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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/26097-h.zip b/26097-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4aa3369 --- /dev/null +++ b/26097-h.zip diff --git a/26097-h/26097-h.htm b/26097-h/26097-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5838477 --- /dev/null +++ b/26097-h/26097-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2070 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content= +"HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 22 March 2008), see www.w3.org"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=us-ascii"> +<title>Death of a Child</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + body {font-family:'Book Antiqua', 'Bookman Old Style', 'Garamond'; font-size:14pt; text-align:justify; margin-left:4em; margin-right:4em} + hr {text-align:center} + p.pin {text-indent:1.3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.pii {text-indent:2.6em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.pnn {margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + p.pis {text-indent:1.3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em} + p.ph1 {padding-left:1.3em; text-indent:-1.3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1.5em} + p.ph2 {padding-left:2.6em; text-indent:-1.3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0} + .w {letter-spacing:8px; word-spacing:8px} + .sc {font-variant:small-caps} + .sc1 {font-variant:small-caps; font-size:90%; letter-spacing:0.2em; font-weight:500; word-spacing:2px} + .dc3 {text-indent:0.5em; float:left; margin-top:0; font-size:3.0em; font-weight:bold; line-height:0.85em} + .dc4 {text-indent:0.3em; float:left; margin-top:0; font-size:4.3em; font-weight:bold; line-height:0.85em } + sup { font-family:'Arial'} + h1 { text-align:center; font-weight: normal} +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Submission to Divine Providence in the +Death of Children, by Phillip Doddridge + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Submission to Divine Providence in the Death of Children + Recommended and inforced, in a sermon preached at + Northampton, on the death of a very amiable and hopeful + child, about five year + +Author: Phillip Doddridge + +Release Date: July 21, 2008 [EBook #26097] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEATH OF CHILDREN *** + + + + +Produced by Keith G Richardson + + + + + +</pre> + +<hr> +<p style="font-size:18pt;"><b>Contents</b></p> +<hr> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Title">Title</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Preface">Preface</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Postscript">Postscript</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Text">Text</a></p> +<p class="pin"><a href="#I">I.</a></p> +<p class="pin"><a href="#II">II.</a></p> +<p class="pin"><a href="#III">III.</a></p> +<p class="pii"><a href="#III1">1.</a></p> +<p class="pii"><a href="#III2">2.</a></p> +<p class="pii"><a href="#III3">3.</a></p> +<p class="pii"><a href="#III4">4.</a></p> +<p class="pin"><a href="#IV">IV.</a></p> +<p class="pii"><a href="#IV1">1.</a></p> +<p class="pii"><a href="#IV2">2.</a></p> +<p class="pii"><a href="#IV3">3.</a></p> +<p class="pii"><a href="#IV4">4.</a></p> +<p><a href="#Footnotes">Footnotes.</a></p> +<a id="Title" name="Title"></a> +<hr style="margin-top:3em; margin-bottom:3em"> +<div style="text-align:center"> +<p style="font-size:18pt;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;"> +<i>Submission to Divine Providence in the Death<br> +of Children, recommended and inforced,</i></p> +<p style= +"font-size:20pt;letter-spacing:0.1em;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.6em;"> +IN A</p> +<p style= +"font-size:48pt;letter-spacing:0.3em;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.3em;"> +SERMON</p> +<p style= +"font-size:18pt;letter-spacing:0.3em;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;"> +P<span class="sc">reached at</span></p> +<p style= +"font-size:36pt;letter-spacing:0.1em;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.2em;"> +<i>NORTHAMPTON,</i></p> +<p style= +"font-size:20pt;letter-spacing:0.08em;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em; line-height:1.5em"> +On the DEATH<br> +Of a very amiable and hopeful<br> +C<span class="sc">hild</span>, about Five Years old.</p> +<p style="font-size:14pt;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;"> +<i>Published out of Compassion to mourning</i> P<span class= +"sc">arents</span>.</p> +<hr> +<p style= +"font-size:20pt;letter-spacing:0.2em;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.6em;"> +By <i>P. DODDRIDGE</i>, D. D.</p> +<hr> +<p style= +"font-size:18pt;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; line-height:1.5em"> +<i>Neve Liturarum pudeat ; qui viderit illas,</i></p> +<p style= +"font-size:18pt;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; line-height:1.5em"> +<i>De Lachrymis factas sentiat esse meis.</i> + O<span class="sc">vid</span>.</p> +<hr> +<p style= +"font-size:18pt;letter-spacing:0.2em;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"> +The S<span class="sc">econd</span> E<span class= +"sc">dition</span>.</p> +<hr> +<p style= +"font-size:26pt;letter-spacing:0.6em;margin-top:0.8em; margin-bottom:0.8em"> +<i>LONDON</i>,</p> +<p style= +"font-size:14pt;letter-spacing:0.1em;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em"> +Printed for R. H<span class="sc">ett</span>, at the <i>Bible</i> +and <i>Crown</i><br> +in the <i>Poultry</i>. M<span class= +"sc">dccxl</span>.</p> +<a id="Preface" name="Preface"></a> +<hr> +<p style= +"font-size:24pt;letter-spacing:0.3em;margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0.5em"> +THE</p> +<p style= +"font-size:48pt;letter-spacing:0.2em;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0.5em"> +PREFACE.</p> +</div> +<p class="pnn"><span class="dc3">T</span><i>HE Discourse which I +now offer to the Publick was drawn up on a very sorrowful Occasion; +the Death of a most desirable Child, who was formed in such a +Correspondence to my own Relish and Temper, as to be able to give +me a Degree of Delight, and consequently of Distress, which I did +not before think it possible I could have received from a little +Creature who had not quite compleated her Fifth Year.</i></p> +<p class="pin"><i>Since the Sermon was preached, it has pleased</i> +G<span class="sc">od</span> <i>to make the like Breaches on the +Families of several of my Friends; and, with Regard to some of +them, the Affliction hath been attended with Circumstances of yet +sorer Aggravation. Tho’ several of them are removed to a +considerable Distance from me, and from each other I have born +their Afflictions upon my Heart with cordial Sympathy; and it is +with a particular Desire of serving them, that I have undertaken +the sad Task of reviewing and transcribing these Papers; which may +almost be called the Minutes of my own Sighs and Tears, over the +poor Remains of my eldest and (of this Kind) dearest Hope, when +they were not as yet</i> buried out of my Sight.</p> +<p class="pin"><i>They are, indeed, full of Affection, and to be +sure some may think they are too full of it: But let them consider +the Subject, and the Circumstances, and surely they will pardon it. +I apprehend, I could not have treated such a Subject coldly, had I +writ upon it many years ago, when I was untaught in the School of +Affliction, and knew nothing of such a Calamity as this, but by +Speculation or Report: How much less could I do it, when</i> +G<span class="sc">od</span> <i>had touched me in so tender a Part, +and (to allude to a celebrated ancient Story,) called me out to +appear on a publick Stage, as with an Urn in my Hand, which +contained the Ashes of my own Child!</i></p> +<p class="pin"><i>In such a sad Situation Parents, at least, will +forgive the Tears of a Parent, and those Meltings of Soul which +overflow in the following Pages. I have not attempted to run +thro’ the Common place of</i> immoderate Grief, <i>but have +only selected a few obvious Thoughts which I found peculiarly +suitable to myself; and, I bless</i> G<span class="sc">od</span>, +<i>I can truly say, they gave me a solid and substantial Relief, +under a Shock of Sorrow, which would otherwise have broken my +Spirits.</i></p> +<p class="pin"><i>On my own Experience, therefore, I would +recommend them to others, in the like Condition, And let me intreat +my Friends and Fellow-Sufferers to remember, that it is not a low +Degree of Submission to the Divine Will, which is called for in the +ensuing Discourse. It is comparatively an easy Thing to behave with +external Decency, to refrain from bold Censures and outragious +Complaints, or to speak in the outward Language of Resignation. But +it is not, so easy to get rid of every repining Thought, and to +forbear taking it, in some Degree at least, unkindly, that the</i> +G<span class="sc">od</span> <i>whom we love and serve, in whose +Friendship we have long trusted and rejoiced, should act what, to +Sense, seems so unfriendly a Part: That he should take away a +Child; and if a Child,</i> that Child; <i>and if that Child, at +that Age; and if at that Age, with this or that particular +Circumstance, which seems the very Contrivance of Providence to add +double Anguish to the Wound; and all this, when he could so easily +have recalled it; when we know him to have done it for so many +others; when we so earnestly desired it; when we sought it with +such Importunity, and yet, as we imagine, with so much Submission +too:—That, notwithstanding all this; he should tear it away +with an inexorable Hand, and leave us, it may be for a while, under +the Load, without any extraordinary Comforts and Supports, to +balance so grievous a Tryal.—In these Circumstances, not only +to justify, but to glorify</i> G<span class="sc">od</span> <i>in +all,—chearfully to subscribe to his Will,—cordially to +approve it as merciful and gracious,—so as to be able to say, +as the pious and excellent Archbishop of</i> Cambray <i>did, when +his Royal Pupil, and the Hopes of a Nation were taken +away</i><sup><a href="#rpvcr" id="fpvcr" title="see footnote" name= +"fpvcr">†</a></sup> , “<i>If there needed no more than +to move a Straw to bring him to Life again, I would not do it, +since the Divine Pleasure is otherwise”.—This, this is +a difficult Lesson indeed; a Triumph of Christian Faith and Love, +which I fear many of us are yet to learn.</i></p> +<p class="pin"><i>But let us follow after it, and watch against the +first Rising of a contrary Temper, as most injurious to</i> +G<span class="sc">od</span>, <i>and prejudicial to ourselves. To +preserve us against it, let us review the Considerations now to be +proposed, as what we are to digest into our Hearts, and work into +our Thoughts and our Passions. And I would hope, that if we do in +good earnest make the Attempt, we shall find this Discourse a +cooling and sweetening Medicine, which may allay that inward Heat +and Sharpness, with which, in a Case like ours, the Heart is often +inflamed and corroded. I commend it, such as it is, to the Blessing +of the great Physician, and could wish the Reader to make up its +many Deficiencies, by Mr.</i> Flavel’s Token for Mourners, +<i>and Dr.</i> Grosvenor’s Mourner; <i>to which, if it suit +his Relish, he may please to add Sir</i> William Temple’s +Essay on the Excess of Grief: <i>Three Tracts which, in their very +different Strains and Styles, I cannot but look upon as in the +Number of the best which our Language, or, perhaps, any other, has +produced upon this Subject.</i></p> +<p class="pis"><i>As for this little Piece of mine, I question not, +but, like the Generality of single Sermons, it will soon be worn +out and forgot. But in the mean time, I would humbly hope, that +some tender Parent, whom Providence has joined with me in sad +Similitude of Grief, may find some Consolation from it, while +sitting by the Coffin of a beloved Child, or mourning over its +Grave. And I particularly hope it, with Regard to those dear and +valuable Friends, whose Sorrows, on the like Occasion, have lately +been added to my own. I desire that, tho’ they be not +expressly named, they would please to consider this Sermon as most +affectionately and respectfully</i> dedicated to them; <i>and +would, in Return, give me a Share in their Prayers, that all the +Vicissitudes of Life may concur to quicken me in the Duties of it, +and to ripen me for that blessed World, where I hope many of those +dear Delights, which are now withering around us, will spring up in +fairer and more durable Forms.</i> Amen.</p> +<p style= +"text-indent:2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; font-size:smaller"> +Northampton,</p> +<p style= +"text-indent:1.3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:5em; font-size:smaller; letter-spacing:0.03em"> +<i>Jan.</i> 31, 1736-7.</p> +<a id="Postscript" name="Postscript"></a> +<hr> +<h1 style= +"font-size:22pt; letter-spacing:0.5em; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:1em"> +POSTSCRIPT.