenerate, and the unregenerate. I am a debt or to both, and shall endeavour their support and -assistance, for even theunregenerate callforourhelp and pity, and must not be neglected, and wholly flighted, 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 offorrows ?

I confess, uses of comfort to the unregenerate are not (ordinarily) in use among us, and it may seem strange whence anything of support should be drawn for them, that have no special interest in Christ, or promises.

I confess, also, I find myself 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 yet, such is the goodness of God even to his ene- *Nil miferiusmiferonon miserantefeipfum, i.e. None is more to be pitiedthanapoor sinner that does notpityhimself.

A Token for Mourners. mies, that they are not left wholly without supports, or means to allay their sorrow.

If this, therefore, be thy case, who readest these lines ; af flicted and unfanctified,mourning bitterlyforthydead friends, and more cause to mourn for thydeadfoul, christless andgraceless, as well as childless, or friendless: nocomfortinhand,nor yet in hope; full of trouble, and no vent by prayer, or faith, to ease thy heart.

Poor creature, thy case is fad, but yet do not wholly sink, and suffer thyself to be swallowed up of grief: thou hast laid thy dear one in the grave, yet throw not thyself,headlong in, to the grave after him; thatwillnotbethe way to remedy thy misery: but fit 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 preferveit: for if thy troubles destroy thee, thou art eternally loft, undone for ever. "Worldly sorrow (faith the apostle) works death."

And if it works thy death, it works thy damnation also ; for hell follows that pale horse, Rev. vi. 8.

If a believer dies, there is no danger of hell to him, the second death hath no power over him ; but woe to thee, if it overtake thee in thy fin: beware, therefore, what thou dost against thy health, and life; do not put the candle of sorrow too near that thread by which thou hangestover the mouth of hell.

O it is far better 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 thynamebeeninthe commission, thouhadst 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, treasuredupthetenthousandth part of that guilt that thou haftdone: so that thou mightest well imagine it should rather have cut thee down, that had it so provoked God, than thy poor little one.

But,O the admirable patience of God ! Othe riches of his long-suffering ! Thou art only warned, not smitten by it: is there nothing in this, worth thankful acknowledgment ? Is it not better to be in black for another on earth, than in the blackness of darkness for ever ? Is it not easier to go to the :

A Token for Mourners .

gravewiththydeadfriend, and weep there, than togo 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, thewedthee the vanity of this world, and what a poor trifle it is which thou madeft thy happiness: there is now a dark cloud spread over all thy wordly comforts.

Now, O now! if the Lord would but strike in with this affliction, and by it open thine eyes to fee thy deplorable state, and take off thy heart forever from the vain world, which thou now feest hath no thing in it; and cause thee to chuse Christ, the only abiding good, for thy portion.

Ifnowthy affliction may but bring thy finto remembrance, and thy dead friend may but bring thee toa sense of thy dead foul, which is as cold to God, and spiritual things, as his body is to thee; and more lothfome in his eyes than that corpse is, or shortly will be to the eyes of men : then this day is certainly a day of the greatest mercy that ever yet thou fawest. Ohappydeath, that shall prove lifetothyfoul.

Why this is sometimes the way of the Lord withmen, Job xxxvi . 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 ear to discipline, and commandeth them that they re- "turn from iniquity."

Oconfider, poor pensive creature, that which stole away thy heart from God, is now gone ; that which eat up thy time, and thoughts, that there was no room for God, foul, or eternity, in them, is gone: all the vain expectations that thou raifedstupunto thyself, from that poor creature which now lies in the dust, are inonedayquiteperished. O what an advantage haftthounow for heaven,beyond whatever thou yet hadst! if Godwillbutbless this rod, thou wilthave cause to keep ma- : hy a thanksgiving day for this day.

I pray, let these three things beponderedbyyou. I canbestowno more comforts upon you, your condition bars the best comforts from you, theybelongto the people of God, and you haveyetnothing todowiththem.

I shall therefore turn from you to them, and present some choicercomfortstothem, towhomtheyproperlybelong, which maybe of great use to you in reading, if it be but to convince you of the blessed privilege and state of the people of God in thegreatestplunges of troubles in this world,and what advan-

A Token for Mourners. tages their interest in Christ gives them for peace and settlement,beyond that state you are in.

And here Ido with much more freedom, and hope of success, apply myself to the work ofcounfelling, 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 perfuadeyou to retire a while into your closets, redeem a little time from your unprofitable sorrows, ease and empty your hearts before the Lord, and beg his bleffingupon the relieving, quieting, and heart-composing considerations that follow; some of which are more general and common, some more particular and special ; but all of them such as, through the blessing of God,may be very useful, at this time, to your souls.

Consideration 1. Confider, in this day of for row, 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. xlvi. 10. " Be still, and know that I " am God."

Manandmanstand upon even ground; if your fellow-creature does anything 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 fo 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 he hath done.

Job xxxiii. 13. " Whydost thou strive against him ? For he giveth " not an account ofanyofhis matters."

The Supreme Being must needs be an unaccountable and uncontroulable beirg.

It is a shame for a child to strive with his father ; a shame for a servant to contend with his master; but for a creature to quarrel and strive with the God that made him, O how shameful is it! Surely it is highly reasonable that you be subject to thatwillwhenceyou proceeded,and that he who formed you, and yours, shoulddifpofeofboth as seemethhim good.

It is said, 2 Sam. iii. 36. "That whatsoever the king did,pleased " all the people:" And shall any thing the Lord doth difpleaseyou ? He candonowrong: 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.

A Token for Mourners.

this the case ? Thy sweet bud, which was cropt off before it was fully blown, was cropt offbyhim 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. iii. 18. " It is the Lord, let " him do what seemethhim good:" And it was so to David,

Psal.xxxix. 9. " I was dumb, I opened not my mouth ; be- " cause thou didst it." O let it be for ever remembered,

" That he whose name alone is Jehovah, is the most High o- " ver all the earth," Psalm lxxxiii. 18 .

The glorious sovereignty of God, is illustriously displayed in two things, his decrees and his providences: With respect to the first, he faith, Rom. ix. 15. " I will have mercy on whom

" I will have mercy."

Here is no ground ofdifputing with him ; for so it is said, ver. 20. "Who art thou,Ởman, that " repliest against God ? Shall thethingformedsay to him that " formed it, whyhaft 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. ii. 14. "Be silent, O all flesh,

" before the Lord, for he is raised up out of his habitation."

It is spokenofhisprovidentialworking in the changes of kingdoms, and defolations that attend them.

Now, seeing the case stands thus, that the Lord hath done it; it is his pleasure to have it so, and that if 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 has many years fufferedyou to dwell in his house, does at last warn you out of it, though he tells you not why; you will not contendwithhim, or say he has done you wrong :

Much less if he tells you it will be more for his profit,and accommodation, to take it into his own hand, than let it to you any longer.

Doubtless, reason will tell you, you ought quietly to pack up, and quit it.

It is your great landlord, from whom you hold(at pleasure) your own, and your relations lives, that hath nowwarnedyou out from one of them, it being mose for his glory, it may be, to take it in his own hands, by death ; and must youdisputethe case with him ?

Come, Christian, this no way becomes thee, but rather, " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be

" thenameofthe Lord."

Look off from a dead creature, lift

VOL. VII.

A Token for Mourners. up thine eyes tothefovereign,wife,andholypleasure that ot dered this affliction : Confiderwho he is, and what thou art; yea, pursue this consideration till thou canst say, I am now filled with the will of God.

Consideration 2. Ponder well the quality of the comfort you are deprived of, and remember, that when you had it, it flood but in the rank and order of common and inferior comforts.

Children, and all other relations, arebutcommonblessings, 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. Ixxvii.

14. that they are fullofchildren ; yea, and of children that do survive them too ; for, they leave their substance to their babes. Full of fin,yet fullofchildren, and these children live to inherit their parents fins andeftates together.

It is the mistaking of the quality, and nature of our enjoy. ments, that foplunges us intotroublewhenwe lose them.We think there is so neceflarya connection betwixt these creatures, and our happiness,that we are utterly undone when they fail us.

But this is our mistake; there is no such neceffaryconnec tion, ordependance; we may be happy without these things:

It is not father, mother, wife, or child, in which our chiet good and felicity lies ; we have higher, better, and more en during things than these; all these may perish, and yet our foul be secure and safe ; yea, and our comfort in the way, as well as end, maybe safe enough, though these are gone:

Godhathbetterthingstocomfort his people with, than these, and worse rods to afflict you with, than the removal of theft.

HadGodlet your children live, and flourish; and given you ease and rest inyourtabernacle, butinthemeantime inflicted spiritual judgments uponyoursouls; how much more fadhad 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 vanity in them are removed ;you are not prejudiced, or much hindered as to the attainment of your last end, by the loss of these things.

Alas! it was not Christ's intent to purchase for you a fensualcontent in the enjoyment of these earthly comforts ; but to redeem you from all iniquity, purge your corruptions, fanctifyyournatures, we an your hearts from this vain world, and so to dispose and order your present condition, that, finding no rest and content here, you might, the moreardently pants

A.Token for Mourners.

and sigh after the rest which remains for the people of God.

And are you not in as probable away to attain this end now, as you were 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 wife 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 loft nothing, if thethingswhereinyour eternal happiness consistethbeyet safe.

ManyofGod'sdearest childrenhavebeendenied such comforts as these, and manyhavebeendeprivedofthem, and yet never the farther from Christ, and heaven, for that.

Consideration 3. Always remember, that bowfoon andunexpectedfoeveryour parting with your relations was, yet your lease was expired before you lost them, and you enjoyed them every moment of the timethatGod intended themforyou.

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 afecretto you, whilst your friend was with you; yet now it is a plain and evident thing, that this was the time of separationbeforeappointed; and that the life of your friendcouldbynomeans be protracted, orabbreviated, 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 xxiv.

5,6. " Seeing his days are determined, the number of his "months are with thee: thou hast appointedhimhis bounds,

"which he cannot pass."

The time of our life, as well as the place of our habitation, was prefixed, before we were born.

Itwillgreatlyconduce to your settlement, and peace, to be well established in this truth ; that the appointed time was fully come,when you and your dear relation parted; for it will preventandfave a great deal oftroublewhichcomes from our after-reflections .

O it this had been done, or that omitted ; had it not been for fuchmiscarriages, and oversights, my dear husband, wife, or child,hadbeenalive, at this day ! No, no, the Lord's time

Jia

A Token for Mourners. was fully come, and all things concurred, and fell in together to bring about the pleasure of his will; let that satisfy you:

Had the ablest physicians in the world been there, or had they that were there prescribed another course, as it is now, fo it would have been when theyhaddone all.

