2. TheRemoval of our Children by such awful Strokes may warn us of the Approach of our own Death.
HerebyGoddoth very sensibly shew us, and those around us, thatall Flesh is as Grass, and all the Gloryand Lovelinessof it like the Flower of the Fieldg. And when our own Habitations are made the Houses of Mourning, and ourselves the Leaders in that sad Procession, it may surely be expected that we should lay it to Heart, so as to be quicken’d and improved by the View. “Have my Children died in the Morning of their Days, and can I promise myself that I shall see the Evening of mine? Now perhaps may I say, in a more literal Sense than ever,The Graves are ready for meh. One of my Family, and some of us may add, the First-born of it, is gone as it were to take Possession of the Sepulchre in all our Names; and ere long I shall lie down with my Child in the same Bed; yea perhaps many of the Feet that followed it shall attend me thither. Our Dust shortly shall be blended together; and who can tell but this Providence might chiefly be intended as a Warning Blow to me, that these concluding Days of my Life might be more regular, more spiritual, more useful than the former?”
3. TheProvidence before us may be farther improved to quicken us in the Duties of Life, and especially in the Education of surviving Children.
Itis, on the Principles I hinted above, an Engagement, thatwhatever our Hand findeth to do, we should do it with all our Might, since it so plainly shews us that we aregoing to the Grave, where there is no Device, nor Knowledge, nor Workingj: But permit me especially to observe, how peculiarly the Sentiments we feel on these sad Occasions, may be improved for the Advantage of our dear Offspring who yet remain, and quicken us to a proper Care in their religious Education.
We all see that it is a very reasonable Duty, and every Christian Parent resolves that he willere longapply himself to it; but I am afraid, great Advantages are lost by a Delay, which we think we can easily excuse. Our Hands are full of a Variety of Affairs, and our Children are yet very young: We are therefore ready to imagine ’tis a good Husbandry of Time to defer our Attempts for their Instruction to a moreconvenient Seasonk, when they may be able to learn more in an Hour, than the Labour of Days could now teach them; besides that we are apprehensive of Danger in over-loading their tender Spirits, especially when they are perhaps under Indisposition, and need to be diverted, rather than gravely advised and instructed.
ButI beseech you, my Friends, let us view the Matter with that Impartiality, which the Eloquence of Death hath a Tendency to produce. “That lovely Creature that Godhath now taken away, tho’ its Days were few, tho’ its Faculties were weak, yet might it not have known a great deal more of Religion than it did, and felt a great deal more of it too, had I faithfully and prudently done my Part? How did it learn Language so soon, and in such a Compass and Readiness? Not by multiplied Rules, nor labour’d Instruction, but by Conversation. And might it not have learn’d much more of Divine Things by Conversation too, if they had been allowed a due Share in our Thoughts and our Discourses; according to the Charge given to theIsraelites, totalk of them going out and coming in, lying down and rising upl? How soon did it learn Trifles, and retain them, and after its little way observe and reason upon them, perhaps with a Vivacity that sometimes surprized me! And had I been as diligent as I ought, who can tell what Progress it might have made in Divine Knowledge? Who can tell but, as a Reward to these pious Cares, Godmight have put a Word into its dying Lips, which I might all my Life have recollected with Pleasure, andout of itsfeebleMouth might have perfected Praisem?”