</h1> +<p class="pis"><i>I could easily shew, with how much Propriety I +have called the dear Deceased</i> an amiable and hopeful Child, +<i>by a great many little Stories, which Parents would perhaps read +with Pleasure, and Children might hear with some Improvement: Yet +as I cannot be sure that no others may happen to read the +Discourse, I dare not trust my Pen and my Heart, on so delicate a +Subject. One Circumstance I will however venture to mention, (as I +see here is a Blank Page left,) which may indeed be +consider’d as a Specimen of many others. As she was a great +Darling with most of our Friends that knew her, she often received +Invitations to different Places at the same Time; and when I once +asked her, on such an Occasion, what made every Body love her so +well; she answer’d me, (with that Simplicity and Spirit, +which alas! Charm’d me too much,</i>) Indeed, Pappa, I cannot +think, unless it be because I love every Body. <i>A Sentiment +obvious to the Understanding of a Child, yet not unworthy the +Reflection of the wisest Man</i><sup><a href="#rpviii" id="fpviii" +title="see footnote" name="fpviii">*</a></sup>.</p> +<a id="Text" name="Text"></a> +<hr style="margin-top:3em; margin-bottom:3em"> +<h1 style= +"font-size:17pt;letter-spacing:0.1em;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em"> +2 K<span class="sc">ings</span> IV. 25, 26.</h1> +<p class="ph1"><i>And it came to pass when the Man of GOD saw her +afar off, that he said to Gehazi his Servant, Behold, yonder is +that Shunamite: Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto +her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with thine Husband? Is it +well with the Child? And she answered,</i> I<span class="sc1">t is +well.</span></p> +<p class="pnn"><span class="dc4">W</span>HEN the Apostle would +encourage our Hope and Trust in the Tenderness of Christ as the +great High Priest and convince us that he is capable of being +touched with a sympathetick Sense of our Infirmities, he argues at +large from this Consideration, that Jesus <i>was in all Points +tempted like us;</i> so that as <i>he himself has suffer'd, being +tempted, he knows how</i> more compassionately <i>to succour</i> +those that are under the like Trials<sup><a href="#rp1a" id="fp1a" +title="see footnote" name="fp1a">a</a></sup>. Now this must surely +intimate, that it is not in human Nature, even in its most perfect +State, so tenderly to commiserate any Sorrows, as those which our +own Hearts have felt: As we cannot form a perfect Idea of any +bitter Kind of Draught, by the most exact Description, till we have +ourselves tasted it. It is probably for this Reason, amongst +others, that G<span class="sc">od</span> frequently exercises such, +as have the Honour to be inferior Shepherds in the Flock of Christ, +with a long Train of various Afflictions, <i>that we may be able to +comfort them who are in</i> the like <i>Trouble, with those +Consolations with which we have ourselves been comforted of +GOD</i><sup><a href="#rp2b" id="fp2b" title="see footnote" name= +"fp2b">b</a></sup> . And, if we have the Temper which becomes our +Office, it will greatly reconcile us to our Trials, to consider, +that from our weeping Eyes, and our bleeding Hearts, a Balm may be +extracted to heal the Sorrows of others, and a Cordial to revive +their fainting Spirits. May we never be left to sink under our +Burden, in such a manner, that there should be room, after all that +we have boasted of the Strength of religious Supports, to apply to +us the Words of <i>Eliphaz</i> to <i>Job</i><sup><a href="#rp2c" +id="fp2c" title="see footnote" name="fp2c">c</a></sup>, <i>Thou +hast strengthen’d the weak Hands, and upheld him that was +ready to fall; but now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it +touches thee, and thou art troubled!</i> May we never behave, as if +<i>the Consolations of GOD</i> were <i>small</i><sup><a href= +"#rp2d" id="fp2d" title="see footnote" name="fp2d">d</a></sup>; +lest it should be <i>as when a Standard-Bearer +fainteth</i><sup><a href="#rp2e" id="fp2e" title="see footnote" +name="fp2e">e</a></sup> , and whole Companies of Soldiers are +thrown into Confusion and Distress!</p> +<p class="pin">M<span class="sc">y</span> Friends, you are +Witnesses for me, that I have not stood by as an unconcerned +Spectator amidst the Desolations of your respective Families, when +G<span class="sc">od</span>’s awful Hand hath been lopping +off those tender Branches from them, which were once our common +Hope and Delight. I have often put my Soul in the stead of yours, +and endeavour’d to give such a Turn to my publick as well as +my private Discourses, as might be a means of composing and +chearing your Minds, and forming you to a submissive Temper, that +you might <i>be subject to the Father of Spirits, and +live</i><sup><a href="#rp2f" id="fp2f" title="see footnote" name= +"fp2f">f</a></sup> . In this View I have, at different Times, +largely insisted on the Example of <i>Aaron, who held his +peace</i><sup><a href="#rp2g" id="fp2g" title="see footnote" name= +"fp2g">g</a></sup> , when his two eldest Sons were struck dead in a +Moment by Fire from the Lord, which destroyed them in the very Act +of their Sin; and I have also represented that of <i>Job,</i> who, +when the Death of ten Children by one Blow was added to the Spoil +of his great Possessions, could say, <i>The Lord gave, and the Lord +hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord</i><sup><a href= +"#rp3h" id="fp3h" title="see footnote" name="fp3h">h</a></sup>. The +Instance which is here before us, is not indeed so memorable as +these; but to present Circumstances it is, in many Respects, more +suitable: And it may the rather deserve our Notice, as it shews us +the Wisdom, Composure, and Piety of one of the weaker and tenderer +Sex, on an Occasion of such aggravated Distress, that had +<i>Aaron</i> or <i>Job</i> behaved just as she did, we must have +acknowledged, that they had not sunk beneath the Dignity of their +Character, nor appear’d unworthy of our Applause, and our +Imitation.</p> +<p class="pin">I<span class="sc">ndeed</span> there may be some +Reason to imagine, that it was with Design to humble those who are +in distinguish’d Stations of Life, and who have peculiar +Advantages and Obligations to excel in Religion, that G<span class= +"sc">od</span> has shewn us in Scripture, as well as in common +Life, some bright Examples of Piety, where they could hardly have +been expected in so great a Degree; and hath, as it were, +<i>perfected Praise out of the Mouths of Babes and +Sucklings</i><sup><a href="#rp3i" id="fp3i" title="see footnote" +name="fp3i">i</a></sup> . Thus when <i>Zacharias</i><sup><a href= +"#rp3k" id="fp3k" title="see footnote" name="fp3k">k</a></sup>, an +aged Priest, doubted the Veracity of the Angel which appeared to +assure him of the Birth of his Child, which was to be produced in +an ordinary Way; <i>Mary,</i> an obscure young Virgin, could +believe a far more unexampled Event, and said, with humble Faith +and thankful Consent, <i>Behold the Hand-maid of the Lord, be it +unto me according to thy Word</i><sup><a href="#rp3l" id="fp3l" +title="see footnote" name="fp3l">l</a></sup>. <i>Jonah</i> the +Prophet, tho’ favour’d with such immediate Revelations, +and so lately delivered, in a miraculous Way, from the very +<i>Belly of Hell</i><sup><a href="#rp4m" id="fp4m" title= +"see footnote" name="fp4m">m</a></sup>, was thrown into a most +indecent Transport of Passion, on the withering of a Gourd; so that +he presumed to tell the Almighty to his Face, that <i>he did well +to be angry even unto Death</i><sup><a href="#rp4n" id="fp4n" +title="see footnote" name="fp4n">n</a></sup>: Whereas this pious +Woman preserves the Calmness and Serenity of her Temper, when she +had lost a Child, a Son, an only Child, who had been given beyond +all natural Hope, and therefore to be sure was so much the dearer, +and the Expectation from him so much the higher. Yet are these +Expectations dash’d almost in a Moment; and this, when he was +grown up to an Age when Children are peculiarly entertaining; for +he was old enough to be with his Father in the Field, where no +doubt he was diverting him with his fond Prattle; yet he was not +too big to be laid <i>on his Mother’s Knees</i><sup><a href= +"#rp4o" id="fp4o" title="see footnote" name="fp4o">o</a></sup>, +when he came home complaining of his Head; so that he was probably +about five or six Years old. This amiable Child was well in the +Morning, and dead by Noon; a pale Corpse in his Mother’s +Arms! and he now <i>lay dead in the House</i>; and yet they had the +Faith, and the Goodness to say, “<i>It is +well.</i>”</p> +<p class="pin">T<span class="sc">his</span> good Woman had found +the Prophet <i>Elisha</i> grateful for all the Favours he had +received at her House; where she had from time to time accommodated +him in his Journies, and thought it an Honour rather than an +Incumbrance. She had experienced the Power of his Prayers, in +answer to which the Child had been given; and ’tis extremely +probable, that she also recollected the Miracle which <i>Elijah</i> +had wrought a few Years before, tho’ till that Time the like +had not been known in <i>Israel</i>, or on Earth; I mean, in +raising from the Dead the Child of that Widow of +<i>Sarepta</i><sup><a href="#rp5p" id="fp5p" title="see footnote" +name="fp5p">p</a></sup> , who had nourished him during the Famine. +She might therefore think it a possible Case, that the Miracle +might be renewed; at least, she knew not how to comfort herself +better, than by going to so good a Friend, and asking his Counsels +and his Prayers, to enable her to bear her Affliction, if it must +not be removed<sup><a href="#rp5as" id="fp5as" title="see footnote" +name="fp5as">*</a></sup> ,</p> +<p class="pin">A<span class="sc">ccordingly</span> she hasted to +him; and he, on the other side, discovered the Temper of a real +Friend, in the Message with which he sent <i>Gehazi</i> his Servant +to meet her, <i>while she was yet afar off.</i> The Moment she +appeared, the Concerns of her whole Family seem to have come into +his kind Heart at once, and he particularly asks, <i>Is it well +with thee? Is it well with thine Husband? Is it well with the +Child?</i> A beautiful Example of that affectionate Care for the +Persons and Families of their Friends, which Christian Ministers +(who, like the Prophets of old, are called <i>Men of G<span class= +"sc">od</span></i><sup><a href="#rp5q" id="fp5q" title= +"see footnote" name="fp5q">q</a></sup>) should habitually bear +about in their Hearts; which should be awakened by every Sight of +them, and expressed on every proper Occasion.</p> +<p class="pin">H<span class="sc">er</span> Answer was very +remarkable: <i>She said, It is well.</i> Perhaps she meant this, to +divert the more particular Enquiry of the Servant; as she had +before made the same Answer to her Husband, when he had examined +into the Reason of her intended Journey, as probably not knowing of +the sad Breach which had been made: <i>She said, It is +well</i><sup><a href="#rp5r" id="fp5r" title="see footnote" name= +"fp5r">r</a></sup> ; which was a civil way of intimating her Desire +that he would not ask any more particular Questions. But I cannot +see any Reason to restrain the Words to this Meaning alone: We have +ground to believe, from the Piety she expressed in her first +Regards to <i>Elisha,</i> and the Opportunities which she had of +improving in Religion by the frequent Converse of that holy Man, +that when she used this Language, she intended thereby to express +her Resignation to the Divine Will in what had lately pass’d: +And this might be the Meaning of her Heart, (tho’ one +ignorant of the Particulars of her Case, might not fully understand +it from such ambiguous Words; ) “<i>It is well</i> on the +whole. Though my Family be afflicted, we are afflicted in +Faithfulness; tho’ my dear Babe be dead, yet my Heavenly +Father is just, and he is good in all. He knows how to bring Glory +to himself, and Advantage to us, from this Stroke. Whether this +Application do, or do not succeed, whether the Child be, or be not +restored, <i>it is</i> still <i>well</i>; <i>well</i> with him, and +<i>well</i> with us; for we are in such wise and such gracious +Hands, that I would not allow one murmuring Word, or one repining +Thought.” So that, on the whole, the Sentiment of this good +<i>Shunamite</i> was much the same with that of <i>Hezekiah</i>, +when he answered to that dreadful Threatning which imported the +Destruction of his Children, <i>Good is the Word of the Lord which +he hath spoken</i><sup><a href="#rp6s" id="fp6s" title= +"see footnote" name="fp6s">s</a></sup>; or that of <i>Job</i>, when +he heard that all his Sons and his Daughters were crushed under the +Ruins of their elder Brother’s House, and yet (in the +fore-cited Words) <i>blessed the Name of the Lord.</i></p> +<p class="pin">Now this is the Temper to which, by divine +Assistance, we should all labour to bring our own Hearts, when +G<span class="sc">od</span> puts this bitter Cup into our Hands, +and <i>takes away with a Stroke</i> those dear Little-ones, which +were the <i>Desire of our Eyes</i><sup><a href="#rp6t" id="fp6t" +title="see footnote" name="fp6t">t</a></sup>, and the Joy of our +Hearts. Let us not content ourselves, in such Circumstances, with +<i>keeping the Door of our Lips</i><sup><a href="#rp6u" id="fp6u" +title="see footnote" name="fp6u">u</a></sup>, that we break not out +into any Indecencies of Complaint; let us not attempt to harden +ourselves against our Sorrows by a stern Insensibility, or that +sullen Resolution which sometimes says, <i>It is a Grief, and I +must bear it</i><sup><a href="#rp7w" id="fp7w" title="see footnote" +name="fp7w">w</a></sup> ; but let us labour, (for <i>a great +Labour</i> it will indeed be,) to compose and quiet our Souls, +calmly to acquiesce in this painful Dispensation, nay, cordially to +approve it as in present Circumstances every Way fit.