Only it must be precautioned, that the decree of God no way excuses any voluntary, or sinful neglects, or miscarriages. God over-rules these things to serve his own ends, but nowayapproves them; but it greatly relieves, against all our involuntary, and una voidable over fights and mistakes about the use of means, or the timing of them; for it could not be otherwise than now it is.

Objection.

Butmanythings arealledgedagainst this positi on, and that with much seeming countenance from such scrip tures as these; Psal. liv. 25. "Blood-thirstymen shall not live

" outhalftheirdays." Ecclef. vii. 18. "Why shouldst thou " diebeforethytime." Psal.cii. 24. " O, my God, take me

: not away in the midst of my days."

Ifa. xxvii. 10. " I am " deprived of the residue of my years." And,Prov. x. 27.

" The fear of the Lordprolongeth days, but the years of the " wicked shall be shortened."

It is demanded, what tolera ble sensewecangive these scriptures, whilst we assert an unal terable fixation of the term of death.

Solution. The sense of all these scriptures will be cleared up to full satisfaction, bydiftinguishing 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 to the courseofnature, or the vigour, and foundness of his natural constitution ; for his wickedness either drowns nature in an excessofriotand luxury, or exposes him to the hand of ju stice, which cuts him off for his wickedness before he hathac compliihedhalfhisdays.

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, Plal. xc. 19. " The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason offtrength they are fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow." To this short limit the

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lifeofmanis generally reduced, since the flood; and though there are some few exceptions, yet the general rule is not thereby destroyed.

The special limit is that proportion of time,which God, by hisowncounsel and will, hath allotted to every individualperfon ; and it is only known to us by the event : This we affirm to be a fixed, and immoveable term; withitallthings 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 afecrethid in God's own breast; therefore man reckons by the former account, and maybe said, when he dies at thirty, or forty years old, to be cut off in the midst of his days : For it is so, reckoning by the general account, though he be not cut off tilltheendofhis days, reckoning by the special li mit.

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 timeGodhath appointed: And so in all other objected scriptures.

It is not proper at all, in a subject of this nature, to digress into a controversy: Alas ! the poor mourner, overwhelmed with grief, hath no pleasure in that ; it is not proper for him at this time, and therefore I shall, for the present, wave the controversy, and wind up this consideration with an humble, and serious motion to the afflicted, that they willwiselyconfiderthe matter.

The Lord's time was come, your relations lived with you everymomentthatGod intended them for you before you had them .

Oparents ! mind this, Ibeseechyou ; the time of your child's continuanceinthewomb, was fixed to aminutebythe Lord; and when theparturient 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 inthewomb, how well soever she loved it; and is 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 the life of heaven, is but as the life ofa child inthewomb,to its life in the open world.

And let none say the death ofchildrenisa premature death.

Godhathways toripenthem for heaven,whom he intends to gatherthitherbetimes,the which we know not: in respect of fitness, they die ina full age, thoughtheybe cutoff in the bud of their time.

Hethatappointedtheseasons of the year, appointed the sea

A Token for Mourners. sons ofourcomfortinourrelations: And as those seasons cannot be altered,nomorecan these. All the course of providence is guided by anunalterable decree; what falls out casually to our apprehension, yet falls out necessarily inrespectofGod's appointment.

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

Consider. 4. HathGodfmittenyourdarling, and taken away the delight of your eyes with this stroke ? Bear this stroke with patienceandquietfubmiffion : For how know you but your trouble might have beengreaterfrom the life, than it isnowfromthe death of your children?

Sad experience made a holy man once to say, It is 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 afadword was that ofDavidtoAbishai, 2 Sam. xvi. 11. " Behold, (faith he) my son,

"which came out of my bowels,seekoth my life."

I remember Seneca, in his consolatory epistle to his friend Marullus, brings in his friend thus aggravating the death of his child.

O, (faith Marullus) had my child lived with me, to how great modesty, gravity, and prudence, might my discipline

⚫have formed and mouldedhim ? But, faith Seneca, (which ⚫is more to be feared) he might have been as others mostly

4are; for look,(faith he) what children come even out of the ⚫worthiest families ; such who exercise both their own,and others lusts ; in all whose life there is notadaywithoutthe markoffomenotorious wickedness upon it.'

I know your tender love to your children will scarce admit fuchjealoufies 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 Efau,when he was little,and in his tender age, promised as much comfort to his parents as Jacobdid; and Iquestionnotbut Isaac and Rebecca(a glorious pair) spent as many prayers, and bestowed as many holy counsels upon him, astheydiduponhisbrother: Butwhenthechild grew up toriper years, then he became a sharp affliction to his parents; for it is said,Gen. xxvi. 34. " That when Efauwas forty years

"old,hetooktowife Judith the daughter ofBerith theHittite, "which was a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebecca."

The word in the original comes from a root that signifies to im Seneca's Epilles. p.84.4

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bitter : This child imbittered the minds ofhisparentsbyhis rebellion against them,and despising their counsels.

And I cannot doubt but Abraham disciplined his family as strictly as any of you ; never man received a higher encomium from God, upon that account. Gen. xviii. 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 son Ishmael, as any of you :

We find one, and that a very pathetical one, recorded, Gen. xvii. 18. " O that Ishmael might live before thee:" And yet, you know how he proved, a fonthat yielded him no more comfort thanEfau did toJacob andRebeeca.

Ohow much more common is it for parents to see the vices an devils of their children,than their virtues and graces ? And where one parent livestorejoice in be holding the grace of God shining forth in the life of his child,there are twenty, it maybe an hundred, that live to behold, to their vexation and grief, theworkingsofcorruption in them.

It is a note of†Plutarch, in his morals, Nicoles (faith he) lived not to fee the noble victory obtained by Themistocles, his son ; nor Miltiades, to fee the battle his son Cimonwonin the field; nor Zantippus, to hear his son Pericles preach, and make orations.

Arifton never heard his son Plato's lecturés anddisputations; but men (faith he) commonly live to fee their children falla gaming, revelling, drinking, and whoring :

Multitudes live to fee such things to their sorrow. And if * thou be a gracious soul,O what a cut would this betothyvery heart! to fee those(as David spake of his Abfalom)that came outofthybowels,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, yetmightest thou not live tofeemore miferycome upon them than thou couldest endure to fee ? O think what a fad and doleful fight was that to Zedekiah, Jer. 1. 10. " The king of " Babylonbroughthischildren,andflewthembeforehiseyes."

Horrid spectacle ! and that leads to Confider. 5. How know you, but by this stroke which you

So lament,God hath taken them away from the evil to come ?

Is is God's usual way, when some extraordinary calamities arecominguponthe world,to hide someofhisweak and ten- *Erant amaritudo animi.

Plutarch'sMorals,p. 222.

236% • A Token for Mourners. derones out of the way by death, Ifa. lvii. 1, 2. heleavés 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 fees it better for them to be under ground,than above ground,in such evil days..

Just asa careful and tender father,who hath a son abroad at school, hearing the plague is broken out in, or near the place, sendshishorse presently to fetch home hisfon,before the danger and difficulty be greater. Death is our Father's pale horse, which he fendstofetch home his tender children, and carry them out of harm's way.

Surelywhennationalcalamities are drawing on,itisfarbetter for our friends to be in the grave in peace, than exposed to the miseries and distresses that are here,which is the meaning ofJer. xxii. 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 found of troubles, now in our ears ? Do not the clouds gather blackness ? Surely all things round about us seem to be preparing and disposing themselves for affliction.

The days maybe nigh in which you shall say, " Blessed is the womb that never bare,and the paps that never

" gave suck."

It was inthedaywhereinthefaith 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 offavour is disbandedbydeath, whilst thou thyself art left to endure a great fight of affliction. And nowiftroubles come,thy cares and fears will be so much the less,andthyown death so much the easier to thee ; when fo 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 paslage to them.

Inremovingthyfriends before-hand,he seems to saytothee, ashe did to Peter, John xiii. 7. " What I do thou know- " est not now, but thou shalt know hereafter."

The eye of providencehathaprospect farbeyondthine ; probably it would be a harder task 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 when its roots are loosed before-hand, thenaneasy stroke lays itdownupon the earth.

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Confider. 6. 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 linked you together must be cut. If anyone, faith Basil, had asked you,when your childwasborn, What is that which is born ? What would you have answered? Would you not have said, It is am an?

And if a man, then a mortal, vanishing thing. And why then are you fur prized with wonder to fee a dying thing dead?

He, faith * Seneca,who complains thatone is dead,complains that he was a man.

Allmen are under the fame condition, to whose share it falls to be born, to him it remains to die.

We are indeeddiftinguishedbythe intervals, butequalized in the issue: " It is appointedtoallmenoncetodie," Heb. ix.

27. There is a statute law of heaven inthecafe.

Possibly you think this is the worst time for parting that could be; had you enjoyed 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 itself in 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 yourselfwerewilling it should be dissolved; when,think you,would you have been

* willing it should be dissolved?

It is 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 its season," Jobv. 26. hey that are in Christ, and in the covenant, neverdieunseasonably, whensoever they die (faith †one upon the the text), 'They die ina goodoldage; 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 whenevertheydie.

Whenever the godly die, it is harvest-time with him ; though in a natural capacity he

' be cutdownwhilehe is green, and crop tin the budorblof- ' som; yet in his spiritual capacity,he never dies before he is

Bear the law of neceflity with an even mind, How many befidesyou must sorrow ? Seneca, Epifile 99.

+Caryl. on the place.

VOL . VII.

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، ripe;God canripen his speedily, he can let out such warm rays and beams ofhisSpiritupon them, as shall soon matu- ⚫⚫rate the feeds 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 isa fit time for them, fo for you also. Had it lived longer, itmighteither have engaged you more, and fo 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 forrowwouldthathavebeen ?

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. xii. 13. " Heal her now, Lord." O let it be done speedily; we are in post-haste for our comforts, and for our afflictions, we never think they come late enough ; not at this time, Lord, rather at any other time than now.

But it is good to leave the timing both of the one and the other to him, whose works are all beautiful in their seasons, and : never doth anything in an improper time.

Confider. 7. Call to mind in this day of trouble, the covenant you have with God, and what you solemnly promised him in the day you took bimfor your God.

Itwillbevery 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 loadofforrow preftthy heart, now than thou feelest.'

In those your spiritual distresses, when the burden of fin lay heavy, the curse of the law, the fear of hell, the dread of death andeternitybeset thee on every side,andshuttheeuptoChrift, 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 inthosedays ?

Lord,give me Christ, and deny me whatever else thou pleasest. Pardon my fin, fave my foul, and, in order to both, unite me with Christ, and I will never repine or open my mouth. Do what thouwilt

•with me; let me be friendless, let me be childless, let me be 6 poor, let me be any thing rather than achriftless, graceless, hopelcfs foul."