MyFriends, let us humble ourselves deeply before Godunder a Sense of our past Neglects, and let us learn our future Duty. We may perhaps be ready fondly to say, “Oh that it were possible my Child could be restored to me again, tho’ it were but for a few Weeks or Days! how diligently would I attempt to supply my former Deficiencies!” Unprofitable Wish! Yet may the Thought be improved for the good of surviving Children. How shall we express our Affection to them? Not surely by indulging all the Demands of Appetite and Fancy, in many early Instances so hazardous, and so fatal; not by a Solicitude to treasure up Wealth for them, whose only Portion may perhaps be a little Coffin and Shrowd. No; our truest Kindness to them will be to endeavour, by Divine Grace, to form them to an early Inquiry after God, and Christ, and Heaven, and a Love for real Goodness in all the Forms of it which may come within their Observation and Notice. Let us apply ourselves immediately to this Talk, as those that remember there is a double Uncertainty, in their Lives, and in ours. In a Word, let us bethatwith regard to every Child that yet remains, which we proposed and engaged to be to that which is taken away, when we pleaded with Godfor the Continuance of its Life, at least for a little while, that it might be farther assisted in the Preparations for Death and Eternity. If such Resolutions be formed and pursued, the Death of one may be the Means of spiritual Life to many; and we shall surely have Reason to sayit is well, if it teach us so useful a Lesson.
4. TheProvidence before us may have a special Tendency to improve our Resignation to the Divine Will; and if it does so, it will indeed bewell.
Thereis surely no imaginable Situation of Mind so sweet and so reasonable, as that which we feel, when we humbly refer ourselves in all Things to the Divine Disposal, in an intire Suspension of our own Will, seeing and owning the Hand of God, and bowing before it with a filial Acquiescence. This is chiefly to be learn’d from suffering; and perhaps there is no Suffering which is fitter to teach it, than this. In many other Afflictions there is such a Mixture of human Interposition, that we are ready to imagine, we may be allowed to complain, and to chide a little. Indignation mingles itself with our Grief; and when it does so, it warms the Mind, tho’ with a feverish Kind of Heat, and in an unnatural Flow of Spirits, leads the Heart into a Forgetfulness of God. But here it is so apparently his Hand, that we must refer it to him, and it will appear bold Impiety to quarrel at what is done. In other Instances we can at least flatter ourselves with Hope, that the Calamity may be diverted, or the Enjoyment recovered; but here alas! there is no Hope. “Tears will not,” as*SirWilliam Templefinely expresses it, “water the lovely Plant so as to cause it to grow again; Sighs will not give it new Breath, nor can we furnish it with Life and Spirits by the Waste of our own.” The Sentence is finally gone forth, and the last fatal Stroke irrecoverably given. Opposition is vain; a forced Submission gives but little Rest to the Mind; a cordial Acquiescence in the Divine Will is the only thing in the whole World that can ease the labouring Heart, and restore true Serenity. Remaining Corruption will work on such an Occasion, and a painful Struggle will convince the Christian how imperfect his present Attainments are: And this will probably lead him to an attentive Review of the great Reasons for Submission; it will lead him to urge them on his own Soul, and to plead them with Godin Prayer; till at length the Storm is laid, andTribulation worketh Patience, and Patience Experience, and Experience a Hope which maketh not ashamed,whilethe Love of God is so shed abroad in the Heartn, as to humble it for every preceding Opposition, and to bring it even to a real Approbation of all that so wise and good a Friend hath done; resigning every other Interest and Enjoyment to his Disposal, and fitting do with the sweet Resolution of the Prophet,Tho’ the Fig-tree do not blossom, and there be no Fruit in the Vine, &c. yet will I rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of my Salvationo. And when we are brought to this, the whole Horizon clears, and the Sun breaks forth in its Strength.
NowI appeal to every sincere Christian in the Assembly, whether there will not be Reason indeed to sayit is well, if by this painful Affliction we more sensibly learn the Vanity of the Creature and we are awakened to serious Thoughts of our own latter End; if by it we are quickned in the Duties of Life, and formed to a more intire Resignation of Soul, and Acquiescence in the Divine Will. I shall only add once more, and ’tis a Thought of delightful Importance,