</p> +<p class="pis">I<span class="sc">t</span> will be the main Business +of this Discourse, to prove how reasonable such a Temper is, or to +shew how much Cause Christian Parents have to borrow the Language +of the Text, when their Infant Offspring is taken away, and to say +with the pious <i>Shunamite</i>, in the noblest Sense that her +Words will bear,—<i>It is well.</i></p> +<p class="pin">A<span class="sc">nd</span> here I would more +particularly shew,—It is well in the general, because +G<span class="sc">od</span> does it:—It is surely well for +the pious Parents in particular, because it is the Work of their +Covenant G<span class="sc">od</span>:—They may see many +Respects in which it is evidently so, by observing what useful +Lessons it has a Tendency to teach them:—And they have Reason +to hope, it is well with those dear Creatures whom G<span class= +"sc">od</span> hath removed in their early Days.</p> +<p class="pis">T<span class="sc">hese</span> are surely convincing +Reasons to the Understanding: Yet who can say, that they shalt be +Reasons to the Heart? <i>Arise, O G<span class="sc">od</span>, and +plead thine own Cause</i><sup><a href="#rp7x" id="fp7x" title= +"see footnote" name="fp7x">x</a></sup> in the most effectual +Manner! May thy powerful and gracious Voice appease the swelling +Billows of the Passions, and produce a great and delightful Calm in +our Souls, in which we may yet enjoy thee and ourselves, tho’ +a Part of our Treasure be for the present swallowed up!</p> +<a id="I" name="I"></a> +<p class="ph2">I. T<span class="sc">here</span> is surely Reason, +in such a Case, to say <i>it is well</i>,—because +G<span class="sc">od</span> doth it.</p> +<p class="pin">T<span class="sc">his</span> pass’d for an +unanswerable Reason with <i>David, I was dumb, I opened not my +Mouth, because thou didst it</i><sup><a href="#rp8y" id="fp8y" +title="see footnote" name="fp8y">y</a></sup>, and with good old +<i>Eli,</i> under a severer Tryal than ours, <i>It is the Lord, let +him do as seemeth good in his Sight</i><sup><a href="#rp8z" id= +"fp8z" title="see footnote" name="fp8z">z</a></sup>. And shall We +object against the Force of it? Was it a Reason to <i>David</i>, +and to <i>Eli</i>, and is it not equally so to us? Or have We any +new Right to <i>reply against G<span class= +"sc">od</span></i><sup><a href="#rp8a" id="fp8a" title= +"see footnote" name="fp8a">a</a></sup>, which those eminent Saints +had not?</p> +<p class="pis"><i>His kingdom ruleth over all</i><sup><a href= +"#rp8b" id="fp8b" title="see footnote" name="fp8b">b</a></sup>; and +there is <i>not</i> so much as <i>a Sparrow that falls to the +Ground without our Father, but the very Hairs of our Head are all +number’d</i><sup><a href="#rp8c" id="fp8c" title= +"see footnote" name="fp8c">c</a></sup> by him. Can we then imagine +that our dear Children fall into their Graves without his Notice or +Interposition? Did that watchful Eye that <i>keepeth Israel</i>, +now, for the first time, <i>slumber and sleep</i><sup><a href= +"#rp8d" id="fp8d" title="see footnote" name="fp8d">d</a></sup>, and +an Enemy lay hold on that fatal Moment to bear away these precious +Spoils, and bury our Joys and our Hopes in the Dust? Did some +malignant Hand stop up the Avenues of Life, and break its Springs, +so as to baffle all the Tenderness of the Parent, and all the Skill +of the Physician? Whence does such a Thought come, and whither +would it lead? Diseases and Accidents are but second Causes, which +owe all their Operations to the continued Energy of the great +original Cause. Therefore G<span class="sc">od</span> says, <i>I +will bereave them of Children</i><sup><a href="#rp8e" id="fp8e" +title="see footnote" name="fp8e">e</a></sup>; <i>I take away the +Desire of thine Eyes with a Stroke</i><sup><a href="#rp8f" id= +"fp8f" title="see footnote" name="fp8f">f</a></sup><i>. He changeth +their Countenance, and sendeth them away</i><sup><a href="#rp8g" +id="fp8g" title="see footnote" name="fp8g">g</a></sup>. <i>Thou +Lord turnest Man to Destruction, and sayest, Return ye Children of +Men</i><sup><a href="#rp9h" id="fp9h" title="see footnote" name= +"fp9h">h</a></sup> . And what shall we say? Are not the +Administrations of his Providence wise and good? Can we <i>teach +him Knowledge</i><sup><a href="#rp9i" id="fp9i" title= +"see footnote" name="fp9i">i</a></sup>? Can we tax him with +Injustice? Shall the Most High G<span class="sc">od</span> learn of +us how to govern the World, and be instructed by our Wisdom when to +remove his Creatures from one State of Being to another? Or do we +imagine that his Administration, in the general Right and Good, +varies when he comes to <i>touch our Bone and our +Flesh</i><sup><a href="#rp9k" id="fp9k" title="see footnote" name= +"fp9k">k</a></sup> <i>?</i> Is that the secret Language of our +Soul, “That <i>it is well</i>, others should drink of the +Cup, but not We; that any Families but ours should be broken, and +any Hearts but ours should be wounded?” Who might not claim +the like Exemption? and what would become of the Divine Government +in general; or where would be his obedient Homage from his +Creatures, if each should begin to complain, as soon as it comes to +his own Turn to suffer? Much fitter is it for us to conclude, that +our own Afflictions may be as reasonable as those of others; that +amidst all the <i>Clouds and Darkness</i> of this present +Dispensation, <i>Righteousness and Judgment are the Habitation of +his Throne</i><sup><a href="#rp9l" id="fp9l" title="see footnote" +name="fp9l">l</a></sup> ; and, in a word, that <i>it is well</i>, +because G<span class="sc">od</span> hath done it. It suits the +general Scheme of the Divine Providence, and to an obedient +submissive Creature that might be enough; but it is far from being +all. For,</p> +<a id="II" name="II"></a> +<p class="ph2">II. P<span class="sc">ious</span> P<span class= +"sc">arents</span>, under such a Dispensation, may conclude <i>it +is well for them</i> in particular,—because he, who hath done +it, is their Covenant G<span class="sc">od</span>.</p> +<p class="pin">T<span class="sc">his</span> is the great Promise, +to which all the Saints under the Old and New Testament are Heirs, +<i>I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a +People</i><sup><a href="#rp10m" id="fp10m" title="see footnote" +name="fp10m">m</a></sup> : And if we are interested in it, the +happy Consequence is, that we being his, all our Concerns are his +also; all are humbly resigned to him,—and graciously +administer’d by him,—and incomparably better Blessings +bestowed and secured, than any which the most afflictive Providence +can remove.</p> +<p class="pin">I<span class="sc">f</span> we have any Share in this +everlasting Covenant, all that we are or have, must, of course, +have been <i>solemnly surrender’d</i> to G<span class= +"sc">od</span>. And this is a Thought peculiarly applicable to the +Case immediately in view. “Did I not,” may the +Christian, in such a sad Circumstance, generally say, “did I +not, in a very solemn Manner, bring this my Child to God in +Baptism, and in that Ordinance recognize his Right to it? Did I +not, with all humble <i>Subjection to the Father of +Spirits</i><sup><a href="#rp10n" id="fp10n" title="see footnote" +name="fp10n">n</a></sup> , and <i>Father of +Mercies</i><sup><a href="#rp10o" id="fp10o" title="see footnote" +name="fp10o">o</a></sup>, lay it down at his Feet, perhaps with an +express, at least to be sure with a tacit Consent, that it should +be disposed of by him, as his infinite Wisdom and Goodness should +direct, whether for Life or for Death? And am I now to complain of +him, because he has removed not only a Creature of his own, but one +of the Children of his Family? Or shall I pretend, after all, to +set up a Claim in Opposition to his? A Heathen Parent, even from +the Light of Nature, might have learn’d silent Submission: +How much more then a Christian Parent, who hath presented his Child +to G<span class="sc">od</span> in this initiatory Ordinance; and +perhaps also many a time, both before and since, hath presented +himself at the Table of the Lord! Have I not there taken that +<i>Cup of Blessings</i>, with a declared Resolution of accepting +every other <i>Cup</i> how bitter soever it might be, <i>which my +heavenly Father</i> should see fit to <i>put into my +Hand</i><sup><a href="#rp11p" id="fp11p" title="see footnote" name= +"fp11p">p</a></sup>? When I have perhaps felt some painful +Fore-bodings of what I am now suffering; I have, in my own +Thoughts, particularly singled out that dear Object of my Cares and +my Hopes, to lay it down anew at my Father’s Feet, and say, +<i>Lord thou gavest it to me, and I resign it to thee; continue, or +remove it, as thou pleasest.</i> And did I then mean to trifle with +G<span class="sc">od</span>? Did I mean in effect to say, <i>Lord, +I will give it up, if thou wilt not take it?”</i></p> +<p class="pin">R<span class="sc">eflect</span> farther, I beseech +you, on your <i>secret Retirements</i>, and think, as surely some +of you may, “How often have I there been on my Knees before +G<span class="sc">od</span> on account of this Child; and what was +then my Language? Did I say, Lord, I absolutely insist on its +Recovery; I cannot, on any Terms or any Considerations whatsoever, +bear to think of losing it?” Sure we were none of us so +indecently transported with the fondest Passion, as to be so +<i>rash with our Mouths</i> as <i>to utter</i> such <i>Things +before</i> the Great G<span class="sc">od</span><sup><a href= +"#rp11q" id="fp11q" title="see footnote" name="fp11q">q</a></sup>. +Such Presumption had deserv’d a much heavier Punishment than +we are now bearing, and, if not retracted, may perhaps still have +it.—Did not one or another of us rather say, “Lord, I +would humbly intreat, with all due Submission to thy superior +Wisdom and sovereign Pleasure, that my Child may live; but if it +must be otherwise, <i>not my Will, but thine be +done</i><sup><a href="#rp11r" id="fp11r" title="see footnote" name= +"fp11r">r</a></sup> ? I and mine are in thine Hand, <i>do with +me</i>, and with them, <i>as seemeth good in thy +Sight</i><sup><a href="#rp11s" id="fp11s" title="see footnote" +name="fp11s">s</a></sup> ”. And do we now blame ourselves for +this? Would we unsay it again, and, if possible, take ourselves and +our Children out of his Hands, whom we have so often owned as +all-wise and all-gracious, and have chosen as our great Guardian +and theirs?</p> +<p class="pin">L<span class="sc">et</span> it farther be +consider’d, it is done by that G<span class="sc">od</span> +who has <i>accepted of this Surrender</i>, so as to undertake the +Administration of our Affairs: “He is become my Covenant +G<span class="sc">od</span> in Christ,” may the Christian +say; “and, in consequence of that Covenant, he hath engaged +to manage the Concerns and Interests of his People so, that <i>all +Things shall work together for good to them that love +him</i><sup><a href="#rp12t" id="fp12t" title="see footnote" name= +"fp12t">t</a></sup> : And do I not love him? Answer, Oh my Heart, +dost thou not love thy G<span class="sc">od</span> much better than +all the Blessings which Earth can boast, or which the Grave hath +swallowed up? Wouldst thou resign thine Interest in him to recover +these precious Spoils, to receive this dear Child from the Dust, a +thousand times fairer and sweeter than before? Rather let Death +devour every remaining Comfort, and leave me alone with him; with +whom when I indeed am, I miss not the Creatures, but rather rejoice +in their Absence, as I am then more intire with <i>him whom my Soul +loveth.</i> And if I do indeed love him, this Promise is mine, and +<i>all Things</i>, and therefore this sad Event in particular, +<i>shall work together for my good.</i> Shall I not then say, <i>It +is well?</i> What if it exceeded all the Stretch of my Thoughts, to +conceive <i>how</i> it could, in any Instance, be so? What are my +narrow Conceptions, that they should pretend to circumscribe +infinite Wisdom, Faithfulness, and Mercy? Let me rather, with +<i>Abraham, give Glory to God, and in Hope believe against +Hope</i><sup><a href="#rp12u" id="fp12u" title="see footnote" name= +"fp12u">u</a></sup> ”.