، And when the Lord hearkened to thy cry, and shewed thee mercy; when he drew thee off from the world into thy closet,

A Token for Mourners..

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 did it thou fubmitto hisyoke, as most reasonable and easy, 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,beenwhifpered by thee into his ear with a dropping eye, andmeltingheart ?

Lord Jesus, here amJ,a poor guilty sinner, deeply laden with fin; fear and trouble uponone hand, and there is a just

God, a severe law, and everlasting burnings, on the other hand: but blessed be God, OblessedbeGod for Jesus theMe.

' diator, who interposethbetwixtme 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 allye that labour, and are heavy laden."

Thou hast promised, that he thatcometh to thee, shall in no wife be • cast out.

Blessed Jesus, thy poor creature cometh to thee upon these encouragements : I come,Obut it is with many staggerings, withmanydoubts and fears of the issue ; yet I am willing to ⚫comeandmake a covenant with thee this day.

I take thee this day to be my Lord, and submit heartily to all thydisposals ; do what thou wilt with me, or mine, let

•me be rich or poor, anything or nothing in this world : I am ⚫willing to be as thou wouldst have me, and I do likewise give

• myself to theethisday, to be thine ; all I am, all I have shall ' be thine, thine to serve thee, and thine to be disposed of at thy pleasure.

Thou shalt henceforth be my highest Lord, my chiefest good, my last end."

Now, Christian,make good to Christ whatthouso solemnly promised him: He,I say,he hathdisposedofthis 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 difposals ? Where is that covenanted submission to his will ?

Didst thou except this affliction that is come upon thee ?

Didstthou tell him, Lord, I will be content thou shalt,when thou pleasest, take any thing I have, save only this husband, this wife, or this dear child; I reserve this out of the bargain ?

I shall never endure that thou shouldst kill this comfort.

Iffo, thou didst in all this but prove thyself an hypocrite ; if thou Kk2 :

A Token for Mourners. wast sincere in thy covenant, as Christ hadnoreferves on his part, fo thouhadstnone on thine.

It was allwithoutanyexception thouthenrefignedsttohim, andnowwilt thougobackfrom thy word, as one thathadoutpromisedhimself, and repents the bargain ? Or, at least, as one that hath forgottenthesesolemntranfactions in the days of thy distress ? WhereinhathChrift failed in onetitlethathepromif edthee? Charge him, if thoucanst, with the leastunfaithfulness; he hath been faithful toa title on his part, O be thou fouponthine; this day it isputtotheproof,remeniberwhat thou hast promised him.

Confider. 8. But if thy covenant with God will not quiet thee, yet methinks God'scovenantwiththeemight beprefumedto doit.

Is thy family, which was lately hopeful, and flourishing, a peaceful tabernacle, now broken up and scattered ? Thy pof terity, from which thou raifeditup to thyself great expect at i ons 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.

Doftthoufitalone,and mourntothinkwhitherto thy hopes and comforts are now come ?

Dostthoureadover those wordsofJob,chap.xxix. ver. 1,2; 3,4, 5. andcommentuponthemwith many tears ; "O that I "wereasinmonthspaft,asinthedaywhenGodpreservedme!

"when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his " light I walked through darkness ! as I was in the days of my

" youth,whenthefecretofGodwas uponmytabernacle,when " the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were

" about me."

Yet let the covenantGodhathmadewith thee, comfort thee in this thydesolatecondition.

You know what domestic troublesholyDavidmet with in a fad 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 forertrial than death in their infancy couldhavebeen: And yet feehowsweetly he relieves himself from the covenant of grace, in2Sam. xxiii. 5." Althoughmyhousebenot fowith

"God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, "ordered in all things,and sure; for this is all my salvation,

"andallmydefire,althoughhemake it not to grow."

I know this place principally refers to Christ, who was to spring out of David's family, according to God's covenant madewithhim in that behalf; and yet I doubt not but it hath

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another, though less principal aspect upon hisownfamily,o verall the afflictions and troubles whereof the covenant of God withhimdid abundantly comfort him.

Andasitcomfortedhim,although hishousedid not increase, and those that were left were not such as he desired; so it mayabundantlycomfortyou also,whatever troubles,or deaths, are upon your families,who have an interest in the covenant.

For, First, If you are God'scovenant people, the he may afflict, yethewillnever forget you, Psalm iii. 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 tur.

- nedtoaheap of corruption,andloathsomerottenness : Ohow doth your mind run upon it night and day ! your thoughts tire not upon that object : Why surely it is much more easy fot

-you to forget your dear child, whilst living,and most endearing,(much more when dead and undesirable)than it is for your God to forget you. Ifa. xlix. 15. " Can a woman forget

"her fucking child,that she should not have compaffionon "the son ofherwomb ? Yea,they may forget, yet will not I " forget thee."

Canawoman, the more affectionate sex,forgetherfucking child,her own child, and not a nursing child? Her own child, whilst ithangsonthe breast, and,together with the milk from the breast,draws love from its mother's heart; can such athing asthisbeinnature? possibly it may,for creature-love is fickle, and variable : But,Iwillnotforget thee; it is 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, ora covenantorderlydisposed; so that every thing shall work together for your good.

The covenant foorders 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 influences to make you happy.

Possibly you cannot feehowthepresent affliction should be for your good; you are ready to fay,with Jacob, Gen. xlii.

36." Joseph is not,andSimeon is not ;an dye willtakeBen- " jaminaway ; all these things are against me."

But could youoncefeehow fwestly,andorderlyallthese afflictions work

A Token for Mourner's. under the blessing and influence of the covenant, to your eternal good, youwouldnot only be quiet, but thankful for that whichnowfomuch afflicts and troubles you.

Thirdly, This covenant isnotonlywellorderedinallthings, butfure; the mercies contained in it are called, " the sure

" mercies of David," Ha. lv. 3. Now how sweet,how feafonablea fupportdoth this consideration give to God's afflicted under the rod! you lately made yourselves sure of that creaturecomfortwhich hath forsaken you.

It maybe, youfaid of your child, which is now gone, as Lamech said of his fonNoah, Gen. v. 29. " This same shall comfort us concerning our

"work, and toilofour hands."

Meaning, that his son should notonlycomfort them, by assisting them in the work of their hands, but also, in enjoying the fruitoftheirtoil and pains for him.

Probably such thoughts you have had, and raised up to yourfelves great expectations of comfort in your old age from it; but now you feeyoubuiltuponthe sand,and where were you now, if you had not a firinerbottom to build upon ? But blessed be God, the covenant-mercies are more sure, and solid!

God, Christ, and heaven, never start, or fade,asthesethingsdo.

The sweetest creature-enjoyments you ever had or have in this world, cannot say to you, as your God doth, " I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." You must part with your dear husbands,how well foeveryou love them; you must bid adieu to the wife of yourbosom,how nearly soever your affections be linked, and heart delighted in her.

Your children and you must be separated, though they are to you as your own soul.

But though these vanish away, blessedbeGodthere issomethingthatabides. "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 ofourGodshall

" stand for ever," Ifa. xl. 6, 7, 8.

There is so much of fupportcontained in this one consideration, that could but your faith fix here, to realize and apply it, I might laydownmypen at this period, and say, the work is done, there needs no more.

: Consideration 9. The hope of the resurrection should powerfully restrain all excesses of for row in those that do profess it.

Let them only mourn without measure, who mourn without hope.

The husbandman doth not mourn when he casts his feed-corn into the earth, because he sows in hope ; com mits it to the ground with an expectation to receive it again

A Token for Mourners.

with improvement. Why thus stands the case here, and just so the apostle states it, 1 Theff. iv. 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 ifwebelievethat Jesus died, and rose again, even

" so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bringwithhim."

2.d. Look not upon the dead as a loft generation ; think not that death hath annihilated, and utterly destroyed them :

Ono, they are not dead, but only asleep; and if they sleep, they shall awake again.

You do not use to make outcries and lamentations for your children, and friends, when you find themafleep upontheirbeds. Why, death is but a longer sleep, out of which they shall as surely awake, as evertheydid in the morning in this world.

I have often wondered at thatgoldensentence in Seneca *, "My thoughts of the dead(faith he)are not as others are ; I "have fair and pleasant apprehenfions of them ; for I enjoy- " edthem as one that reckoned I must part with them ; and I "partwiththem as one that makes account to have them."

He speaks, no doubt, of that enjoyment of them, which his pleasant contemplations of their virtuous actions could give him; for he was wholly unacquaintedwith the comfortable, and heart-supporting doctrine of the resurrection. Had he known the advantages which result thence, at what a rate may wethinkhewouldhave spoken of the dead, and of their state?

But this you profess to believe, and yet fink at a strange rate.

Ofuffer notGentilism to outvie Christianity ; let not 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 anyfolidground of hope that he died interested in Christ, and the covenant; thatthouwilt diftinctlyponderthese admirable supports which the doctrine of the resurrection affords.

First, That thefamebodywhich was so pleasant a spectacle to thee, shall be restored again; yea, the fame numerically, as well as the fame specifically ;; fo that it shall not onlybewhat it was, but the who it was. "These eyes small behold him,

" and not another," Job xix. 27.

The very famebodyyou 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-fame,and not another.

* Habui enim illos tanquam amiffurus, am is i tanquam habeam.

Seneca, Ep. 63. i

A Token for Mourners.

Secondly, And farther, this is supporting, that as you shall seethe fame person that was so dear to you; so you fhallknow them to be the fame that were once endeared to you on earth in so near a tie of relation.

Indeed you shall know them no more in any carnal relation, deathdiffolyed that bond: But you shallknowthem 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, this was my father, mother, husband, wife, or child; this was the person for whom Iwept, and made supplication,who was an instrument of good tome, or to whose salvation God then made me instrumental.

For we may allow, in that state, all that knowledge which is cumulativeandperfective, whatsoevermayenlargeandheightenour felicity and satisfaction, as this must needs be allowed to do.

Luther'sjudgment, in this point,* being asked by his friends at supper the evening before he died, replies thus,

What(faith he) befilAdam ? He never saw Eve, but was in a deep fleepwhen God formed her ; yet when he awaked, and saw her, he asked not what she was, nor whence the came?

But faith, she was flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone.

Now, how knew he that ?He being full of the holy Ghost, and enduedwiththeknowledge of God,spakethus: 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,amongotherthings,was that with which †Augustine comforted the lady Italica,afterthedeathofherdearhufband, telling her that she should know him in the world to come, among the glorified saints.