IV. Thatpious Parents have Reason to hopeit is wellwith those dear Creatures who are taken away in their early Days.
Iseenot that the Word of Godhath any whit passed a damnatory Sentence on any Infants; and it has not, I am sure we have no Authority to doubt, especially considering with how much Compassion the Divine Being speaks of them in the Instance of theNinevitesp, and on some other Occasions. Perhaps, as some pious Divines have conjectured, they may constitute a very considerable Part of Number of the Elect, and,as in Adamtheyall died, they mayin Christ all be made aliveq. At least, methinks, from the Covenant which Godmade withAbraham, and his Seed,the Blessings of whicharecome upon thebelievingGentilesr, there is Reason to hope well concerning the Infant Offspring of God’S People, early devoted, and often recommended to him, that theirSoulswill bebound in the Bundle of Lifes, andbe loved for their Parents Sakest.
Itis, indeed, impossible for us to say, how soon Children may be capable of contracting personal Guilt. They are quickly able to distinguish, some Degree, between Right and Wrong; and ’tis too plain, that they as quickly, in many Instances, forget the Distinction. The Corruptions of Nature begin early to work, and shew the Need of sanctifying Grace; yet, without a Miracle, it cannot be expected that much of the Christian Scheme should be understood by these little Creatures, in the first dawning of Reason, tho’ a few evangelical Phrases may be taught, and, sometimes, by a happy kind of Accident, may be rightly applied. The tender Heart of a Parent may, perhaps, take a Hint, from hence to terrify itself, and exasperate all its other Sorrows, by that sad Thought, “What if my dear Child be perished for ever? gone from our Embraces, and all the little Pleasures we could give it, to everlasting Darkness and Pain?” Horrible Imagination! And Satan may, perhaps, take the Advantage of these gloomy Moments, to aggravate every little Infirmity into a Crime, and to throw us into an Agony, which no other View of the Affliction can possibly give, to a Soul penetrated with a Sense of Eternity. Nor do I know a Thought, in the whole Compass of Nature, that hath a more powerful Tendency to produce suspicious Notions of God, and a secret Alienation of Heart from him.
Nowfor this very Reason, methinks, we should guard against so harsh a Conclusion, lest we, at once, injure the Divine Being, and torture ourselves. And, surely, we may easily fall on some Reflections which may incourage our Hopes, wherelittle Childrenare concerned; and ’tis only of that Case that I am now speaking. Let us think of the blessed God, as the great Parent of universal Nature; whosetender Mercies are over all his Workst; who declares that Judgment ishis strange Worku; whois very pitiful, and of tender Mercyw,gracious and full of Compassionx; whodelighteth in Mercyy; whowaiteth to be graciousz; andendureth, with much Long-suffering,eventhe Vessels of Wrath fitted to Destructiona. He intimatelyknows our Frameb, and our Circumstances; he sees the Weakness of the unformed Mind; how forcibly the volatile Spirits are struck with a thousand new amusing Objects around it, and born away as a Feather before the Wind; and, on the other hand, how, when Distempers seize it, the feeble Powers are over-born in a Moment, and render’d incapable of any Degree of Application and Attention. And, Lord, wilt thouopen thine Eyes on such a one, to bringitintostrictJudgment with theec? Amidst all the Instances of thy Patience, and thy Bounty, to the most abandon’d of Mankind, are these little helpless Creatures the Objects of thy speedy Vengeance, and final Severity?
Letus farther consider, as it is a very comfortable Thought in these Circumstances, the compassionate Regard which the blessedJesusexpressed to little Children. He wasmuch displeasedwith those who forbad their beingbroughtto him;and said, Suffer them to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of God; andtaking them up in his Arms, he laid his Hands upon them, and blessed themd. In another Instance we are told, that hetook a little Child, (who appears to have been old enough to come at his Call,) andset him in the Midst of his Disciples, and said, Except ye become as little Children, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of Heavene. May we not then hope that many little Children are admitted into it? And may not that Hope be greatly confirmed from whatever, of an amiable and regular Disposition, we have observed in those that are taken away? If we have seen†a Tenderness of Conscience in any thing which they apprehended would displease the great and good God; a Love to Truth; a Readiness to attend on Divine Worship, from some imperfect Notion of its general Design, though the Particulars of it could not be understood; an open, candid, benevolent Heart; a tender Sense of Obligation, and a Desire, according to their little Power, to repay it; may we not hope that these were some of thefirst Fruits of the Spiritf, which he would, in due Time, have ripened into Christian Graces, and are now, on a sudden, perfected by that great Almighty Agentwho worketh all, and in allg?