</p> +<p class="pis">O<span class="sc">nce</span> more; let us consider +how many <i>invaluable Blessings</i> are given us by this Covenant, +and then judge whether we have not the utmost Reason to acquiesce +in such an Event of Providence. “If I am in Covenant with +God,” may the Believer say, “then he hath pardoned my +Sins, and renewed my Heart, and hath made his blessed Spirit +dwelling in me, the sacred Bond of an everlasting Union between him +and my Soul. He is leading me through the Wilderness, and will, ere +long, lead me out of it to the heavenly <i>Canaan</i>. And how far +am I already arrived in my Journey thither, now that I am come to +the Age of losing a Child! And when G<span class="sc">od</span> +hath done all this for me, is he rashly to be suspected of +Unkindness? <i>He that spared not his own Son</i><sup><a href= +"#rp12w" id="fp12w" title="see footnote" name="fp12w">w</a></sup>, +he that gave me with him his Spirit and his Kingdom, why doth he +deny, or why doth he remove, any other Favour? Did he think the +Life of this Child too great a Good to grant, when he thought not +Christ and Glory too precious? Away with that Thought, Oh my +unbelieving Heart, and with every Thought which would derogate from +such rich amazing Grace, or would bring any thing in comparison +with it. Art thou under these Obligations to him, and wilt thou yet +complain? With what Grace, with what Decency canst thou dispute +this, or any other Matter, with thy G<span class="sc">od</span>? +<i>What Right have I yet to cry any more to the +King?</i><sup><a href="#rp12x" id="fp12x" title="see footnote" +name="fp12x">x</a></sup> ” Would any of you, my Brethren, +venture to say, “What tho’ I be a Child of +G<span class="sc">od</span>, and an Heir of Glory, it matters not, +for <i>my Gourd is withered</i>; that pleasant Plant which was +opening so fair and so delightful, under the Shadow of which I +expected long to have sate, and even <i>the Rock of Ages</i> cannot +shelter me so well? I can behold that beloved Face no more, and +therefore I will not look upward to behold the Face of +G<span class="sc">od</span>, I will not look forward to Christ and +to Heaven?” Would this, my Friends, be the Language of a real +Christian? Nay, are there not many abandon’d Sinners who +would tremble at such Expressions? Yet is it not in effect the +Language of our tumultuous Passions, when, like <i>Rachel,</i> we +are <i>mourning for our Children,</i> and <i>will not be comforted, +because they are not</i><sup><a href="#rp13y" id="fp13y" title= +"see footnote" name="fp13y">y</a></sup>? Is it not our Language +while we cannot, like the pious <i>Shunamite</i> in the Text, bring +our afflicted Hearts to say, <i>It is well?</i></p> +<a id="III" name="III"></a> +<p class="ph2">III. P<span class="sc">ious</span> P<span class= +"sc">arents</span>, in such a Circumstance, have farther Reason to +say, <i>It is well</i>,—as they may observe an apparent +Tendency in such a Dispensation to teach them a Variety of the most +instructive and useful Lessons, in a very convincing and effectual +Manner.</p> +<p class="pin">’T<span class="sc">is</span> a just +Observation of <i>Solomon</i>, that <i>the Rod and Reproof give +Wisdom</i><sup><a href="#rp13z" id="fp13z" title="see footnote" +name="fp13z">z</a></sup> ; and ’tis peculiarly applicable to +such a Chastisement of our heavenly Father. It should therefore be +our great Care to <i>bear the Rod and him that hath appointed +it</i><sup><a href="#rp13a" id="fp13a" title="see footnote" name= +"fp13a">a</a></sup> ; and so far as it hath a Tendency to teach us +our Duty, and to improve the divine Life in our Souls, we have the +highest Reason to say, that <i>it is</i> indeed <i>well.</i></p> +<p class="pin">E<span class="sc">very</span> Affliction hath in its +Degree this kind of Tendency, and ’tis the very Reason for +which <i>we are</i> thus <i>chastened</i>, that we may +<i>profit</i> by our Sorrows, and be made <i>Partakers of +God’s Holiness</i><sup><a href="#rp15b" id="fp15b" title= +"see footnote" name="fp15b">b</a></sup>. But this Dispensation is +peculiarly adapted, in a very affecting Manner,—to teach us +the Vanity of the World,—to warn us of the Approach of our +own Death,—to quicken us in the Duties incumbent upon us, +especially to our surviving Children,—and to produce a more +intire Resignation to the Divine Will, which is indeed the surest +Foundation of Quiet, and Source of Happiness.</p> +<p class="pis"><span class="sc">shall</span> insist a little more +particularly on each of these; and I desire that it may be +remembered, that the Sight and Knowledge of such mournful +Providences as are now before us, should, in some Degree, be +improved to these Purposes, even by those Parents whose Families +are most prosperous and joyful: May they learn Wisdom and Piety +from what <i>we</i> suffer, and their Improvements shall be +acknowledged as an additional Reason for <i>us</i> to say, <i>It is +well.</i></p> +<a id="III1" name="III1"></a> +<p class="ph2">1. W<span class="sc">hen</span> G<span class= +"sc">od</span> takes away our Children from us, it is a very +affecting Lesson of the Vanity of the World.</p> +<p class="pis">T<span class="sc">here</span> is hardly a Child born +into it, on whom the Parents do not look with some pleasing +Expectation that it shall <i>comfort them concerning their +Labour</i><sup><a href="#rp15c" id="fp15c" title="see footnote" +name="fp15c">c</a></sup> . This makes the Toil of Education easy +and delightful: And truly ’tis very early that we begin to +find a Sweetness in it, which abundantly repays all the Fatigue. +Five, or four, or three, or two Years, make Discoveries which +afford immediate Pleasure, and which suggest future Hopes. Their +Words, their Actions, their very Looks touch us, if they be amiable +and promising Children, in a tender, but very powerful Manner; +their little Arms twine about our Hearts; and there is something +more penetrating in their first broken Accents of Indearment, than +in all the Pomp and Ornament of Words. Every Infant-Year increases +the Pleasure, and nourishes the Hope. And where is the Parent so +wise and so cautious, and so constantly intent on his Journey to +Heaven, as not to measure back a few Steps to Earth again, on such +a plausible and decent Occasion, as that of introducing the young +Stranger into the Amusements, nay perhaps, where Circumstances will +admit it, into the Elegancies of Life, as well as its more serious +and important Business? What fond Calculations do we form of what +it <i>will be</i>, from what <i>it is</i>! How do we in Thought +open every Blossom of Sprightliness, or Humanity, or Piety, to its +full Spread, and ripen it to a sudden Maturity! But, oh, who shall +teach those that have never felt it, how it tears the very Soul; +when G<span class="sc">od</span> roots up the tender Plant with an +inexorable Hand, and withers the Bud in which the Colours were +beginning to glow! Where is now our Delight? Where is our Hope? Is +it in the Coffin? Is it in the Grave? Alas! all the Loveliness of +Person, of Genius, and of Temper, serves but to point and to poison +the Arrow, which is drawn out of our own Quiver to wound us. Vain, +delusive, transitory Joys! “And such, Oh my Soul,” will +the Christian say, “such are thine earthly Comforts in every +Child, in every Relative, in every Possession of Life; such are the +Objects of thy Hopes, and thy Fears, thy Schemes, and thy Labours, +where Earth alone is concerned. Let me then, once for all, direct +mine Eyes to another and a better State. From these <i>broken +Cisterns</i>, the Fragments of which may hurt me indeed, but can no +longer refresh me, let me look to the <i>Fountain of living +Waters</i><sup><a href="#rp17d" id="fp17d" title="see footnote" +name="fp17d">d</a></sup> . From these setting, Stars, or rather +these bright but vanishing Meteors, which make my Darkness so much +the more sensible, let me turn to the <i>Father of Lights.</i> Oh +Lord, <i>What wait I for? my Hope is in thee</i><sup><a href= +"#rp17e" id="fp17e" title="see footnote" name="fp17e">e</a></sup>, +my Pure Abode, my everlasting Confidence! My Gourds wither, my +Children die; but <i>the Lord liveth, and blessed be my Rock, and +let the God of my Salvation be exalted</i><sup><a href="#rp17f" id= +"fp17f" title="see footnote" name="fp17f">f</a></sup>. I see, in +one Instance more, the sad Effects of having over-loved the +Creature; let me endeavour for the future, by the Divine +Assistance, to fix my Affections there where they cannot exceed; +but where all the Ardor of them will be as much my Security and my +Happiness, as it is now my Snare and my Distress.”</p> +<a id="III2" name="III2"></a> +<p class="ph2">2. T<span class="sc">he</span> Removal of our +Children by such awful Strokes may warn us of the Approach of our +own Death.</p> +<p class="pis">H<span class="sc">ereby</span> G<span class= +"sc">od</span> doth very sensibly shew us, and those around us, +that <i>all Flesh is as Grass, and all the Glory</i> and Loveliness +<i>of it like the Flower of the Field</i><sup><a href="#rp17g" id= +"fp17g" title="see footnote" name="fp17g">g</a></sup>. 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, +<i>The Graves are ready for me</i><sup><a href="#rp17h" id="fp17h" +title="see footnote" name="fp17h">h</a></sup>. 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?”</p> +<a id="III3" name="III3"></a> +<p class="ph2">3. T<span class="sc">he</span> Providence before us +may be farther improved to quicken us in the Duties of Life, and +especially in the Education of surviving Children.</p> +<p class="pin">I<span class="sc">t</span> is, on the Principles I +hinted above, an Engagement, that <i>whatever our Hand findeth to +do, we should do it with all our Might</i>, since it so plainly +shews us that we are <i>going to the Grave, where there is no +Device, nor Knowledge, nor Working</i><sup><a href="#rp18j" id= +"fp18j" title="see footnote" name="fp18j">j</a></sup>: 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.</p> +<p class="pin">We all see that it is a very reasonable Duty, and +every Christian Parent resolves that he will <i>ere long</i> apply +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 more <i>convenient +Season</i><sup><a href="#rp18k" id="fp18k" title="see footnote" +name="fp18k">k</a></sup> , 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.</p> +<p class="pin">B<span class="sc">ut</span> I 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 G<span class="sc">od</span> hath 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 the <i>Israelites</i>, +to <i>talk of them going out and coming in, lying down and rising +up</i><sup><a href="#rp19l" id="fp19l" title="see footnote" name= +"fp19l">l</a></sup> ? 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, G<span class="sc">od</span> might have put a Word into +its dying Lips, which I might all my Life have recollected with +Pleasure, and <i>out of its</i> feeble <i>Mouth might have +perfected Praise</i><sup><a href="#rp19m" id="fp19m" title= +"see footnote" name="fp19m">m</a></sup>?”</p> +<p class="pis">M<span class="sc">y</span> Friends, let us humble +ourselves deeply before G<span class="sc">od</span> under 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 G<span class= +"sc">od</span>, 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 be <i>that</i> with +regard to every Child that yet remains, which we proposed and +engaged to be to that which is taken away, when we pleaded with +G<span class="sc">od</span> for 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 say <i>it is well</i>, if +it teach us so useful a Lesson.</p> +<a id="III4" name="III4"></a> +<p class="ph2">4. T<span class="sc">he</span> Providence before us +may have a special Tendency to improve our Resignation to the +Divine Will; and if it does so, it will indeed be <i>well</i>.</p> +<p class="pin">T<span class="sc">here</span> is 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 G<span class="sc">od</span>, 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 +G<span class="sc">od</span>. 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 <sup><a href="#rp21as" id="fp21as" title= +"see footnote" name="fp21as">*</a></sup>Sir <i>William Temple</i> +finely 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 G<span class="sc">od</span> in Prayer; till at +length the Storm is laid, and <i>Tribulation worketh Patience, and +Patience Experience, and Experience a Hope which maketh not +ashamed,</i> while <i>the Love of God is so shed abroad in the +Heart</i><sup><a href="#rp22n" id="fp22n" title="see footnote" +name="fp22n">n</a></sup>, 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, <i>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 +Salvation</i><sup><a href="#rp22o" id="fp22o" title="see footnote" +name="fp22o">o</a></sup>. And when we are brought to this, the +whole Horizon clears, and the Sun breaks forth in its Strength.</p> +<p class="pis">N<span class="sc">ow</span> I appeal to every +sincere Christian in the Assembly, whether there will not be Reason +indeed to say <i>it is well</i>, 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,</p> +<a id="IV" name="IV"></a> +<p class="ph2">IV. T<span class="sc">hat</span> pious Parents have +Reason to hope <i>it is well</i> with those dear Creatures who are +taken away in their early Days.