Yea, and a greater than eitherofthese, ImeanPaul, comforted himself,that the Theffalonians,whom he had converted to Christ, should be " his

" joy and crown of rejoicing, intheprefenceoftheLordJefus " Christ at his coming,"

I Theff. ii. 19, 20. which must needs implyhisdistinct knowledgeofthem 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 eyes discerning any lineaments, or propertyofindividuation, remaining upon the glorified bodies of our relations; or whether it shall be by immediate revelation, as Adam knew his wife,or as Peter,James, and John,knew Moses and Elias in the mount; as it is difficulttodetermine, so it is needless to puzzle ourselves about it.

*Melchior Adam, in the life of Luther.

†Aug. Ep. 6.

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It is the concurrent judgment of found divines, and it wants not countenance from scripture and reason, that such a knowledge of them shall be in heaven; and then the 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 desirable, sweet, and excellent, than ever they were in this world.

They had a defirableness in them here, but they were not altogether lovely, and, in every respect, desirable ; 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, or sinful ones upon perfected spirits of the just. O what lovely creatures will they appear to you then,when that which is now sown in dish on our, shall be raisedinhonour ! 1 Cor. xv. 43. And then, to crown all, Fourthly, You shall have an everlasting enjoyment of them in heaven, never to part again.

The children of the refurrectioncandie no more, Luke xx. 36. you shall kiss their pale lips, and cold cheeks, no more; you shall never fear another parting pull,but be together with the Lord for ever, I Theff. iv. 14. And this the apostle thought an effectual cordial in this case when he exhorted the Theffalonians to " comfort one

" another with these words."

Confid. 10. Thepresentfelicity into which allthatdieinChrift arepresentlyadmitted,should abundantly comfort Christians over the death offuch as either carried a lively hope out of the world with them, or have left good grounds offuch an hopebehindthem.

Such there are,that carried a livelyhopeto heavenwiththem, 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 tenor of their lives leave no groundofdoubting touching their death: Others dying in their infancy and 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 yourselves, and dedicated them to the Lord ; and they have not, by any actions of theirs, destroyed those grounds of your hope, but thatyoumaywith, much probability,conclude, they are with God.

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Why, if the case be so, what abundant reason have you to be quiet, and well satisfied with what God hath done? Can they bebetterthan where they are ? Had you better provisions and entertainment for them here,than their heavenly Father hath above?

There is no Christian parent in the world, but would rejoice to fee his child out-strip andgetbefore him in grace, that he maybemoreeminent in parts and service,thanever he was :

Andwhatreason can be given,why we should not as much re joice to fee 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, John xiv. 28. " Ifye loved me,yewould rejoice, be- " cause I gounto the Father."

2. d. Do you value your own fensiblecomfort,from my bodily prefencewithyou,before my glory and advancement in heaven ? Is this love to me ? Or is it not rather self-love ?

So would your departed friend say to you :

You have pro- • fefsed 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 ofa • fond and fleshly, than of a rational and spiritual love; if •you loved me with a pure spiritual love, ye would rejoice that I am gone to my Father.

It is infinitely better forme to be here, than with you on earth, under fin and sorrow.

•Weep not for me,but foryourselves .'

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, and married your child to himself.

Would you imagine higher preferment for the fruit of your bodies ?

AKingfromheaven 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, and laid them in his own; stript them out of those garments you provided, and cloathed them in white robes, washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Let not your hearts be troubled, rather rejoice exceedingly, that God made you instruments to replenish heaven, and bring forth an heir for the kingdomofGod.

A Token for Mourners.

Your child is now glorifyingGod, inanhigherwaythan you can, and what though you have lost its bodily presence for a time; yet, I hope, you do not reckon that to be your loss,

which turus to God's greater glory.

WhenJacob heard his Joseph was lord ofEgypt, he rather wished himself withJofeph, than his Joseph with him in wants and straits ; so should it be with you : You are yet rolling, 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 with you again.

Consideration 11. Confiderhow vainathing all your troubles, and self-vexation is ; it no way betters your case, noreafesyour burden.

As a bullock, by wresthng and sweating in the furrow, makes his yoke to be more heavy, and galls his neck,and spends his strength the sooner, and no ways helps himself by that :

Why thus stands the case with thee; if thou be as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, what Christ faith of caring,we may fay of grieving, (Matth. vi. 27.) " Which of you, by taking

" thought, can add one cubit to his stature?"

Caresmaybreak our sleep, yea, break our hearts, but they cannot add to our stature, either in a natural, or in a civil notion: So our for rowing may sooner break our hearts, than the yokeGod hath laid on you.

Alas! what is all this,but as the fluttering of a bird in the net, which, instead of freeing, doth but the more entangle itself.

It was therefore a wife resolutionofDavid, in this very case, when the will of God was signified in the death of his child, 2 Sam. xii. 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."

F Can I bring him back again ? No; I can no more alter the purpose, andworkofGod, than I can change the seasons of the year, or alter the course of the fun, moon, and stars, or disturbtheorderofthe 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 andwayofhis providences be changed.

Jobxxiii.

13. "He is of one mind,and who can turn him ? And what " his soul defireth, even that he doth."

Indeed, while his pleasure and purpose are unknown to us, there is room for faftingandprayer, to prevent the thing we fear: But when the L12

A Token for Mourners. purpose of God is manifested in the issue, and the stroke is given, then it is the vainest thing in the world to fret, andvex ourselves, as David's servants thought he would do, as soon as he should hear the child was dead : But he was wiser than fo, his tears and cries toGodbefore,had the nature and use of means to prevent the affliction ; but when it was come, and could not be prevented,thentheywereof no use, to no purpose in the world ; " Wherefore should I fast?" 2. d. To what end, use, or purpose,will it be now ?

Well, then, cast not away your strength and spirits, to no advantage ; reserve them for future exercises and trials:Time may come, that you may need all the strength you have, and much more, to support greater burdens than this.

Consideration 12. The Lord is able to restore all your loft comforts in relations, double to you, if you meeklysubmit to him, and patiently wait upon him under the rod.

WhenEfauhadlost his blessing, he said, " Haft thou but " one blessing, my Father?" Gen. xxvii. 38. But your Father hathmorebleffings for you thanone ; his name is the" Father

" of mercies," 2 Cor. xiii. 11. He can beget, and create, as many mercies for you as he pleaseth ; relations, and the comforts of them, are at his command.

It isbutafew 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, and commanded them for you; and, if he please, he can make the death of these but like ascythetothe meadow that ismowndown, or a razor to the head that is shaved bare; which,though itlayyou under the present trouble and reproach ofbarrenness, 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.

Ifa. xlii. 20. " The children which thou shalt " have, after thou hast loft the other, shall fay again in thine

" ears, the place is too strait for me : Give place to me that I " may dwell."

1 .

Thus may he deal with you, as to your natural children, and relations ; so that what the man of God said toAmaziah,

1 Chron. xxv. 9. maybe applied to the cafeinhand. "Ama- " ziah said to the man of God, but what shall we do for the hundred talents ? And the man of God answered, the Lord

" is able to give thee much more than this."

A Token for Mourners.

Ofay not,What shall I do for friends and relations ?Death hath robbed me of all comfort in them. Why, the Lord is able to give you much more. But then, as ever you expect to fee your future blessings multiplied, look to it, and be carefulthatyou neither dish on our God, nor grieve him, by your unfubmiflive, and impatient carriage, under the present rod.

God took away all Job'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 indearing each other by mutual expressions of affection.

This must be yielded to bean extraordinary trial, yet he meekly receives, and patiently bears it from the hand of the Lord.

You have heard of the patience of Job, (faith the apostle, James v. 11.) " and seen the end of the Lord."

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 which you have the account, Job xlii. 10. " TheLordgave

" Job twice as much as he had before."

The number of his children was not double to what he had, as all his other comforts were: But though the Lord only restored the fame num. ber to him again that he took away, yet it is likely the comfort he had in these latter children was double to what he had in the former.

There is nothing loft by waiting patiently, and submitting willingly to the Lord'sdispose.

It is as eafywith the Lord to revive, as it is to remove your comfortsinrelations.

There is a sweet expreffionto this purpose, in Psal. lxxxi. 28. " For thou, Lord, will lightmycandle,

" the LordmyGod will enlightenmydarkness."

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 darkness for the present.

It is adarkhour with us,when these comforts are put out; but David's faith did, and ours may comfort us with this, thathethatblewoutthe candle,can light up another : "Thou,

" Lord, shalt light my candle,the Lord my God shall enligh- " ten my darkness." That is, the Lord will renew my com . forts, alter the present sad estate I am in, and chase away that trouble and darkness which at present liesuponme: Only be

Token for Mourners. ware of offending him, atwhosebeck your lights and comforts come and go.

Michal displeased the Lord, and therefore had no child unto the day of her death, 2Sam. vi. 23.

Hannah waited humbly upon the Lordforthebleffingof children, and the Lord remembered her ; he enlightened her condition with that comfort,when she was as a lamp despised.

There is no comfort you have lostbutGodcan restore it, yea, double it in kind, if he sees it convenient for you.

And if not, then, Consideration 13. Confider, though he should deny you any more comforts of that kind, yet he 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. lvi.

4,5 "For thus faith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my " fabbaths; and chuse the things that please me, and take hold

" of my covenant; even to them will I give in my house, and " withinmywalls, a place, and a name better than of sons and " daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that " fhallnot be cut off."

Mens names are to be continued in their Englifb issue, in their male issue especially, and confe

See Annotationson quently to fail in such as wanted issue, Num. the place. xvii. 4. and a numerous issueisdeemed no small honour, Psal. cxxvii. 4, 5. God therefore promised hereto supply, and make good the want of issue, and whatsoever, eitherhonour here, or memorial hereafter, might from it have accrued to them, by bestowing upon them matter of far greater honour, and more durable ; a name better, or before the names offons or daughters.

It is 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.

2 Aclouddwells uponallothercomforts, this affliction hath so imbittered thy soul, that thou tastest no more in any other earthly comforts, than in the white of an egg. O that thou didftbut confider the confolations that are with God for such as answer his ends in affliction, 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 have been cut off from them, and that in so eminent a degree, that they have

A Token for Mourners.

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, intituled,

The fulfilling of the scripture.

Fulfilling of thefcripture, p. 491 .

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 parts ' 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 ' ofa life to come ; that for some months together he did seldom sleep, but was stilltakenupinwondering. His life was

' very remarkable for tenderness, and near converse with God ' in his walk ; and, which was worthy to be noted, one day, after a sharp trial, having his onlysonsuddenly taken away by death, he retired alone for several hours, and when he

' came forth did look fo chearfully, that to those who asked 'him the reason thereof, and wondered at the fame in such a ' time ; he told them, He had got that in his retirement with ' the Lord, that to have it afterwards renewed, he would be

' content to lose a son everyday.'

Owhat a sweet exchange had he made! Surely he had gold for brass, a pearl for a pebble, a treasure for a trifle ; for fo great, yea, and far greater is the disproportion betwixt the sweet light of God's countenance, and the faint, dim light of the best creature-enjoyment.