SureI am, that this blessed Spirit hath no inconsiderable Work to perform on the most established Christians, to finish them to a complete Meetness for the Heavenly World: Would to God, there were no greater Blemishes to be observed in their Character, than the little Vanities of Children! With infinite Ease then can he perfect what is lacking in their unfinished Minds, and pour out upon them, in a Moment, that Light and Grace, which shall qualify them for a State, in Comparison of which, ours on Earth is but Childhood or Infancy.
Nowwhat a noble Source of Consolation is here! Then may the affectionate Parent say, “It is well, not only with me, butwith the Childtoo: Incomparably better than if my ardent Wishes, and importunate Prayers for its Recovery, had been answered.It isindeedwell, if that beloved Creature befallen asleep in Christh; if that dear Lamb be folded in the Arms of the compassionate Shepherd, and gathered into his gracious Bosom. Self-love might have led me to wish its longer Continuance here; but if I trulylovedmy Child with a solid, rational Affection, I should much ratherrejoice, to thinkit is gone toa heavenlyFatheri, and to the World of perfected Spirits above. Had it been spared to me, how slowly could I have taught it! and in the full Ripeness of its Age, what had it been, when compared with what it now is! How is it shot up on a sudden, from the Converse and the Toys of Children, to be a Companion with Saints and Angels, in the Employment, and the Blessedness of Heaven! Shall I then complain of it as a rigorous Severity to my Family, that Godhath taken it to the Family above? And what if he hath chosen to bestow the distinguished Favour onthat oneof my little Flock, who was formed to take the tenderest Hold of my Heart? Was there Unkindness in that? What if he saw, that the very Sprightliness and Softness which made it to me so exquisitely delightful, might, in Time, have betrayed it into Ruin; and took this Method of sheltering it from Trials which had, otherwise, been too hard for it, and so fixing a Seal on its Character and Happiness? What if that strong Attachment of my Heart to it, had been a Snare to the Child, and to me? Or what if it had been otherwise? Do I need additional Reasons to justify the Divine Conduct, in an Instance which my Child is celebrating in the Songs of Heaven? If it is a new and untasted Affliction to have such a tender Branch lopp’d off, it is also a new Honour to be the Parent of a glorified Saint.” And, as good Mr.Howeexpressed it on another Occasion, “If Godbe pleased, and his glorified Creature be pleased, who are we that we should be displeased?”*
“Could I wish, that this young Inhabitant of Heaven should be degraded to Earth again? Or would it thank me for that With? Would it say, that it was the Part of a wife Parent, to call it down from a Sphere of finch exalted Services and Pleasures, to our low Life here upon Earth? Let me rather be thankful for the pleasing Hope, that tho’ Godloves my Child too well to permit it to return to me, he will ere long bring me to it. And then that endeared paternal Affection, which would have been a Cord to tie me to Earth, and have added new Pangs to my Removal from it, will be asa golden Chain to draw me upwards, and add one farther Charm and Joy even to Paradise itself.” And oh, how great a Joy to view the Change, and to compare that dear Idea, so fondly laid up, so often reviewed, with the now glorious Original, in the Improvements of the upper World! To borrow the Words of the sacred Writer, in a very different Sense? “I said, I was desolate and bereaved of Children, and who hath brought up these? I was left alone, and these where have they been?kWas this my Desolation? this my Sorrow? to part with thee for a few Days,that I might receive thee for Everl, and find thee what thou now art!” It is for no Language, but that of Heaven, to describe the sacred Joy which such a Meeting must occasion.