</p> +<p class="pin">I <span class="sc">see</span> not that the Word of +G<span class="sc">od</span> hath 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 the +<i>Ninevites</i><sup><a href="#rp22p" id="fp22p" title= +"see footnote" name="fp22p">p</a></sup>, 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, <i>as in Adam</i> they <i>all died</i>, they may <i>in Christ +all be made alive</i><sup><a href="#rp23q" id="fp23q" title= +"see footnote" name="fp23q">q</a></sup>. At least, methinks, from +the Covenant which G<span class="sc">od</span> made with +<i>Abraham</i>, and his Seed, <i>the Blessings of which</i> are +<i>come upon the</i> believing <i>Gentiles</i><sup><a href="#rp23r" +id="fp23r" title="see footnote" name="fp23r">r</a></sup>, there is +Reason to hope well concerning the Infant Offspring of +G<span class="sc">od</span>’S People, early devoted, and +often recommended to him, that their <i>Souls</i> will be <i>bound +in the Bundle of Life</i><sup><a href="#rp23s" id="fp23s" title= +"see footnote" name="fp23s">s</a></sup>, and <i>be loved for their +Parents Sakes</i><sup><a href="#rp23t" id="fp23t" title= +"see footnote" name="fp23t">t</a></sup>.</p> +<p class="pin">I<span class="sc">t</span> is, 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 G<span class="sc">od</span>, and a +secret Alienation of Heart from him.</p> +<p class="pin">N<span class="sc">ow</span> for 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, where <i>little Children</i> are concerned; and +’tis only of that Case that I am now speaking. Let us think +of the blessed G<span class="sc">od</span>, as the great Parent of +universal Nature; whose <i>tender Mercies are over all his +Works</i><sup><a href="#rp24t" id="fp24t" title="see footnote" +name="fp24t">t</a></sup>; who declares that Judgment is <i>his +strange Work</i><sup><a href="#rp24u" id="fp24u" title= +"see footnote" name="fp24u">u</a></sup>; who <i>is very pitiful, +and of tender Mercy</i><sup><a href="#rp24w" id="fp24w" title= +"see footnote" name="fp24w">w</a></sup>, <i>gracious and full of +Compassion</i><sup><a href="#rp24x" id="fp24x" title="see footnote" +name="fp24x">x</a></sup>; who <i>delighteth in +Mercy</i><sup><a href="#rp24y" id="fp24y" title="see footnote" +name="fp24y">y</a></sup>; who <i>waiteth to be +gracious</i><sup><a href="#rp24z" id="fp24z" title="see footnote" +name="fp24z">z</a></sup>; and <i>endureth, with much +Long-suffering,</i> even <i>the Vessels of Wrath fitted to +Destruction</i><sup><a href="#rp24a" id="fp24a" title= +"see footnote" name="fp24a">a</a></sup>. He intimately <i>knows our +Frame</i><sup><a href="#rp24b" id="fp24b" title="see footnote" +name="fp24b">b</a></sup>, 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 thou <i>open thine Eyes on such a +one, to bring</i> it <i>into</i> strict <i>Judgment with +thee</i><sup><a href="#rp24c" id="fp24c" title="see footnote" name= +"fp24c">c</a></sup> ? 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?</p> +<p class="pin">L<span class="sc">et</span> us farther consider, as +it is a very comfortable Thought in these Circumstances, the +compassionate Regard which the blessed <i>Jesus</i> expressed to +little Children. He was <i>much displeased</i> with those who +forbad their being <i>brought</i> to him; <i>and said, Suffer them +to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of +G<span class="sc">od</span></i>; and <i>taking them up in his Arms, +he laid his Hands upon them, and blessed them</i><sup><a href= +"#rp25d" id="fp25d" title="see footnote" name="fp25d">d</a></sup>. +In another Instance we are told, that he <i>took a little +Child</i>, (who appears to have been old enough to come at his +Call,) and <i>set 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 Heaven</i><sup><a href="#rp25e" id="fp25e" +title="see footnote" name="fp25e">e</a></sup>. 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 <sup><a href="#rp25cr" id="fp25cr" title="see footnote" +name="fp25cr">†</a></sup><i>a Tenderness of Conscience in +any thing which they apprehended would displease the great and good +G<span class="sc">od</span>; 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</i>; may we +not hope that these were some of the <i>first Fruits of the +Spirit</i><sup><a href="#rp25f" id="fp25f" title="see footnote" +name="fp25f">f</a></sup>, which he would, in due Time, have ripened +into Christian Graces, and are now, on a sudden, perfected by that +great Almighty Agent <i>who worketh all, and in +all</i><sup><a href="#rp25g" id="fp25g" title="see footnote" name= +"fp25g">g</a></sup> ?</p> +<p class="pin">S<span class="sc">ure</span> I 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 G<span class="sc">od</span>, 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.</p> +<p class="pin">N<span class="sc">ow</span> what a noble Source of +Consolation is here! Then may the affectionate Parent say, +“<i>It is well</i>, not only with me, but <i>with the +Child</i> too: Incomparably better than if my ardent Wishes, and +importunate Prayers for its Recovery, had been answered. <i>It +is</i> indeed <i>well</i>, if that beloved Creature be <i>fallen +asleep in Christ</i><sup><a href="#rp26h" id="fp26h" title= +"see footnote" name="fp26h">h</a></sup>; 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 truly <i>loved</i> my Child with a +solid, rational Affection, I should much rather <i>rejoice</i>, to +think <i>it is gone to</i> a heavenly <i>Father</i><sup><a href= +"#rp26i" id="fp26i" title="see footnote" name="fp26i">i</a></sup>, +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 G<span class= +"sc">od</span> hath taken it to the Family above? And what if he +hath chosen to bestow the distinguished Favour on <i>that one</i> +of 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. <i>Howe</i> +expressed it on another Occasion, “<i>If G<span class= +"sc">od</span> be pleased, and his glorified Creature be pleased, +who are we that we should be displeased?”</i><sup><a href= +"#rp27as" id="fp27as" title="see footnote" name= +"fp27as">*</a></sup></p> +<p class="pin">“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’ G<span class="sc">od</span> loves 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>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?</i><sup><a href="#rp28k" id="fp28k" title="see footnote" +name="fp28k">k</a></sup> Was this my Desolation? this my Sorrow? to +part with thee for a few Days, <i>that I might receive thee for +Ever</i><sup><a href="#rp28l" id="fp28l" title="see footnote" name= +"fp28l">l</a></sup> , 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.</p> +<p class="pin">I<span class="sc">n</span> the 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 G<span class="sc">od</span> still 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.” +<i>It is</i> therefore <i>well</i>.</p> +<p class="pis">I<span class="sc">t</span> only remains, that I +conclude with a few Hints of farther Improvement.</p> +<a id="IV1" name="IV1"></a> +<p class="ph2">1. L<span class="sc">et</span> pious Parents, who +have lost hopeful Children <i>in a maturer Age</i>, join with +others in saying, <i>It is well</i>.</p> +<p class="pin">M<span class="sc">y</span> Friends, 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.</p> +<p class="pin">I <span class="sc">know</span> you 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 G<span class="sc">od</span>, 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 acknowledge <i>it +is well</i>, 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 apparently <i>made +meet</i>? Some of them, perhaps, had already quitted their +Father’s House: As for others, had G<span class= +"sc">od</span> spared 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 +G<span class="sc">od</span> into 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.</p> +<p class="pin">O<span class="sc">n</span> the 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 G<span class="sc">od</span> +did 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, <i>in the Paths of the Destroyer.</i></p> +<p class="pis">B<span class="sc">ut</span> while 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 your <i>Absaloms</i>, and almost wishing <i>you had +died for them</i><sup><a href="#rp31m" id="fp31m" title= +"see footnote" name="fp31m">m</a></sup>? Shall I urge <i>you</i> to +say <i>it is well?</i> Perhaps you may think it a great Attainment, +if, like <i>Aaron,</i> when his Sons <i>died before the Lord</i>, +you <i>can hold your Peace</i><sup><a href="#rp31n" id="fp31n" +title="see footnote" name="fp31n">n</a></sup>, under the awful +Stroke. My Soul is troubled for you; <i>my Words are</i> almost +<i>swallowed up.</i> I cannot unsay what I have elsewhere said at +large on this melancholy Subject<sup><a href="#rp31as" id="fp31as" +title="see footnote" name="fp31as">*</a></sup>. 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 G<span class="sc">od</span> +is setting before <i>you</i>. For surely you still have abundant +Reason to rejoice in that Grace, which gives your own <i>Lives to +you as a Prey</i>, 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 G<span class="sc">od</span>, and prevents your most +chearful Acquiescence in every Particular of his wise and gracious +Determinations.</p> +<a id="IV2" name="IV2"></a> +<p class="ph2">2. F<span class="sc">rom</span> what we have heard, +let us learn not to think of the Loss of our Children with a +slavish Dread.</p> +<p class="pis">I<span class="sc">t</span> is 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 +G<span class="sc">od</span> hath 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, we <i>sorrow +not as those who have no Hope</i><sup><a href="#rp32p" id="fp32p" +title="see footnote" name="fp32p">p</a></sup>. We may have Reason +still to say; <i>It is well</i>, and, thro’ Divine Grace, we +may also have Hearts to say it. Whatever we lose, if we be the +Children of G<span class="sc">od</span>, 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 +G<span class="sc">od</span> should see fit to take them away, we +may have a Claim to the full Consolations, which I have been +representing in the preceding Discourse.</p> +<a id="IV3" name="IV3"></a> +<p class="ph2">3. L<span class="sc">et</span> us not sink in +hopeless Sorrow, or break out into clamorous Complaints, if +G<span class="sc">od</span> has brought this heavy Affliction upon +us.</p> +<p class="pis">A <span class="sc">stupid</span> Indifference would +be absurd and unnatural: G<span class="sc">od</span> and Man might +look upon us as acting a most unworthy Part, should we be like +<i>the Ostrich in the Wilderness, which hardeneth herself against +her young ones, as if they were not hers; because G<span class= +"sc">od</span> hath deprived her of Wisdom, neither hath he +imparted to her Understanding</i><sup><a href="#rp33q" id="fp33q" +title="see footnote" name="fp33q">q</a></sup>. 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 G<span class= +"sc">od</span> hath 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 +properly <i>bring to our Remembrance</i><sup><a href="#rp33r" id= +"fp33r" title="see footnote" name="fp33r">r</a></sup>; and let that +silence us, and teach us to own, that <i>’tis of the +Lord’s Mercies we are not consumed</i><sup><a href="#rp33s" +id="fp33s" title="see footnote" name="fp33s">s</a></sup>, and that +we are <i>punished less than our Iniquities +deserve</i><sup><a href="#rp33t" id="fp33t" title="see footnote" +name="fp33t">t</a></sup>. 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, +Even <i>this is well.</i> And may the G<span class="sc">od</span> +of 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 whose <i>tabernacles are in Peace</i><sup><a href= +"#rp33u" id="fp33u" title="see footnote" name="fp33u">u</a></sup>, +and whose <i>Children are yet about you</i><sup><a href="#rp33w" +id="fp33w" title="see footnote" name="fp33w">w</a></sup>, that you +would not be severe in censuring our Tears, till you have +experimentally known our Sorrows, and yourselves tasted <i>the +Wormwood and the Gall</i>, which we, with all our Comforts, must +have in a long and a bitter <i>Remembrance</i><sup><a href="#rp34x" +id="fp34x" title="see footnote" name="fp34x">x</a></sup>.</p> +<a id="IV4" name="IV4"></a> +<p class="pin">4. L<span class="sc">et</span> those of us who are +under the Rod, be very solicitous to improve it aright, that in the +End it may indeed be <i>well</i>.</p> +<p class="pin">H<span class="sc">ear</span>, my Brethren, my +Friends and Fellow-Sufferers, hear and <i>suffer the word of +Exhortation</i><sup><a href="#rp34y" id="fp34y" title= +"see footnote" name="fp34y">y</a></sup>. 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 G<span class="sc">od</span> is calling us to Mourning +and Lamentation, be <i>searching and trying our Ways, that we may +turn again unto the Lord</i><sup><a href="#rp34z" id="fp34z" title= +"see footnote" name="fp34z">z</a></sup>. 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 +G<span class="sc">od</span>, who is infinitely <i>better to us than +ten Children</i><sup><a href="#rp34a" id="fp34a" title= +"see footnote" name="fp34a">a</a></sup>, who hath <i>given us a +Name better than that of Sons or of Daughters</i><sup><a href= +"#rp34b" id="fp34b" title="see footnote" name="fp34b">b</a></sup>, +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.</p> +<p class="pis">E<span class="sc">ternal</span> Glory, my Friends, +is so great a Thing, and the compleat Love and Enjoyment of +G<span class="sc">od</span> so 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<sup><a href="#rp35as" id= +"fp35as" title="see footnote" name="fp35as">*</a></sup>, to that +very Table where our Vows have often been sealed, where our +Comforts have often been reigned, where our <i>Isaac’s</i> +have been conditionally sacrificed, and where we commemorate the +real Sacrifice which G<span class="sc">od</span> hath made even of +his only begotten Son for us. May our other Sorrows be suspended, +while we <i>mourn for him whom we have pierced, as for an only Son, +and are in Bitterness as for a First-born</i><sup><a href="#rp35c" +id="fp35c" title="see footnote" name="fp35c">c</a></sup>. 