Would it please the Lord to make this fun arise and shine upon you, now when the stars that shined with a dim and bor.

- rowed light are gone down, you would fee such gain by the exchange, as would quickly make you cast in your votes with himwenowmentioned, and say, Lord, let everyday be such as this funeral day; let all my hours be as this, so that I may fee 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 cordials refervedon purpose for such fad hours ; these are sometimes given before some sharp trial, to prepare for it, and sometimes after, tosupportunder it.

I have often heard it from the mouth, and found it in the diaryofafweet Christian nowwithGod, that a little before the Lord removedherdearhusbandbydeath,there was such ana-

A Token for Mournets.. bundant outlet of the loveofGoduntoherfoul, forseveraldays and nights following, that when the Lord took away ayherhus bandbydeath, though he was 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: fo that she had almost loft the thoughts of her dear husband in God. And had not the

Lord taken this course with her, the concluded that blow had not been poffibleto be borne by her, she must have sunk without such apreparative.

A husband, a wife, a child, are great, very great things, as they standby other creatures; but furelythey willfeem little things, and next to nothing, when the Lord shall set himself by them beforethefoul.

Andhowknowyou,butGodhathbidden these earthly comforts stand aside this day, to make way for heavenly ones ? It may be,God is coming tocommunicatehimselfmore sweetly, moresensiblythan ever to your souls; and these are theprovidenceswhich mustcastup, and prepare the way of the Lord.

Possibly God's meaning in their death is but this ; child, stand aside, thou art in my way,and filleftmyplace in thy parent's heart.

Consideration 14. Becarefulyou exceed not in your grief for the loss of earthly things, considering that Satan takes the advantage of all extremes.

You cannot touch any extreme, but you will be touched by that enemy, whose greatest advantages lie in assaulting you here.

Satan is called, The ruler of the darkness of this world, Eph . vi. 12. (i e.) his kingdom is supported by darkness.

Now, there is a twofold darkness, which givesSatan 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 is a dark hour of trouble with us, then is his fittest season to tempt.

That cowardly spirit falls uponthepeopleofGod,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 stretched out upon Job's person, estate, and children, but that he promised himself a notable advantage therein, to poison his spirit with vile thoughts of God. " Do this (faith he) and "hewillcursethee to thy face."

A Token for Mourners.

What the Pfalmist observes of natural, is as true ofmetaphoricaldarkness, Psal. civ. 20. " Thou makest darkness, and " it is night, wherein all the beasts of the foreftdo creep forth,

L " the young lions roar after their prey."

When it is darknightwith men, it is noon-day with Satan ; i. e. our suffering time is his busiest working-time; manyadifmal suggestion he then plants, and grafts upon your affliction, which are much more dangerous to us than the affliction itself.

Sometimes he injects desponding thoughts into the afflicted foul; "Then said I, I am cut offfrombefore thine eyes," Psal. xxxi. 22. and Lam. iii. 18, 19. " My hope is perished from " the Lord, remembring my affliction, and my misery, the "wormwood and the gall."

Sometimes he suggests bardthoughts of God. Ruth i. 20.

" The Lord hath dealt very bitterly with me." Yea, that he hath dealt more severely with us, than any other, Lam. i. 12.

"Seeandbehold, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, "which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted

"me in thedayofhis fierce anger."

And sometimes murmuring and repining thoughts against the Lord; the soul is displeased at the hand of God upon it.

Jonahwas angry at the hand of God, and said, " Ido well to " be angry, even unto death," Jonah iv. 9. What dismal thoughts are these ? and how much more afflictive to a gracious foul, 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 loft labour, Psal. lxxiii. 13, 14. " Verily I have cleansed my heart

"in vain, and washed my hands in innocency ; 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 burden, and God will not imputethemtothe 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 fin : beware therefore, left by your excesses of sorrow ye give place to the devil ; we are not ignorant of his devices.

Consideration 15. Give no way to excessive sorrows upon the account of affliction, if ye have any regard tothehonour of God, and religion, which will hereby be exposed to reproach.

If you flight yourownhonour, do not flight the honourof VOL. VIL Mm

A Token for Mourners.

God, and religion too; takeheedhowyou carry it in a day of trouble; many eyes areuponyou. It is a true observation that alateworthy * author hathmadeupon this case :

What will the Atheist, and what will the profane scoffer say, when • they shall see this ? So fottish and malicious they are, that if ⚫they do but see you in affliction, they are straightway scorn- • fully demanding, Where is your God ?

•Butwhatwouldthey say, if they shouldhearyouyourselves • unbelievingly cry out, Where is our God ? Will they not • be ready to cry, this is the religiontheymake such boast of,

• which you see how little it does for them in adayofextremity : they talk of promises, rich and precious promises ; but ' where are they now ? Or to what purpose do they serve!

• They said they had a treasure in heaven; what ails them to mourn so, then, if their riches are there ?"

Obeware what you do before the world ; they have eyes to see what you can do, as well as ears to hear what you can fay : and as long as your carriage under trouble 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 were most upon the fame things that theirs were, finceyour 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 tohavehopesof a great estate shortlytofall to them; and they willneverbeperfuaded you have anyfuch ground of comfort, if they fee you as much cast down as they that pretend to no such matter.

By this means the precepts of Christ to constancy and con. tentment in all estates, will come to be looked upon (like those ofthestoics) only as magnifica verba, brave words ; but such as are impossible to be practised ; and the whole of the gospel will be taken for an airy notion, since they that profess greatest regard to it, are no morehelpedthereby.

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 censuresare) that it is not so much your care to differ from them in some opinions, and a little strictness, as in humility, meekness, contempt of the world, and heavenly-mindedness ; and now let these gracesdifplaythemselves by your chearful, patientdeportmentunderall your grievances .

* M. M. his appendix to Solomon'sprescription,p. 122.

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* Wherefore hath God planted those excellent graces in your souls ? but that he might be glorified, andyoubenefitedby the exercises of them in tribulation : shouldthesebe suppressed and hid, and nothingbutthepride, passion, andumortified 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 youwillnotbe so of your own peace and comfort.

Confid. 16. 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 sometimes, and all might have them at all times, were they more careful to improve them. Holy David thankfullyacknowledgeth, Psal. cxix. 71. " It is good for me

" that I have been afflicted."

And surely there is as much good in them for you, as for him; if the Lordsanctifythem to such ends, and uses, as his were sanctified unto.

Such a smarting rod as this,came not before there was need enough of it, and possibly you saw the need of some awakening providence yourselves ; 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 correct you.

You now fit pensive under the rod,sadly lamenting anddeploring the loss of some earthly comfort ; your heart is furchargedwith sorrow, your eyes rundown upon every menti- - on, and remembrance of your dear friend : why, if there were no more, this alone maydiscoverthe need you had of this rod ; for doth not all this sorrow at parting plainlyspeakhow much your heart was set upon,how fast your heart was glewed to this earthly comfort ?

Now you fee that your affections were funk many degrees deeper into the creature, than you are aware of : and what shouldGoddo in this cafeby you ? Should he suffer you to cleave to the creature, more and more ? Should he permit it topurloin, and exhaust your love and delight, and steal away your heart from himself? This he could not do, and love you.

The more impatient you are, under this affliction, the more need you had of it.

Andwhatifbythis stroke the Lordwillawaken your drowzy Mm2

A Token for Mourners. foul, andrecoveryou out of that pleasant,but dangerous spi ritual 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 fay, Sleep on: he is joined to idols,lethimalone; he is departing from me, the fountain, to a broken cistern ; let him go.

Yea, what if by this stroke upon oneofthepleasantestthings you had in this world, God will discover to you, more sensibly and effectuallythan ever,the vanity both of that and all 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 couldtalkbefore of the creatures va. nity, but I question whether ever you had to clear, and convin cing a fight of its vanity, as you have this day: and is not this aconfiderable 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 creatures is rectified, and your affections to all other enjoyments on earth moderated: and is this nothing ? O doubt less it is a greater mercy to you, than to have your friend alive again.

And what if by this rodyourwandering, 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 mercifulhandwhich 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.

Consideration 17. Suffer not yourselves to be transported by impatience, and swallowed up of grief, because God bath exercised you under a smart rod; for, as fmartingas it is, it is comparatively a gentle stroke to what others, as good as yourselves, have felt.

Your dear relation is dead ; be it fo, here is but a single death before you, but others have seenmanydeaths contrived intooneupontheir relations, to which yours is nothing.

Zedekiah saw his children murdered before his eyes, and thenhadthose eyes (alas ! too late) put out.

The fulfilling Theworthyauthor of that excellent book be

A Token for Mourners.

fore-mentioned, tells us ofa choice, and godly of the Scripgentlewoman in the north of Ireland, who, tures. when the rebellion broke out there, fled with three children, one of them upon the breast; they had not gone far beforetheywere stripped naked by the Irish, who, to their admiration, sparedtheirlives, (it is like,concluding that coldandhunger would kill them) afterwards going on at the foot of a river which runs to Locheach, others met them, and would have caftthem into the river; but this godly woman, not dismayed, asked a little liberty to pray, and as the laynakedon the frozen ground,got resolution nottogoonher own feet, to so unjust a death, upon which having called her, and the 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 fee 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 yourselves, and one day give an account of this cruelty, to theJudgeofheaven and earth. Hereupon they resolved not to murder them with their own hands, but turned them all naked upon a smallislandinthe river, without anyprovifion, thereto 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 dayalittle boat goes by, unto whom the calls for God's faketotake them in, but they being Irish,refused ; the desired a little bread, but they said they had none; then the 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 ; butwithoutanextraordinaryDivine support,what could this do?

Thus they livedtendays,without any visible meansofhelp, having no bread, but ice and snow, nor drink, except water.

The two boys being near starved, she pressed them to go out of her fight, not being able to fee their death ; yetGoddelivered them as miraculously at last, ashe had fupportedthem all that while.

But judge whether anaturaldeath, in an ordinary way be comparable to such a trial as this ; and yet thus the Lord did by this choice and eminently gracious woman.

AndMr. Wall, in his None-but-Christ, relates as fad a pas-

A Token for Mourners. sage 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 fell one of the children for bread to sustain themselves, and the reft; but when they came to confider which child it should be, their hearts so relented, and yerned upon every one, that they resolved rather all to die together.

Yea, we read in Lam. iv. 10. " The hands of the pitiful wo- " men have sodden their own children."

But why speak I of these extremities ? How many parents, yea,somegodlyones too,have lived to see their children dying inprophaneness, 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 is a gentle stroke, a merciful dispensation,if you compare it with what others have felt.