Inthe mean time, Christians, let us keep up the lively Expectation of it, and let what has befallen us draw our Thoughts upwards. Perhaps they will sometimes, before we are aware, sink to the Grave, and dwell in the Tombs that contain the poor Remains of what was once so dear to us. But let them take Flight from thence to more noble, more delightful Scenes. And I will add, let the Hope we have of the Happiness of our Children render Godstill dearer to our Souls. We feel a very tender Sense of the Kindness which our Friends expressed towards them, and think, indeed very justly, that their affectionate Care for them lays a lasting Obligation upon us. What Love then, and what Service do we owe to thee, oh gracious Father, who hast, we hope, received them into thine House above, and art now entertaining them there with unknown Delight, tho’ our former Methods of Commerce with them be cut off! “Lord,” should each of us say in such a Case, “I would take what thou art doing to my Child as done to my self, and as a Specimen and Earnest of what shall shortly be done.”It isthereforewell.
Itonly remains, that I conclude with a few Hints of farther Improvement.
1. Letpious Parents, who have lost hopeful Childrenin a maturer Age, join with others in saying,It is well.
MyFriends, the Reasons which I have been urging at large, are common to you with us; and permit me to add, that as your Case has its peculiar Distress, it has, I think, in a yet greater Degree, its peculiar Consolations too.
Iknowyou will say, that it is inexpressibly grievous and painful, to part with Children who were grown up into most amiable Friends, who were your Companions in the Ways of God, and concerning whom you had a most agreeable Prospect, that they would have been the Ornaments and Supports of Religion in the rising Age, and extensive Blessings to the World, long after you had quitted it. These Reasonings have, undoubtedly, their Weight; and they have so, when considered in a very different View. Must you not acknowledgeit is well, that you enjoyed so many Years of Comfort in them? that you reaped so much solid Satisfaction from them? and saw those Evidences of a Work of Grace upon their Hearts, which give you such abundant Reason to conclude that they are now received to that Inheritance of Glory, for which they were so apparentlymade meet? Some of them, perhaps, had already quitted their Father’s House: As for others, had Godspared their Lives, they might have been transplanted into Families of their own: And if, instead of being removed to another House, or Town, or County, they are taken by Godinto another World, is that a Matter of so great Complaint; when that World is so much better, and you are yourselves so near it? I put it to your Hearts, Christians, Would you rather have chosen to have buried them in their Infancy, or never to have known the Joys and the Hopes of a Parent, now you know the Vicissitude of Sorrow, and of Disappointment? But perhaps, you will say, that you chiefly grieve for that Loss which the World has sustained by the Removal of those, from whom it might reasonably have expected so much future Service. This is, indeed, a generous, and a Christian Sentiment, and there is something noble in those Tears which flow on such a Consideration. But do not so remember your Relation to Earth, as to forget that which you bear to Heaven; and do not so wrong the Divine Wisdom and Goodness, as to suppose, that when he takes away from hence promising Instruments of Service, he there lays them by as useless. Much more reasonable is it to conclude, that their Sphere of Action, as well as Happiness, is inlarged, and that the Church above hath gained incomparably more, than that below can be supposed to have lost by their Death.
Onthe whole, therefore, far from complaining of the Divine Conduct in this Respect, it will become you, my Friends, rather to be very thankful that these dear Children were spared so long; to accompany and entertain you in so many Stages of your short Journey thro’ Life, to answer so many of your Hopes, and to establish so many more beyond all Fear of Disappointment. Reflect on all that Goddid in, and upon them, on all he was beginning to do by them, and on what you have great Reason to believe he is now doing for them; and adore his Name, that he has left you these dear Memorials, by which your Case is so happily distinguished from ours, whose Hopes in our Children withered in the very Bud; or from theirs, who saw those who were once so dear to them, perishing, as they have Cause to fear,in the Paths of the Destroyer.