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 Houses <i>are not so with G<span class= +"sc">od</span></i>, as they once were, as we once expected they +would have been, but <i>he hath made with us an everlasting +Covenant</i>, 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. <i>It is well ordered in all things +and sure:</i> May <i>it be all our Salvation, and all our +Desire</i><sup><a href="#rp36d" id="fp36d" title="see footnote" +name="fp36d">d</a></sup>; and then it is but a little while, and +all our Complaints will cease. <i>G<span class="sc">od</span> will +wipe away these Tears from our Eyes</i><sup><a href="#rp36e" id= +"fp36e" title="see footnote" name="fp36e">e</a></sup>, 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. <i>Death</i>, that +inexorable Destroyer, <i>shall be swallowed up in +Victory</i><sup><a href="#rp36f" id="fp36f" title="see footnote" +name="fp36f">f</a></sup>, 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, +that <i>All was indeed well</i>. Amen.</p> +<p style= +"text-align:center; margin-top:3em; margin-bottom:2em; font-size:22pt; letter-spacing:0.5em"> +<i>FINIS.</i></p> +<a id="Footnotes" name="Footnotes"></a> +<hr style="margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:3em"> +<h1 style="font-size:20pt">Footnotes.</h1> +<ol type="1"> +<li><sup><a href="#fpvcr" id="rpvcr" name= +"rpvcr">†</a></sup> <i>The Duke of</i> Burgundy. + <i>See</i> Cambray’s <i>Life</i>, p. 329.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fpviii" id="rpviii" name="rpviii">*</a></sup> + Tibi monstrabo Amatorium sine Medicamento, sine Herbis, sine +ullius Veneficæ Carmine, <i>Si vis amari, ama.</i> + S<span class="sc">en</span>.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp1a" id="rp1a" name="rp1a">a</a></sup> + Heb. iv. 15.—Heb. ii. 18.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp2b" id="rp2b" name="rp2b">b</a></sup> 2 +Cor. i. 4.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp2c" id="rp2c" name="rp2c">c</a></sup> + Job iv. 3,—5.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp2d" id="rp2d" name="rp2d">d</a></sup> + Job xv. 11.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp2e" id="rp2e" name="rp2e">e</a></sup> + Isa x. 18.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp2f" id="rp2f" name="rp2f">f</a></sup> + Heb. xii. 9.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp2g" id="rp2g" name="rp2g">g</a></sup> + Lev. x. 3.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp3h" id="rp3h" name="rp3h">h</a></sup> + Job i. 21.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp3i" id="rp3i" name="rp3i">i</a></sup> + Math. xxi. 16.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp3k" id="rp3k" name="rp3k">k</a></sup> + Luke i. 18.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp3l" id="rp3l" name="rp3l">l</a></sup> + Luke i. 38.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp4m" id="rp4m" name="rp4m">m</a></sup> + Jon. ii. 2.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp4n" id="rp4n" name="rp4n">n</a></sup> + Jon. iv. 9.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp4o" id="rp4o" name="rp4o">o</a></sup> 2 +Kings iv. 18, 20.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp5p" id="rp5p" name="rp5p">p</a></sup> 1 +Kings xvii. 17, & seq.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp5as" id="rp5as" name="rp5as">*</a></sup> + See <i>Henry</i>, in loc.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp5q" id="rp5q" name="rp5q">q</a></sup> 1 +Tim. vi. 11; 2 Tim. iii. 17.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp5r" id="rp5r" name="rp5r">r</a></sup> 2 +Kings. iv. 23.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp6s" id="rp6s" name="rp6s">s</a></sup> + Isa. xxxix. 8.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp6t" id="rp6t" name="rp6t">t</a></sup> + Ezek. xxiv. 16.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp6u" id="rp6u" name="rp6u">u</a></sup> + Psal. cxli. 3.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp7w" id="rp7w" name="rp7w">w</a></sup> + Jer. x. 19.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp7x" id="rp7x" name="rp7x">x</a></sup> + Psal. lxxiv. 22.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp8y" id="rp8y" name="rp8y">y</a></sup> + Psal. xxxix. 9.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp8z" id="rp8z" name="rp8z">z</a></sup> 1 +Sam. iii. 18.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp8a" id="rp8a" name="rp8a">a</a></sup> + Rom. ix. 20.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp8b" id="rp8b" name="rp8b">b</a></sup> + Psal ciii. 19.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp8c" id="rp8c" name="rp8c">c</a></sup> + Matt. x. 29, 30.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp8d" id="rp8d" name="rp8d">d</a></sup> + Psal. cxxi. 4.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp8e" id="rp8e" name="rp8e">e</a></sup> + Jer. xv. 7.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp8f" id="rp8f" name="rp8f">f</a></sup> + Ezek. xxiv. 16.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp8g" id="rp8g" name="rp8g">g</a></sup> + Job xiv. 20.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp9h" id="rp9h" name="rp9h">h</a></sup> + Psal. xc. 3.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp9i" id="rp9i" name="rp9i">i</a></sup> + Job xxi. 22.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp9k" id="rp9k" name="rp9k">k</a></sup> + Job. ii. 5.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp9l" id="rp9l" name="rp9l">l</a></sup> + Psal. xcvii. 2.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp10m" id="rp10m" name="rp10m">m</a></sup> + Heb. viii. 10.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp10n" id="rp10n" name="rp10n">n</a></sup> + Ibid. xii. 9.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp10o" id="rp10o" name="rp10o">o</a></sup> + 2 Cor. i. 3.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp11p" id="rp11p" name="rp11p">p</a></sup> + John xviii. 11.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp11q" id="rp11q" name="rp11q">q</a></sup> + Eccles. v. 2.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp11r" id="rp11r" name="rp11r">r</a></sup> + Matt. xxvi. 39.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp11s" id="rp11s" name="rp11s">s</a></sup> + 2 Sam. xv. 26.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp12t" id="rp12t" name="rp12t">t</a></sup> + Rom. viii. 28.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp12u" id="rp12u" name="rp12u">u</a></sup> + Rom. iv. 18, 20.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp12w" id="rp12w" name="rp12w">w</a></sup> + Ibid. viii. 32.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp12x" id="rp12x" name="rp12x">x</a></sup> + 2 Sam. xix. 28.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp13y" id="rp13y" name="rp13y">y</a></sup> + Jer. xxxi. 15.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp13z" id="rp13z" name="rp13z">z</a></sup> + Prov. xxix. 15.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp13a" id="rp13a" name="rp13a">a</a></sup> + Mich. vi. 9.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp15b" id="rp15b" name="rp15b">b</a></sup> + Heb. xii. 10.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp15c" id="rp15c" name="rp15c">c</a></sup> + Gen. v. 29.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp17d" id="rp17d" name="rp17d">d</a></sup> + Jer. ii. 13.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp17e" id="rp17e" name="rp17e">e</a></sup> + Psal. xxxix. 7.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp17f" id="rp17f" name="rp17f">f</a></sup> + Ibid. xviii. 46.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp17g" id="rp17g" name="rp17g">g</a></sup> + 1 Pet. i. 24.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp17h" id="rp17h" name="rp17h">h</a></sup> + Job xvii. 1.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp18j" id="rp18j" name="rp18j">j</a></sup> + Eccles. ix. 10.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp18k" id="rp18k" name="rp18k">k</a></sup> + Acts xxiv. 25.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp19l" id="rp19l" name="rp19l">l</a></sup> + Deu. vi. 7.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp19m" id="rp19m" name="rp19m">m</a></sup> + Matth. 21. 16.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp21as" id="rp21as" name="rp21as">*</a></sup> + <i>Temple</i>’s Essays, Vol. I. p. 178.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp22n" id="rp22n" name="rp22n">n</a></sup> + Rom. v. 3—5.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp22o" id="rp22o" name="rp22o">o</a></sup> + Hab. iii. 17, 18.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp22p" id="rp22p" name="rp22p">p</a></sup> + Jonah iv. <i>ult</i>.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp23q" id="rp23q" name="rp23q">q</a></sup> + 1 Cor. xv. 22.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp23r" id="rp23r" name="rp23r">r</a></sup> + Gal. iii. 14.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp23s" id="rp23s" name="rp23s">s</a></sup> + 1 Sam. xxv. 29.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp23t" id="rp23t" name="rp23t">t</a></sup> + Rom. xi. 28.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp24t" id="rp24t" name="rp24t">t</a></sup> + Psal. cxlv. 9.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp24u" id="rp24u" name="rp24u">u</a></sup> + Isa. xxviii. 21.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp24w" id="rp24w" name="rp24w">w</a></sup> + James v. 11.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp24x" id="rp24x" name="rp24x">x</a></sup> + Psal. cxi. 4.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp24y" id="rp24y" name="rp24y">y</a></sup> + Micah vii. 18.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp24z" id="rp24z" name="rp24z">z</a></sup> + Isa. xxx. 18.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp24a" id="rp24a" name="rp24a">a</a></sup> + Rom. ix. 22.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp24b" id="rp24b" name="rp24b">b</a></sup> + Psal. ciii. 14.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp24c" id="rp24c" name="rp24c">c</a></sup> + Job xiv. 3.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp25d" id="rp25d" name="rp25d">d</a></sup> + Mark x. 13,—16.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp25e" id="rp25e" name="rp25e">e</a></sup> + Mat. xviii. 2, 3.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp25f" id="rp25f" name="rp25f">f</a></sup> + Rom. viii. 23.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp25g" id="rp25g" name="rp25g">g</a></sup> + 1 Cor. xii. 6.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp25cr" id="rp25cr" name= +"rp25cr">†</a></sup> I bless G<span class= +"sc">od</span>, all these Things were very evident in that dear +Child, whose Death occasioned this Discourse.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp26h" id="rp26h" name="rp26h">h</a></sup> + 1 Cor. xv. 18.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp26i" id="rp26i" name="rp26i">i</a></sup> + John xiv. 28.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp27as" id="rp27as" name="rp27as">*</a></sup> + <i>Howe</i>’s Life, <i>pag</i>. 32. <i>Fal. +Edit.</i></li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp28k" id="rp28k" name="rp28k">k</a></sup> + Isa. xlix. 21.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp28l" id="rp28l" name="rp28l">l</a></sup> + Philem. <i>ver</i>. 13.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp31m" id="rp31m" name="rp31m">m</a></sup> + 2 Sam. xviii. 33.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp31n" id="rp31n" name="rp31n">n</a></sup> + Lev. x. 3.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp31as" id="rp31as" name="rp31as">*</a></sup> + In the Sixth of my <i>Sermons to young Persons</i>, intitled, +<i>The Reflections of a pious Parent on the Death of a wicked +Child.</i></li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp32p" id="rp32p" name="rp32p">p</a></sup> + 1 Thess. iv. 13.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp33q" id="rp33q" name="rp33q">q</a></sup> + Job xxxix. 16, 17.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp33r" id="rp33r" name="rp33r">r</a></sup> + 1 Kings xvii. 18.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp33s" id="rp33s" name="rp33s">s</a></sup> + Lam. iii. 22.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp33t" id="rp33t" name="rp33t">t</a></sup> + Ezra ix. 13.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp33u" id="rp33u" name="rp33u">u</a></sup> + Job v. 24.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp33w" id="rp33w" name="rp33w">w</a></sup> + Ibid. xxix. 5.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp34x" id="rp34x" name="rp34x">x</a></sup> + Lam. iii. 19, 20.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp34y" id="rp34y" name="rp34y">y</a></sup> + Heb. xiii. 22.