Consideration 18. If God be your God, you have really left nothing by the removal of any creature-comfort.

God is the fountain of all true comfort ; creatures, the very best and sweetest, are but cisterns to receive, and convey to us whatcomfortGod is pleased to communicate to them ; and if the cistern be broken, or the pipe cut off,so that no morecomførtcanbe conveyed to us that way, he hath other ways and mediums to do it by, which we think not of; and if he please hecanconveyhis comforts to his people without anyofthem:

And it 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 us 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 downyourselves, because the broken cistern is removed ? The best creatures are no better,Jer. ii. 13.

Cisterns have nothing but what they receive, and broken ones cannot hold what is put into them.

Why thendoyou mourn, as if your life were bound up in the creature ? You have as free an access to the fountain as you had before.

It is the advice of an Heathen, (and letthemtakethecomfort of it) to repair, by a new earthly comfort, what we have lost in the former.

A Token for Mourners.

"Thou hast carried forth him whom thou lovedst, (faith * " Seneca) seek one whom thou mayest love in his stead: It is better to repair, than to 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 month, one glimpse of his countenance, one seal of his Spirit, a more sweet and subs stantial comfort, than the sweetest relation in this world can afford you ? If the stream fail, repair to the fountain, there is enough still ; God is where he was, and what he was, though the creature be not.

Consideration 19. Though you may want a little comfort in your life, yet surely it may be recompensed to you by a more easy death.

The removal of your friends before you, may turn to your great advantage, when your hour iscomethatyou must follow them. O how have many good fouls been clogged, and ensnared, in their dying hour,by the loves, cares, and fears they have had about those they must leave behind them in a sinful, evil world!

Your love to them might have proved a snare to you, and caused you to hang back, as loath to go hence ; for these are the things that make men loath to die. And thus it might have been with you, except God had removed them beforehand, or should give you in that day such fights of heaven, and tastes of divine love, as should master, and mortify 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, and that there was nothing proved a greater clog to her soul, than this : It is much more easy to think of going to our friends, who are in heaven before us, thanofparting with them, and leaving our desirable and dear ones behind us.

And who knows what cares, and distracting thoughts you may then be pestered and distracted with, upon their account ?

Whatshallbecome of these, when I am gone ? I am now to leave them, God knows to what wants, miseries, temptations, and afflictions in the midst of a deceitful, defiling, dangerous world.

I know it is our duty to leave our fatherless children, and * Quem amabas extulifti, quære quem ames : Sat i us eftamicum repararequamfere.

Senec, Epift. p. 637 .

Token for Mourners. 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 partingfromthem.

* Luther could fay, • Lord, thou haftgivenme a wife and children, I have little to ◄leave them ; nourish, teach,and keep them ; O thou Father

* of the fatherless, and Judge of the widow.' But every Christian hath not a Luther's faith ; some find it a hard thing to disentangle their affections at such a time: But now, if God has sent all yours before you, you have so much the less to do; death maybe easier to you than others.

Consideration 20. But if nothing that hathbeenyetfaid will Stick with you, then, lastly, remember that you are near that state, and place, which admits no sorrows, norfad 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 partlyuponthe 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 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 fo too.

No graves were opened till fin entered, and no more shall be opened when fin is excluded.

Our glorified relations shall live with us for ever ; they shal complainnomore, die no more; yea, this is the happiness of that state to which you are passing on, that your souls being in thenearestconjunction with God,the fountainofjoy, you shall have no concernment out of him.

You shall not be put upon these exercises of patience, nor subjected to such sorrows as you now feel, any more.

It is but a little while, and the end of all these things will come. O 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 dissuasive from the finofimmoderate sorrow.

3. I now proceed to the third thing proposed, namely, to remove the pleas and excuses for this immoderate grief.

It is natural to men, yea, to good men, to justify their excesses, or at least to extenuate them, by pleading for their passions,

*MelchiorAdam, in the life of Luther.

A Token for Mourners.

as iftheywantednotcaute, and reason enough to excuse them.

If these be fully answered, and the soul once convinced, and left without apology for its fin, it is then inafairway for its cure, which is the last thing designed in this treatise.

My present business, therefore, is, to satisfy those objections, and answer those reasons which are commonly pleaded in this case, to justify our excessive grief for lost relations.

And thơ 1Chall carry it in that line of relation to which the text directs, yet it is equally applicable to all others.

Plea 1. You press me, bymanygreat considerations tomeekness, and quiet submission under this heavy stroke of God ; but you little know what stings my soul feels now in it.

This child was a child of many prayers, it was a Samuel begged of the Lord, and I concluded, when I had it, that it brought with it the returns, and answers of many prayers. But nowIfee it was nothing less; God had no regard to my prayer about it, nor was it given me inthatspecialwayof mercy, as I - imagined it to be : My child is not only dead, but my prayers

in the fame day shut out, and denied.

Answer 1. That you prayed for your children before you had them, was your duty ; and if you prayed not for them fubmissively, 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 fin : You ought not to limit the HolyOne of Israel, not prescribe to him, or capitulate with him, for what term you shall enjoy your outward comforts :

If you did so, it was your evil, and God hath justly rebuked it by this stroke.

If you did prayconditionally, and fubmiffively 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 andintentinyour prayer.

Answer 2 Your prayers may be answered, though the thing prayed for be with-held, yea, or though it should be given for a little while, and snatched away from you again.

There are four ways of God's answering prayers ; by giving the thing prayed for presently, Dan ix 23. or by suspending the answer / for a time, and giving it afterwards, Luke xviii. 7 or by withholding from you that mercy which you ask. and giving you amuchbetter mercy in the room of it, Deut. iii. 24. compared with Deut. xxxiv. 4, 5. Or, lastly, by giving you patience to bear the loss, or want of it, 2 Cor xii. 9.

Now, if the Lord have takenawayyour child, or friend, and

VOL. VII.

A Token for Mourners. in lieu thereof givenyoua meek, quiet, submissive heart to his will, you need not say he hath shut out your cry.

Plea 2. But I have lost a lovely, 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 sodefireable, so engaging as this was : Ah ! itisnocommon loss.

Answer 1. 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, 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 pa tience and contentment as much more beautiful than the sweetest, and most desire able 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 .

Answer 2. The loveliness and beauty of our children, and relations, though it must be acknowledged a good gift from the hand 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 ; Eliab, Adonijah, andAbsalom, had as lovelypresences as any in their generation.

Yea, it is 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 somehadbeen more beautiful and lovely, if their bodies had been less so.

Besides, it is but a flower which nourishes in its month, and then fades.

This therefore should not be reflected on as so great a circumstance to aggravate your trouble .

Answer 3. 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 the world.

What is the exactest, purest beauty of mortals, to the incomparable beauty of the faints in the resurrection ? "Then shall the righteous shine forth

" as the fun, in the kingdom of their Father," Matth xiii. 43.

'In this hope you part with them, therefore act suitably to your hopes.

Plea 3.Oh! but my child was nipped offbydeath in the verybud ; I did but fee, and love, and part: Had I enjoyed it

A Token for Mourners.

longer, and had time to fuck out the sweetness of such an enjoyment, I could have borne it easier ; but its months or years with me were so few, that they only served to raise an expectation which was quickly, and therefore the more sadly disappointed.

Answer 1. 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 Vide Mr. Baxter's Epistle to the Life of Mr. load to you ; for if you have ground to hope they died in Christ, then they lived

John Faneway. long enough in this world.

It is truly said, he hath failed 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 he hath lived long enough upon earth, thathathwon heaven, be his days here never so few.

Answer 2. The sooner your relation died, the less sin hath been committed, and the less sorrow felt :

What can you fee in this world but fin, or sorrow ? A quick passage through it to glory, is a special privilege.

Surely the world is not so defireable a place, that Christians should desire an hour's time longer in it for themselves, or theirs, than serves to fit them for a better.

Answer 3. And whereas you imagine thepartingwould have been easier, iftheenjoymenthadbeen longer, it is a fond, and groundless suspicion: The longer you had enjoyed them, the stronger would the endearments have been. A young, and tender plant, maybe easily drawn up by a single hand; but when it hath spread, and fixed its root 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 strengthenedbynothing more than confuetude, and long possession; it is much easier parting now, than it would be hereafter, whatever you think.

However, this should satisfy you, that God's time is the best time.

Plea 4. O but I have lost all in one, it ismyonlyone, 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 insupportable.

Answer 1. Religion allows not unto Christians a liberty of expressing the death of their dear relations by so hard a word as Nn2

A Token for Mourners. the loss of them is; they are not loft, but sent before you

And it is a shameful thing for a Christian to be reproved for such an uncomely expression by a heathen ; it is enough to make us blush to read what an heathen said in this case †,

' Never • say thou hast lost any thing (faith Epictetus) but that it isre *turned Is thy son dead ? He is only restored. Is thy inheritance taken from thee ? It is also returned '

Let every ⚫thing be as the gods would have it.'

Answer 2. 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 loft.

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, and more precious and durable nature?

If you have no more of that fort, yet so long as you have better, what cause have you to rejoice !

Answer 3. You too much imitate the way of the world in this complaint ; they know not how to repair the loss of one comfort, but by another of the same nature, which must be putin 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 thiswouldbetter become a man whose portion is in this life, than one that pro fessesGod is his all in all.

Plea 5. Obutmy only one is not only taken away, but there remains no expectation, or probability of any more : I must now look upon myself as a dry tree, never to take comfort in children any more, which is a cutting thought.

Answer : 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 Ifa. Ivi. 4, 5. the Lord comforts themthathaveno expectations of sons or daughters, with this ; " That he will

" give unto them in his house, and within his walls, a place, "andanamebetter than of sons and daughters; evenanever- " lasting 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 cutoff, yet if your eter pal hopes are secure, and such as shall not make you ashamed, you should not be so cast down.

*Nonamittunturfedpraemittuntur. †Epift.Enchirid. cap. 15.

A Token for Mourners.

Answer2. If God will not have your comforts to lie any more in children then resolve to place them in himself, and you thall 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.

Plea6. But the suddenness of the stroke is amazing, God gave little or no warning to prepare for this trial : Death executed its commiffionas soon as it opened it. Mydearhusband, wife, or child, was snatched unexpectedly out of my arms, by a furprizing stroke; and this makes my stroke heavierthanmy complaint.

Answer 1. That the death of your relation was so sudden andsurprizing, was much your own fault, who ought to have lived in the daily sense of its 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 you knew before to be dying: Besides, you heard the changes ringing about you in other families ; you frequently saw other parents, husbands, and wives, carrying forth their dead; and what were 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.

Answer 2. There is muchdifferencebetwixtthe sudden death of infants, and that of grown persons ; the latter may have much work to do; many fins actually to repent of, and many evidences of their interest in Christ to examine and clear, in order to their more comfortable death; and sosuddendeath may

ン be deprecatedby them.