Butwhile I speak thus, methinks I am alarmed, lest I should awaken the far more grievous Sorrows of some mournful Parent, whom it will not be so easy to comfort. My Brethren and Friends, what shall I say to you, who are lamenting over yourAbsaloms, and almost wishingyou had died for themm? Shall I urgeyouto sayit is well?Perhaps you may think it a great Attainment, if, likeAaron,when his Sonsdied before the Lord, youcan hold your Peacen, under the awful Stroke. My Soul is troubled for you;my Words arealmostswallowed up.I cannot unsay what I have elsewhere said at large on this melancholy Subject*. Yet let me remind you of this, that you do not certainly know what Almighty Grace might do for these lamented Creatures, even in the latest Moments, and have therefore no Warrant confidently to pronounce that they are assuredly perished. And if you cannot but tremble in the too probable Fear of it, labour to turn your Eyes from so dark a Prospect, to those better Hopes which Godis setting beforeyou. For surely you still have abundant Reason to rejoice in that Grace, which gives your ownLives to you as a Prey, and has brought you so near to that blessed World, where, hard as it is now to conceive it, you will have laid aside every Affection of Nature, which interferes with the Interests of God, and prevents your most chearful Acquiescence in every Particular of his wise and gracious Determinations.
2. Fromwhat we have heard, let us learn not to think of the Loss of our Children with a slavish Dread.
Itis to a Parent indeed such a cutting Stroke, that I wonder not if Nature shrink back at the very Mention of it: And, perhaps, it would make those to whom Godhath denied Children more easy, if they knew what some of the happiest Parents feel in an uncertain Apprehension of the Loss of theirs: An Apprehension which strikes with peculiar Force on the Mind, when Experience hath taught us the Anguish of such an Affliction in former Instances. But let us not anticipate Evils: Perhaps all our Children, who are hitherto spared, may follow us to the Grave Or, if otherwise, wesorrow not as those who have no Hopep. We may have Reason still to say;It is well, and, thro’ Divine Grace, we may also have Hearts to say it. Whatever we lose, if we be the Children of God, we shall never lose our Heavenly Father, He will still be our Support, and our Joy. And therefore let us turn all our Anxiety about uncertain, future Events, into a holy Solicitude to please him, and to promote religious Impressions in the Hearts of our dear Offspring; that if Godshould see fit to take them away, we may have a Claim to the full Consolations, which I have been representing in the preceding Discourse.
3. Letus not sink in hopeless Sorrow, or break out into clamorous Complaints, if Godhas brought this heavy Affliction upon us.
AstupidIndifference would be absurd and unnatural: Godand Man might look upon us as acting a most unworthy Part, should we be likethe Ostrich in the Wilderness, which hardeneth herself against her young ones, as if they were not hers; because Godhath deprived her of Wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her Understandingq. Let us sorrow like Men, and like Parents; but let us not, in the mean time, forget that we are Christians. Let us remember how common the Calamity is; few Parents are exempt from it; some of the most pious and excellent have lost amiable Children, with Circumstances perhaps of peculiar Aggravation. ’Tis a Trial which Godhath chosen for the Exercise of some who have been eminently dear to him, as we may learn from a Variety of Instances both ancient and modern. Let us recollect our many Offences against our heavenly Father, those Sins which such a Dispensation may properlybring to our Remembrancer; and let that silence us, and teach us to own, that’tis of the Lord’s Mercies we are not consumeds, and that we arepunished less than our Iniquities deservet. Let us look round on our surviving Comforts; let us look forward to our future, our eternal Hopes; and we shall surely see, that there is still Room for Praise, still a Call for it. Let us review the Particulars mentioned above, and then let Conscience determine whether it doth not become us, in this particular Instance, to say it steadily, and chearfully too, Eventhis is well.And may the Godof all Grace and Comfort apply these Considerations to our Mind, that we may not only own them, but feel them, as a reviving Cordial when our Heart is overwhelmed within us! In the mean Time, let me beseech you whosetabernacles are in Peaceu, and whoseChildren are yet about youw, that you would not be severe in censuring our Tears, till you have experimentally known our Sorrows, and yourselves tastedthe Wormwood and the Gall, which we, with all our Comforts, must have in a long and a bitterRemembrancex.