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp34z" id="rp34z" name="rp34z">z</a></sup> + Lam. iii. 40.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp34a" id="rp34a" name="rp34a">a</a></sup> + 1 Sam. i. 8.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp34b" id="rp34b" name="rp34b">b</a></sup> + Isa. lvi. 5.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp35as" id="rp35as" name="rp35as">*</a></sup> + <i>N. B.</i> This Sermon was preached <i>October</i> 3, 1736. +it being Sacrament Day. The Child died <i>October</i> +1.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp35c" id="rp35c" name="rp35c">c</a></sup> + Zech. xii. 10.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp36d" id="rp36d" name="rp36d">d</a></sup> + 2 Sam. xxiii. 5.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp36e" id="rp36e" name="rp36e">e</a></sup> + Rev. xxi. 4.</li> +<li><sup><a href="#fp36f" id="rp36f" name="rp36f">f</a></sup> + 1 Cor. xv. 54.</li> +</ol> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Submission to Divine Providence in the +Death of Children, by Phillip Doddridge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEATH OF CHILDREN *** + +***** This file should be named 26097-h.htm or 26097-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/9/26097/ + +Produced by Keith G Richardson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Submission to Divine Providence in the Death of Children + Recommended and inforced, in a sermon preached at + Northampton, on the death of a very amiable and hopeful + child, about five year + +Author: Phillip Doddridge + +Release Date: July 21, 2008 [EBook #26097] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEATH OF CHILDREN *** + + + + +Produced by Keith G Richardson + + + + +_Submission to Divine Providence in the Death of Children, recommended +and inforced,_ + + +IN A + +SERMON + +PREACHED at + +_NORTHAMPTON_, + + +On the DEATH + +Of a very amiable and hopeful CHILD, about Five Years old. + + +_Published out of Compassion to mourning_ PARENTS. + +By _P. DODDRIDGE_, D. D. + + +_Neve Liturarum pudeat; qui viderit illas,_ + +_De Lachrymis factas sentiat esse meis._ OVID. + + +The SECOND EDITION. + + +_LONDON_, + +Printed for R. HETT, at the _Bible_ and _Crown_ in the _Poultry_. MDCCXL. + + + +THE PREFACE. + +_THE Discourse which I now offer to the Publick was drawn up on a very +sorrowful Occasion; the Death of a most desirable Child, who was +formed in such a Correspondence to my own Relish and Temper, as to be +able to give me a Degree of Delight, and consequently of Distress, +which I did not before think it possible I could have received from a +little Creature who had not quite compleated her Fifth Year._ + +_Since the Sermon was preached, it has pleased_ GOD _to make the like +Breaches on the Families of several of my Friends; and, with Regard to +some of them, the Affliction hath been attended with Circumstances of +yet sorer Aggravation. Tho' several of them are removed to a +considerable Distance from me, and from each other I have born their +Afflictions upon my Heart with cordial Sympathy; and it is with a +particular Desire of serving them, that I have undertaken the sad Task +of reviewing and transcribing these Papers; which may almost be called +the Minutes of my own Sighs and Tears, over the poor Remains of my +eldest and (of this Kind) dearest Hope, when they were not as yet_ +buried out of my Sight. + +_They are, indeed, full of Affection, and to be sure some may think +they are too full of it: But let them consider the Subject, and the +Circumstances, and surely they will pardon it. I apprehend, I could +not have treated such a Subject coldly, had I writ upon it many years +ago, when I was untaught in the School of Affliction, and knew nothing +of such a Calamity as this, but by Speculation or Report: How much +less could I do it, when_ GOD _had touched me in so tender a Part, and +(to allude to a celebrated ancient Story,) called me out to appear on +a publick Stage, as with an Urn in my Hand, which contained the Ashes +of my own Child!_ + +_In such a sad Situation Parents, at least, will forgive the Tears of +a Parent, and those Meltings of Soul which overflow in the following +Pages. I have not attempted to run thro' the Common place of_ +immoderate Grief, _but have only selected a few obvious Thoughts which +I found peculiarly suitable to myself; and, I bless_ GOD, _I can truly +say, they gave me a solid and substantial Relief, under a Shock of +Sorrow, which would otherwise have broken my Spirits._ + +_On my own Experience, therefore, I would recommend them to others, in +the like Condition, And let me intreat my Friends and Fellow-Sufferers +to remember, that it is not a low Degree of Submission to the Divine +Will, which is called for in the ensuing Discourse. It is +comparatively an easy Thing to behave with external Decency, to +refrain from bold Censures and outragious Complaints, or to speak in +the outward Language of Resignation. But it is not, so easy to get rid +of every repining Thought, and to forbear taking it, in some Degree at +least, unkindly, that the_ GOD _whom we love and serve, in whose +Friendship we have long trusted and rejoiced, should act what, to +Sense, seems so unfriendly a Part: That he should take away a Child; +and if a Child,_ that Child; _and if that Child, at that Age; and if +at that Age, with this or that particular Circumstance, which seems +the very Contrivance of Providence to add double Anguish to the Wound; +and all this, when he could so easily have recalled it; when we know +him to have done it for so many others; when we so earnestly desired +it; when we sought it with such Importunity, and yet, as we imagine, +with so much Submission too:--That, notwithstanding all this; he +should tear it away with an inexorable Hand, and leave us, it may be +for a while, under the Load, without any extraordinary Comforts and +Supports, to balance so grievous a Tryal.--In these Circumstances, not +only to justify, but to glorify_ GOD _in all,--chearfully to subscribe +to his Will,--cordially to approve it as merciful and gracious,--so as +to be able to say, as the pious and excellent Archbishop of _Cambray_ +did, when his Royal Pupil, and the Hopes of a Nation were taken +away_[+], "_If there needed no more than to move a Straw to bring him +to Life again, I would not do it, since the Divine Pleasure is +otherwise".--This, this is a difficult Lesson indeed; a Triumph of +Christian Faith and Love, which I fear many of us are yet to learn._ + +_But let us follow after it, and watch against the first Rising of a +contrary Temper, as most injurious to_ GOD, _and prejudicial to +ourselves. To preserve us against it, let us review the Considerations +now to be proposed, as what we are to digest into our Hearts, and work +into our Thoughts and our Passions. And I would hope, that if we do in +good earnest make the Attempt, we shall find this Discourse a cooling +and sweetening Medicine, which may allay that inward Heat and +Sharpness, with which, in a Case like ours, the Heart is often +inflamed and corroded. I commend it, such as it is, to the Blessing of +the great Physician, and could wish the Reader to make up its many +Deficiencies, by Mr._ Flavel's Token for Mourners, _and Dr._ +Grosvenor's Mourner; _to which, if it suit his Relish, he may please +to add Sir_ William Temple's Essay on the Excess of Grief: _Three +Tracts which, in their very different Strains and Styles, I cannot but +look upon as in the Number of the best which our Language, or, +perhaps, any other, has produced upon this Subject._ + +_As for this little Piece of mine, I question not, but, like the +Generality of single Sermons, it will soon be worn out and forgot. But +in the mean time, I would humbly hope, that some tender Parent, whom +Providence has joined with me in sad Similitude of Grief, may find +some Consolation from it, while sitting by the Coffin of a beloved +Child, or mourning over its Grave. And I particularly hope it, with +Regard to those dear and valuable Friends, whose Sorrows, on the like +Occasion, have lately been added to my own. I desire that, tho' they +be not expressly named, they would please to consider this Sermon as +most affectionately and respectfully_ dedicated to them; _and would, +in Return, give me a Share in their Prayers, that all the Vicissitudes +of Life may concur to quicken me in the Duties of it, and to ripen me +for that blessed World, where I hope many of those dear Delights, +which are now withering around us, will spring up in fairer and more +durable Forms._ Amen. + +Northampton, + +_Jan._ 31, 1736-7. + + + +POSTSCRIPT. + +_I could easily shew, with how much Propriety I have called the dear +Deceased_ an amiable and hopeful Child, _by a great many little +Stories, which Parents would perhaps read with Pleasure, and Children +might hear with some Improvement: Yet as I cannot be sure that no +others may happen to read the Discourse, I dare not trust my Pen and +my Heart, on so delicate a Subject. One Circumstance I will however +venture to mention, (as I see here is a Blank Page left,) which may +indeed be consider'd as a Specimen of many others. As she was a great +Darling with most of our Friends that knew her, she often received +Invitations to different Places at the same Time; and when I once +asked her, on such an Occasion, what made every Body love her so well; +she answer'd me, (with that Simplicity and Spirit, which alas! Charm'd +me too much,_) Indeed, Pappa, I cannot think, unless it be because I +love every Body. _A Sentiment obvious to the Understanding of a Child, +yet not unworthy the Reflection of the wisest Man_[*]. + + + +2 KINGS IV. 25, 26. + +_And it came to pass when the Man of GOD saw her afar off, that he +said to Gehazi his Servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunamite: Run now, +I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? Is +it well with thine Husband? Is it well with the Child? And she +answered,_ It is well. + +WHEN the Apostle would encourage our Hope and Trust in the Tenderness +of Christ as the great High Priest and convince us that he is capable +of being touched with a sympathetick Sense of our Infirmities, he +argues at large from this Consideration, that Jesus _was in all Points +tempted like us;_ so that as _he himself has suffer'd, being tempted, +he knows how_ more compassionately _to succour_ those that are under +the like Trials[a]. Now this must surely intimate, that it is not in +human Nature, even in its most perfect State, so tenderly to +commiserate any Sorrows, as those which our own Hearts have felt: As +we cannot form a perfect Idea of any bitter Kind of Draught, by the +most exact Description, till we have ourselves tasted it. It is +probably for this Reason, amongst others, that GOD frequently +exercises such, as have the Honour to be inferior Shepherds in the +Flock of Christ, with a long Train of various Afflictions, _that we +may be able to comfort them who are in_ the like _Trouble, with those +Consolations with which we have ourselves been comforted of GOD_[b]. +And, if we have the Temper which becomes our Office, it will greatly +reconcile us to our Trials, to consider, that from our weeping Eyes, +and our bleeding Hearts, a Balm may be extracted to heal the Sorrows +of others, and a Cordial to revive their fainting Spirits. May we +never be left to sink under our Burden, in such a manner, that there +should be room, after all that we have boasted of the Strength of +religious Supports, to apply to us the Words of _Eliphaz_ to _Job_[c], +_Thou hast strengthen'd the weak Hands, and upheld him that was ready +to fall; but now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it touches +thee, and thou art troubled!