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 deathbemore quick, or more flow.

Answer 3 You complain of the suddenness of the stroke: but another will be ready to say, had my friend died in that manner, my affliction hadbeennothing to what now it is ;

I haveseenmany deaths contrived into one; I saw the gradual approaches of it upon my dear relation, who felt every thread of death as it came on toward him,whooftencriedwithJob, chap.

A Token for Mourners. iii . ver. 21, 22. " Wherefore is light giventohim 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 hid 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 yourselves, have been forced to their knees, upon no other errand but this, to beg the Lord to hasten the separation, and put an end to that sorrow, which to them was much greater than the sorrow for the dead.

Plea 7. You press me to moderation of sorrows, and I know I ought to shew it; but you do not know how the case stands with me, there is a sting in this affliction, that none feels but myself; 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 fee 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.

Omy negligence, O my rashness, and inconfiderateness ! how doth myconfcience now smite me for my folly ! and by this aggravatemyburden beyond what is usually felt by others. Had

I seasonably applied myself to 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 liv ing husband, wife, or child : whereas I am now not only be reaved, but am apt to think I have bereaved myself of them.

Surely there is no sorrow like unto my sorrow.

Answer 1. Though it be an evil to neglect, and flight the means ordained by God for recovery of health, yet it is noless 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 have that his affiftanceor 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 fee what the will of God is by the issue, and may not be pleaded by any whilst it remains dubiousanduncertain, as it generally doth in time of sickness.

Answer 2. Do you not unjustly charge, and blame yourselves for that which is not really your fault, or neglect ! How far you are chargeable in this case, will best appear by comparing

A Token for Mourners.

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 safer for your friend to be without those means, than to be hazarded by them.

Or, if divers methods and courses were prescribed, and persuaded 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 soappeartoyour understanding at that time, but you followed the best light you had to guide you at that time, it were most unjust to charge the fault upon yourselves, for chusing that course that then seemed best to you, whether it were so in itself, or not.

To be angry with yourselves for doing, oromitting what was then done, or ommitted, according to your best discretion, and judgment, because you now fee it by the light of the event, far otherwise than you did before ; it is to be troubled that you are but men, or that you are not as God,who only can for see issues, and events ; and that you acted as all rational creatures are bound to do, according to the light they have, at the time and season of action .

Answer 3. To conclude, Times of great affliction are ordinarily times of great temptation, and it is usual with Satan then to charge us with more fins than we are guilty of, and also make those things to be sins, which, upon impartial examination, will not be found to be fo.

Indeed, had your neglect or miscarriage beenknownorvoluntary, or had you really preferred a little money (being able to give it) before the life of your relation, anddiddeliberately chuse to hazard this, rather than part with that ; no doubt, then, but there had been much evil of fin mixed with your affliction ; and your confciencemayjustlysmiteyou for it, as your fin; but in the other case, which is more common, and I presume yours; it is a false charge, and you ought not to a bet the design of Satan in it.

Judge by the forrowyou now feel by your friend, in what degree he was dear to you, and what you could now willingly give to ransom his life if it could be done with money. Judge,

I fay, by this. how groundless the charge is that Satan now draws up against you, and you are but too ready to yield to the truth of it.

Plea 8. But my troubles are uponahigherscore, and account;

A Token for Mourners. my child or friend is passed into eternity, and 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 is terrible to think of the damnation of one to dear tome.

Answer 1. Admit what the objection supposes, that you have real grounds to fear the eternal condition of your dear relation; yet it is utterly unbeseeming you, even in such a case as this, to dispute with, orrepineagainst the Lord Ido confess it isafore andheavytrial, and that there is no cause more sad, and sinking to the spirit of a gracious person: their death is but a trifle to this; but yet if you be fuchas feat the Lord, methinks his indisputable sovereignty over them, and his distinguishing love and mercy to you, should at least silence you in this matter.

First, His indisputable sovereignty over them, Rom. ix. 20.

" Who art thou,Oman, who disputest with God ?" He speaks in the mattersofeternalelection, andreprobation. 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 ?

Aaron's two fonswere cut off in the act of fin, by the Lord's immediate hand, and yet he held his peace, Lev. x. 3. God told A bra ham plainly, that the covenant should not be established with Ishmael, for whom he so earnestly prayed, O let Ishmael live before thee! and he knew that there was no salvation out of the covenant, and yet he sits down filentunder the word of the

Lord.

Secondly, But if this do not quiet you, yet methinks his distinguishing love and mercy to you should do it. Owhatdo you owe to God, that root and branch hath not been cast toge ther into the fire ! that the Lord had given you good hope, through grace that it shall be wellwithyou for ever.

Let this stop your mouth, and quiet your spirit, though you would have grounds for this fear.

Answer 2. But pray examine the grounds of your fear, whe ther it may not proceed from the strength of your affections to the eternal welfare of your friend, or from the fubtilty of Sat an, designing hereby to overwhelm and swallow you up in supposed, as well as from just grounds and causes ? In two cases it is very probable your fearmayproceedonly from your own affection, or Sat an's temptation.

First, If your relationdiedyoung, before itdidanything to destroy your hopes .

Or, Secondly, If grown, and in fomegooddegreehopeful; only

A Token for Mourners.

hedidnotinlife, or at death, manifest, and give evidence of grace, with that clearness as you desired.

As to the care of infants in general, it is none of our concern to judge their condition ; and 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 fin and duty, albeit they never manifested what you coulddefire they had; yet in them, as in youngAbijah, " may be foundfome good things towards

** the Lord," which you never took notice of.

Reverence of your authority, bashfulness, and thame-facedness, reservedness of disposition, and many other things, may hide those small and weak beginnings of grace that are in children, fromtheobfervations of the parents God might fee that in them that you never saw; he despiseth not the day of small things .

د However it be, it is now out of your reach ; your concernmentrather is to improve the affliction to your own good, than judge and determine their condition, which belongs not to you but to God.

Plea 9. O but I have finned in this relation, and God hathpunishedmy fin in dissolving it. O, faith one, my heart was let too much upon it, I even idolized it, that was my fin : and, faith another, I wanted due affections, and did not love my relation, at least not so spiritually as I ought; that was my fin. Now God is visiting me for all the neglects and defects that hath been in me towards iny relation.

Answer 1. There is noman so thoroughly 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 muchdiscoveredinthis, asanyotherthing whatsoever; and it is 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 very common, with persons in your case.

Answer 2. Admit that which the objection supposes, that God had afflicted you for your fin, and removed that comfort from you, which you idolized, and too much doted on; vet there is no reason you should be fo cast down under your affiction: For all this may be, and probably is the fruit of his love to, and care of your soul, Rev. iii. 19. He tells the afflicted, for their comfort, "Whom I love, I rebuke and chaften." How

VOL. VII.

A Token for Mourners. much better is it to have an idolized enjoyment taken from you, in mercy, than if God should fayconcerning you, as he did of Ephraim, Hofea iv. 17. " He is joined to idols, let him alone."

O it is better for you that your Father now reckons with you for your follies with the rod in his hand, than to say ashe doth to some, let them goon, I will not hinder them in, or rebuke them for their sinful courses ; but will reckon with them for all together in hell at last .

Answer 3. And as to what you now charge upon yourself, 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 and pure, to love and enjoy them in God; that was undoubtedly your fin, and is the fin ofmostChristians, for which both you, and all others, ought to be humbled.

Plea 10. God hath blessed me with an estate, and outward comforts in the world, which I reckoned to have left to my po sterity; 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 an hour. How are the pains and cares of many years perished.

Answer 1. 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 and estates too ?

If he have left you those outward comforts, you ought to acknowledge his goodness therein, and not to flight these because he hath de prived you of the other.

Answer 2. Though your children are 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 toa more considerable account, than if you had left a large estate to your own posterity.

Surely we are not sent into this world to heap up great estates for our children : and if you have beentooeager 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 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 .

Plea 11. O but the remembrance of its wittywords, and pretty actions, is wounding.

Answer 1. Let it rather lift up your hearts to God in praise,

A Token for Mourners.

that gave you so desirable 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 thew betimes fo perverse a temper, that little comfort can be expected from them.

Answer 2. These are but small circumstances, and trivial things in themselves ; but by these little things Satan manages a great design against your soul, 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 ends in the affliction, to mortify the corruption it is senttorebuke, to quiet your hearts inthewillofGod; this is your work.

Plea 12. Lastly, It is objected, ObutGod hides his face from me in my affliction ; it is dark within, as well as without, and this makes mycafe more deplorable, greatly afflicted, and EX sadlydeferted.

T Answer 1. 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 the everlasting arms are underneath you ; the care of God worketh for you, when the confolations of God are withdrawn from you.

Answer 2. TohaveGodhidehisfaceinthe time of trouble, is no new or 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 sweet,

* sensible influences of comfort from God, which had always filled his foul formerly.

If Christ cry in extremity, " My God, " my God, why hast thou forsaken me !"

Then sure we need not wonder, as if some strange thing had happened to us.

Answer 3. May not your submissive carriage under the rod provoke God to hide his face from you.

Pray consider it well, nothing is more probable than for this 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, 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, ina turbulent and tumultuous breast.

A Token for Mourners.

And thus I have satisfied the most considerable plea surged, 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 our dear relations .

And although much hath been said already to dissuade from this evil, and I have enlarged already much beyond my first in tent i on ; yet I shall cast in some farther heip and assistance towards the healing of this distemper, by prescribing the following rules :

Rule 1. If you would not mourn excessively for the loss of creature-comforts, then beware that you let not your delight and love excessively, or inordinately, upon them, whilst you do enjoy them.

Strong affections make strong afflictions ; the higher the tide, the lower theebb.

According to the measure of our delight in the enjoyment, is our grief in the loss of these things. The apostleknits these two graces, temperance and patience, toge ther, in the precept, 2 Pet. i. 16. and it is veryobfervable how intemperance and impatience are inseparably linked in experi ence, yea, the experience of the best men

You read, Gen. xxxvii. 3. " Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, " because he was the son of his old age; and made him a coat

" of many colours ."

This was the darling; Jacob's heart was so exceedingly set upon him, his very life was bound up in the life of the lad.

Now when the supposed death of his child was brought to him, how did he carry it ? See ver. 34, 35. " And Jacob rent his

" clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins ; and mourned for " his son many days : And all his sons, and all his daughters,

"rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And " he said, for I will go down into the grave to myfon mourn

*" ing. Thus his father wept for him."

Here, as in a glass, are the effects of excessive love toa child represented : Here you may fee 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.

Rule 2. 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,

A Token for Mourners.

whilfttheywerewithyou, will prove an excellentallay to your sorrows for them when they are no longer yours.