4. Letthose of us who are under the Rod, be very solicitous to improve it aright, that in the End it may indeed bewell.
Hear, my Brethren, my Friends and Fellow-Sufferers, hear andsuffer the word of Exhortationy. Let us be much concerned, that we may not bear all the Smart of such an Affliction, and, through our own Folly, lose all that Benefit which might, otherwise, be a rich Equivalent. In Proportion to the Grievousness of the Stroke, should be our Care to attend to the Design of it. Let us, now Godis calling us to Mourning and Lamentation, besearching and trying our Ways, that we may turn again unto the Lordz. Let us review the Conduct of our Lives, and the State and Tenour of our Affections, that we may observe what hath been deficient, and what irregular; that proper Remedies may be applied, and those important Lessons more thoroughly learnt, which I was mentioning under the former Branch of my Discourse. Let us pray, that through our Tears we may read our Duty, and that by the Heat of the Furnace we may be so melted, that our Dross may be purged away, and the Divine Image instamped on our Souls in brighter and fairer Characters. To sum up all in one Word, let us endeavour to set our Hearts more on that God, who is infinitelybetter to us than ten Childrena, who hathgiven us a Name better than that of Sons or of Daughtersb, and can abundantly supply the Place of all earthly Enjoyments with the rich Communications of his Grace: Nay, perhaps, we may add, who hath removed some Darling of our Hearts, lest to our infinite Detriment it should fill his Place there, and, by alienating us from his Love and Service, have a fatal Influence on our present Peace, and our future Happiness.
EternalGlory, my Friends, is so great a Thing, and the compleat Love and Enjoyment of Godso unutterably desirable, that it is well worth our while to bear the sharpest Sorrows, by which we may be more perfectly formed for it. We may even congratulate the Death of our Children, if it bring us nearer to our heavenly Father; and teach us, (instead of filling this Vacancy in our Heart with some new Vanity, which may shortly renew our Sorrows,) to consecrate the whole of it to him who alone deserves, and can alone answer the most intense Affection. Let us try what of this kind may be done. We are now going to the Table of the Lord*, to that very Table where our Vows have often been sealed, where our Comforts have often been reigned, where ourIsaac’shave been conditionally sacrificed, and where we commemorate the real Sacrifice which Godhath made even of his only begotten Son for us. May our other Sorrows be suspended, while wemourn for him whom we have pierced, as for an only Son, and are in Bitterness as for a First-bornc. From his Blood Consolations spring up, which will flourish even on the Graves of our dear Children; and the Sweetness of that Cup which he there gives us, will temper the most distasteful Ingredients of the other. Our Housesare not so with God, as they once were, as we once expected they would have been, buthe hath made with us an everlasting Covenant, and these are the Tokens of it. Blessed be his Name, we hold not the Mercies of that Covenant by so precarious a Tenure as the Life of any Creature.It is well ordered in all things and sure:Mayit be all our Salvation, and all our Desired; and then it is but a little while, and all our Complaints will cease.Godwill wipe away these Tears from our Eyese, our peaceful and happy Spirits shall ere long meet with those of our Children which he hath taken to himself. Our Bodies shall sleep, and ere long also awake, and arise with theirs.Death, that inexorable Destroyer,shall be swallowed up in Victoryf, while we and ours surround the Throne with everlasting Hallelujahs, and own, with another Evidence than we can now perceive; with another Spirit than we can now express, thatAll was indeed well. Amen.
FINIS.