It is not fo much the single affliction, as the guilt charged upon us in times of affliction, that makes our load to heavy.

Owhata terrible thing is it to look uponourdead friends, whilst conscience isaccusingandupbraidingus for our duties neglected, and such or such fins committed ? O you little think how dreadful a 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.

Rule 3. 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 and distressful times It is some relief, when in distress, wecanpour out our trouble into the bosom of a wife, or faithful friend; how much more when we leave our complaint before the gracious, wife, and faithful God ?

I told you before of that holy man, who having loft bis 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 comfort as his soul hadfoundinthat private hour.

Gothy way, Christian, tothyGod, get thee tothyknees in the cloudy and dark day ; retire from all creatures, that thou mayest have thy fall liberty with thy God, and there pour out thy heart before him, in free, full, and broken-hearted confessions of fin: Judge thyself worthy of hell, as well as of this trouble: justify God in all his finartest strokes ; beg him, in this distress , to put under thee everlasting arms; intreat one

-i smile, one gracious look, to enlighten thy darkness, and chear thy drooping spirit.

Say, with the prophet, Jer. xvii. 17.

" Be thou not a terror to me, thou art my hope in the day of " evil."

And try what relief such a courte will afford thee.

Surely, if thy heart be sincere in this course, thou shalt be able to say with that holy man, Piaim xciv. 29. " In the multitude

A Token for Mourners.

" of my thoughts which I had within me, thy comforts have "delighted my soul."

Rule 4. 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," Psal. xxxix. 9.

Confider 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 xxxiii. 13.

Secondly, As a father's hand correcting thee in love and faithfulness.

Prov. iii. 11. " Whom the Lord loveth he cor- " recteth, 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 draws your heart nearer to God, and mortifies 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 thyself by thy own folly ?

Yea, the Lord is just in all that iscomeupon thee; whatever he hath done, yet he hath done thee no wrong.

Fourthly, Lastly, As a moderate and merciful hand that hath punished thee less than thine iniquities deserve: He that hath cast thee into affliction, might justly have cast thee into hell. It is of the Lord's mercy that thouartnotconfumed. Why doth the livingman complain ?

J Rule 5. If you would bear your affliction with moderation, compare it with the afflictions of other men, and that will great. lyquiet your spirits.

You have no cause to say God hath dealt bitterly with you, and that there is no sorrow like your sorrow : Look round about you, and impartially confiderthe condition that others are in; and they nothing inferior to you in any respect. You had one dead child, Aarenhadtwo ata stroke,Job all a tone stroke ; and both these by an immediate stroke from the hand of God. Some godly parents have lived to fee their children die in their finby the hand of justice; others have seen them live to the dish on our of God, and breaking of their own spirits, and would have esteemed it a mercy if they had died from the womb, and

A Token for Mourners.

given up the ghofst when they came out of the belly, as Job speaks, In what misery have some parents seen their children die !

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 weltering from day today. 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.

Rule 6. Carefully shun, andavoidwhatsoevermay renewyour sorrow, arprovoke you to impatience.

Increase not your for row by the sight of, or difcourses 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 prove a daily oс- ✔casion of renewing his trouble for the loss of his dear wife ; but he called his name Benjamin.

Your impatience 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 fuchdangerous 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.

Rule7. In the day of your mourning for the death of your friends,seriously confider your own death as approaching, and that you, andyourdeadfriendare distinguisbed by a small intervalandpoint of time.

2 Sam. xi . 13. Ishallgo 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, and then the loss of those comforts which we promised ourselves so much of the sweetness and comforts of our lives from, seems an intolerable thing.

But would you realize your own deaths more, you would Could not be sodeeplyconcerned for their deaths as you are. you but look into your own graves more seriously, you would be able to look into your friend's grave more composedly.

Preparations for Sufferings.

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 may abide there, and reduce your disordered affections to that frame which best suits the will of God, and the profeffionyou make ofsubjectionand resignation thereunto.

PREPARATIONS

FOR

SUFFERINGS

OR, The best WORK in the worst TIMES .

Wherein the Necessity, Excellency, and Means of our read i ness for Sufferings are evinced and prescribed ; our Call to Suffering cleared, and the great unreadiness of manyProfeffors bewailed.

THE EPISTLE TO

THE READER.

Twas the observation of the learnedGerfon(whentheworld I was not fo old, by many years, as now it is) that mundus

Jenescens patitur phantafias : The aged world, like aged per sous, dotes, and grows whimsical, in its old age; the truth of which observation isconfirmedbynoone thing more, than the fond and groundless dreams, andphantasms of tranquillity, and continuing prosperity, wherewith the multitude please them. selves, evenwhilit the sins of the times are so great, and the signs of the times so sad andlowringas they are.

It is not the design of this Manual to scare, and affrightany man, with imaginary dangers, much less to sow jealoufies, and foment thediscontents of the times; it being a just matter of lamentation, that all the tokens of God's anger produce with many of us no better fruit but bold censures, and loud cla mours, instead of humiliation for our own fins, and due pre

The Epiffle to the Reader.

parationtotakeupourown cross, and follow Christ in a suffering path, which is the only mark and aim of this tract.

We read the histories of the primitive sufferers,but not with a spirit prepared to follow them. Some censure them as too prodigal of their blood, and others commend their courage, and constancy ; but where are they that sincerely resolve, and prepare to be followers of them, who through faith and pa. tience inherit the promises ? Heb. vi. 12. or take them for an - " example of suffering, affliction, and of patience," Jam. v.

10.

It is as much our interest, as it is our duty, to be seasonably awakened out of our pleasant, but most pernicious drowziness.

Troubles will be so much the more sinking, and intolerable, by how much they steal upon us by way of surprizal.

For look, as expectation deflowers any temporal comfort, by fucking -out much of the sweetness thereof before-hand, and so we find the less in it when we come to the actual enjoyment : So the expectation of evils abates much of the dread and terror, by accustoming our thoughts before-hand to them, and making preparation for them: So that we find them not so grievous, amazing, and intolerable, when they are come indeed.

This was exemplified to us very lively by holy Mr. Bradford the martyr, when the keeper's wife came running into his chamber, saying, 'O, Mr Bradford, I bring you heavy tidings,

' for to-morrow you must be burned, your chain isnowbuying, *and presently you mustgo toNewgate.' He put off his hat, and looking up to heaven, said, O Lord, I thank thee for it; I have looked for this a long time: It comes not suddenly to me, the Lord make me worthy of it.

See in this example the singular advantage of a prepared and ready foul.

Reader, The cup of sufferings is a very bitter cup, and it is but needful that we provide somewhat to sweeten it, that we maybe able to receive it with thanksgiving ; and what those fweetening ingredients are, and how to prepare them, you will have some direction and help in the following discourse; which hath once already been presented to the public view; and that it may at this time also(wherein nothingcanbemoreseasonable) become farther useful, and assisting, to the people of God in their present duties, is the hearty desire of Thine, and the church's servant in Christ,

JOHN FLAVEL

VOL. VII.

Preparations for Sufferings : Or, Acts xxi . 13 .

Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep, and to break my heart ?

For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jejus.

CHAP.

Wherein the text is opened, and the doctrinepropounded.

THE Divine providence is not more signally discovered in governing the motions of the clouds, than it is in dil poing and ordering the spirits and motions of the ministers of the gospel, who, in a mystical sense, are fruitful clouds, todif penfe the showers of gospel-blessings to the world.

The mo tion of the clouds is not spontaneous, but they move as they are moved by the winds; neither can gospel-ministers chufe their own stations, and govern their own motions, but mustgo when and where the Spirit and providence of God directs and guides them ; as will evidently appear in that dangerous voyage to Jerusalem in which the apostle was at this time engaged.

Acts xx. 22. " And now, behold, Igobound in the Spirit to " Jerusalem," [bound in the Spirit :) Alluding tothewateryva pours which are bound up in clouds, and conveyed according to the motions of the winds. This journey was full of danger;

Paul foresaw his business was not only to plant the gospel al Jerusalem with his doctrine, but to water it also with his blood; but so effectually was his will determined by the will of God, that he chearfully complies with his duty therein, whatsoever difficulties and dangers did attend it.

And indeed it was his great advantage, that the will of God was so plainly, and convincingly revealed to him touching this matter ; for no sooner did he employ himself to obey this call of God, but he is presently assaulted by many strong temptations to decline it .

The first rub he met in his way, was from the disciples of Tyre, who pretending to speak by the Spirit, said unto Paul, that he should not go up toJerufalem, Acts xxi. 4.

The Lord by this trying the spirit of his apostle much, as he did the youngprophetcoming fromJudea to Bethel, 1 Kings xiii. 18. but not with like success.

His next discouragement was at Caesarea, where Agabus (whom Dorotheus affirms to be of the seventy-two disciples, and had before prophefiedof the famine in the reign of Claudius,

The best Work in the worst Times.

which accordingly came to pass) takes Paul's girdle, and binding his own hands and feet with it, said, " Thus faith the Holy

" Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that own- " eth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the " Gentiles," Acts xxi. 11.

And surely he was not ignorant what he must expect whenever he should fall into their hands ; yet neither could this affright him from his duty.

But then, last of all, he meeteth with the forest trial from his dearest friends, who fell upon him with passionate in treaties, and many tears, beseeching him to decline that journey : O they could not give up such a minister as Paul was ! this even melted him down, and almost broke his heart, which yet was easier to do, than to turn him out of the path of obedience :

Where, by the way, we may note two things :

First, That divine precept, not providence, is to rule out our way of duty.

Secondly, That no hindrances, or discouragements, whatsoever, will justify our neglect of a known duty.

All these rubs he passes over ; all these discouragements he overcame, with this heroic and truly Christian resolution in the text; " What meanye to weep, and to break my heart ?

For " I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem, " for the name of the Lord Jesus."

In which words we have, 1. A loving and gentle rebuke.

2. Aquieting and calming argument.

First, He lovingly and gently rebukes their fond and inordinate sorrow for his departure, in these words, What mean ye to weep, and to break my heart ?

As if he should say, What mean these passionate in treaties, and tempting tears ?

To what purpose is all this a-do ? They are but fomany snares of Satan, to turn my heart out of the way of obedience : You do as much as in you lies to break my heart; let there be no more of this, I beseech you.

Secondly, He labours to charm their unruly passions with a veryquieting and calming argument ; For I am ready, &c. ετοίμως εχω, parate habeo.

I am prepared, and fitted for the greatest sufferings which shall befal me in the pursuit of my duty; be it a prison, or be it death, I am provided for either :

Liberty is dear, and life much dearer, but Christ is dearer than either.

But what was there in all this, to satisfy them whose trouble it was to fee him so forward ?

Let the words be considered, Pp2

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