_ May we never behave, as if _the +Consolations of GOD_ were _small_[d]; lest it should be _as when a +Standard-Bearer fainteth_[e], and whole Companies of Soldiers are +thrown into Confusion and Distress! + +MY Friends, you are Witnesses for me, that I have not stood by as an +unconcerned Spectator amidst the Desolations of your respective +Families, when GOD's awful Hand hath been lopping off those tender +Branches from them, which were once our common Hope and Delight. I +have often put my Soul in the stead of yours, and endeavour'd to give +such a Turn to my publick as well as my private Discourses, as might +be a means of composing and chearing your Minds, and forming you to a +submissive Temper, that you might _be subject to the Father of +Spirits, and live_[f]. In this View I have, at different Times, +largely insisted on the Example of _Aaron, who held his peace_[g], +when his two eldest Sons were struck dead in a Moment by Fire from the +Lord, which destroyed them in the very Act of their Sin; and I have +also represented that of _Job,_ who, when the Death of ten Children by +one Blow was added to the Spoil of his great Possessions, could say, +_The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of +the Lord_[h]. The Instance which is here before us, is not indeed so +memorable as these; but to present Circumstances it is, in many +Respects, more suitable: And it may the rather deserve our Notice, as +it shews us the Wisdom, Composure, and Piety of one of the weaker and +tenderer Sex, on an Occasion of such aggravated Distress, that had +_Aaron_ or _Job_ behaved just as she did, we must have acknowledged, +that they had not sunk beneath the Dignity of their Character, nor +appear'd unworthy of our Applause, and our Imitation. + +INDEED there may be some Reason to imagine, that it was with Design to +humble those who are in distinguish'd Stations of Life, and who have +peculiar Advantages and Obligations to excel in Religion, that GOD has +shewn us in Scripture, as well as in common Life, some bright Examples +of Piety, where they could hardly have been expected in so great a +Degree; and hath, as it were, _perfected Praise out of the Mouths of +Babes and Sucklings_[i]. Thus when _Zacharias_[k], an aged Priest, +doubted the Veracity of the Angel which appeared to assure him of the +Birth of his Child, which was to be produced in an ordinary Way; +_Mary,_ an obscure young Virgin, could believe a far more unexampled +Event, and said, with humble Faith and thankful Consent, _Behold the +Hand-maid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy Word_[l]. +_Jonah_ the Prophet, tho' favour'd with such immediate Revelations, +and so lately delivered, in a miraculous Way, from the very _Belly of +Hell_[m], was thrown into a most indecent Transport of Passion, on the +withering of a Gourd; so that he presumed to tell the Almighty to his +Face, that _he did well to be angry even unto Death_[n]: Whereas this +pious Woman preserves the Calmness and Serenity of her Temper, when +she had lost a Child, a Son, an only Child, who had been given beyond +all natural Hope, and therefore to be sure was so much the dearer, and +the Expectation from him so much the higher. Yet are these +Expectations dash'd almost in a Moment; and this, when he was grown up +to an Age when Children are peculiarly entertaining; for he was old +enough to be with his Father in the Field, where no doubt he was +diverting him with his fond Prattle; yet he was not too big to be laid +_on his Mother's Knees_[o], when he came home complaining of his Head; +so that he was probably about five or six Years old. This amiable +Child was well in the Morning, and dead by Noon; a pale Corpse in his +Mother's Arms! and he now _lay dead in the House_; and yet they had the +Faith, and the Goodness to say, "_It is well._" + +THIS good Woman had found the Prophet _Elisha_ grateful for all the +Favours he had received at her House; where she had from time to time +accommodated him in his Journies, and thought it an Honour rather than +an Incumbrance. She had experienced the Power of his Prayers, in +answer to which the Child had been given; and 'tis extremely probable, +that she also recollected the Miracle which _Elijah_ had wrought a few +Years before, tho' till that Time the like had not been known in +_Israel_, or on Earth; I mean, in raising from the Dead the Child of +that Widow of _Sarepta_[p], who had nourished him during the Famine. +She might therefore think it a possible Case, that the Miracle might +be renewed; at least, she knew not how to comfort herself better, than +by going to so good a Friend, and asking his Counsels and his Prayers, +to enable her to bear her Affliction, if it must not be removed[*]. + +ACCORDINGLY she hasted to him; and he, on the other side, discovered +the Temper of a real Friend, in the Message with which he sent +_Gehazi_ his Servant to meet her, _while she was yet afar off._ The +Moment she appeared, the Concerns of her whole Family seem to have +come into his kind Heart at once, and he particularly asks, _Is it +well with thee? Is it well with thine Husband? Is it well with the +Child?_ A beautiful Example of that affectionate Care for the Persons +and Families of their Friends, which Christian Ministers (who, like +the Prophets of old, are called _Men of GOD_[q]) should habitually +bear about in their Hearts; which should be awakened by every Sight of +them, and expressed on every proper Occasion. + +HER Answer was very remarkable: _She said, It is well._ Perhaps she +meant this, to divert the more particular Enquiry of the Servant; as +she had before made the same Answer to her Husband, when he had +examined into the Reason of her intended Journey, as probably not +knowing of the sad Breach which had been made: _She said, It is +well_[r]; which was a civil way of intimating her Desire that he would +not ask any more particular Questions. But I cannot see any Reason to +restrain the Words to this Meaning alone: We have ground to believe, +from the Piety she expressed in her first Regards to _Elisha,_ and the +Opportunities which she had of improving in Religion by the frequent +Converse of that holy Man, that when she used this Language, she +intended thereby to express her Resignation to the Divine Will in what +had lately pass'd: And this might be the Meaning of her Heart, (tho' +one ignorant of the Particulars of her Case, might not fully +understand it from such ambiguous Words; ) "_It is well_ on the whole. +Though my Family be afflicted, we are afflicted in Faithfulness; tho' +my dear Babe be dead, yet my Heavenly Father is just, and he is good +in all. He knows how to bring Glory to himself, and Advantage to us, +from this Stroke. Whether this Application do, or do not succeed, +whether the Child be, or be not restored, _it is_ still _well_; _well_ +with him, and _well_ with us; for we are in such wise and such +gracious Hands, that I would not allow one murmuring Word, or one +repining Thought." So that, on the whole, the Sentiment of this good +_Shunamite_ was much the same with that of _Hezekiah_, when he +answered to that dreadful Threatning which imported the Destruction of +his Children, _Good is the Word of the Lord which he hath spoken_[s]; +or that of _Job_, when he heard that all his Sons and his Daughters +were crushed under the Ruins of their elder Brother's House, and yet +(in the fore-cited Words) _blessed the Name of the Lord._ + +Now this is the Temper to which, by divine Assistance, we should all +labour to bring our own Hearts, when GOD puts this bitter Cup into our +Hands, and _takes away with a Stroke_ those dear Little-ones, which +were the _Desire of our Eyes_[t], and the Joy of our Hearts. Let us +not content ourselves, in such Circumstances, with _keeping the Door +of our Lips_[u], that we break not out into any Indecencies of +Complaint; let us not attempt to harden ourselves against our Sorrows +by a stern Insensibility, or that sullen Resolution which sometimes +says, _It is a Grief, and I must bear it_[w]; but let us labour, (for +_a great Labour_ it will indeed be,) to compose and quiet our Souls, +calmly to acquiesce in this painful Dispensation, nay, cordially to +approve it as in present Circumstances every Way fit. + +IT will be the main Business of this Discourse, to prove how +reasonable such a Temper is, or to shew how much Cause Christian +Parents have to borrow the Language of the Text, when their Infant +Offspring is taken away, and to say with the pious _Shunamite_, in the +noblest Sense that her Words will bear,--_It is well._ + +AND here I would more particularly shew,--It is well in the general, +because GOD does it:--It is surely well for the pious Parents in +particular, because it is the Work of their Covenant GOD:--They may +see many Respects in which it is evidently so, by observing what +useful Lessons it has a Tendency to teach them:--And they have Reason +to hope, it is well with those dear Creatures whom GOD hath removed in +their early Days. + +THESE are surely convincing Reasons to the Understanding: Yet who can +say, that they shalt be Reasons to the Heart? _Arise, O GOD, and plead +thine own Cause_[x] in the most effectual Manner! May thy powerful and +gracious Voice appease the swelling Billows of the Passions, and +produce a great and delightful Calm in our Souls, in which we may yet +enjoy thee and ourselves, tho' a Part of our Treasure be for the +present swallowed up! + + +I. THERE is surely Reason, in such a Case, to say _it is well_,--because +GOD doth it. + +THIS pass'd for an unanswerable Reason with _David, I was dumb, I +opened not my Mouth, because thou didst it_[y], and with good old +_Eli,_ under a severer Tryal than ours, _It is the Lord, let him do as +seemeth good in his Sight_[z]. And shall We object against the Force +of it? Was it a Reason to _David_, and to _Eli_, and is it not equally +so to us? Or have We any new Right to _reply against GOD_[a], which +those eminent Saints had not? + +_His kingdom ruleth over all_[b]; and there is _not_ so much as _a +Sparrow that falls to the Ground without our Father, but the very +Hairs of our Head are all number'd_[c] by him. Can we then imagine +that our dear Children fall into their Graves without his Notice or +Interposition? Did that watchful Eye that _keepeth Israel_, now, for +the first time, _slumber and sleep_[d], and an Enemy lay hold on that +fatal Moment to bear away these precious Spoils, and bury our Joys and +our Hopes in the Dust? Did some malignant Hand stop up the Avenues of +Life, and break its Springs, so as to baffle all the Tenderness of the +Parent, and all the Skill of the Physician? Whence does such a Thought +come, and whither would it lead? Diseases and Accidents are but second +Causes, which owe all their Operations to the continued Energy of the +great original Cause. Therefore GOD says, _I will bereave them of +Children_[e]; _I take away the Desire of thine Eyes with a +Stroke_[f]_. He changeth their Countenance, and sendeth them away_[g]. +_Thou Lord turnest Man to Destruction, and sayest, Return ye Children +of Men_[h]. And what shall we say? Are not the Administrations of his +Providence wise and good? Can we _teach him Knowledge_[i]? Can we tax +him with Injustice? Shall the Most High GOD learn of us how to govern +the World, and be instructed by our Wisdom when to remove his +Creatures from one State of Being to another? Or do we imagine that +his Administration, in the general Right and Good, varies when he +comes to _touch our Bone and our Flesh_[k]_?_ Is that the secret +Language of our Soul, "That _it is well_, others should drink of the +Cup, but not We; that any Families but ours should be broken, and any +Hearts but ours should be wounded?" Who might not claim the like +Exemption? and what would become of the Divine Government in general; +or where would be his obedient Homage from his Creatures, if each +should begin to complain, as soon as it comes to his own Turn to +suffer? Much fitter is it for us to conclude, that our own Afflictions +may be as reasonable as those of others; that amidst all the _Clouds +and Darkness_ of this present Dispensation, _Righteousness and +Judgment are the Habitation of his Throne_[l]; and, in a word, that +_it is well_, because GOD hath done it. It suits the general Scheme of +the Divine Providence, and to an obedient submissive Creature that +might be enough; but it is far from being all. For, + + + +II. PIOUS PARENTS, under such a Dispensation, may conclude _it is well +for them_ in particular,--because he, who hath done it, is their +Covenant GOD. + +THIS is the great Promise, to which all the Saints under the Old and +New Testament are Heirs, _I will be to them a God, and they shall be +to me a People_[m]: And if we are interested in it, the happy +Consequence is, that we being his, all our Concerns are his also; all +are humbly resigned to him,--and graciously administer'd by him,--and +incomparably better Blessings bestowed and secured, than any which the +most afflictive Providence can remove. + +IF we have any Share in this everlasting Covenant, all that we are or +have, must, of course, have been _solemnly surrender'd_ to GOD. And +this is a Thought peculiarly applicable to the Case immediately in +view. "Did I not," may the Christian, in such a sad Circumstance, +generally say, "did I not, in a very solemn Manner, bring this my +Child to God in Baptism, and in that Ordinance recognize his Right to +it? Did I not, with all humble _Subjection to the Father of +Spirits_[n], and _Father of Mercies_[o], lay it down at his Feet, +perhaps with an express, at least to be sure with a tacit Consent, +that it should be disposed of by him, as his infinite Wisdom and +Goodness should direct, whether for Life or for Death? And am I now to +complain of him, because he has removed not only a Creature of his +own, but one of the Children of his Family? Or shall I pretend, after +all, to set up a Claim in Opposition to his? A Heathen Parent, even +from the Light of Nature, might have learn'd silent Submission: How +much more then a Christian Parent, who hath presented his Child to GOD +in this initiatory Ordinance; and perhaps also many a time, both +before and since, hath presented himself at the Table of the Lord! +Have I not there taken that _Cup of Blessings_, with a declared +Resolution of accepting every other _Cup_ how bitter soever it might +be, _which my heavenly Father_ should see fit to _put into my +Hand_[p]? When I have perhaps felt some painful Fore-bodings of what I +am now suffering; I have, in my own Thoughts, particularly singled out +that dear Object of my Cares and my Hopes, to lay it down anew at my +Father's Feet, and say, _Lord thou gavest it to me, and I resign it to +thee; continue, or remove it, as thou pleasest._ And did I then mean +to trifle with GOD? Did I mean in effect to say, _Lord, I will give it +up, if thou wilt not take it?"_ + +REFLECT farther, I beseech you, on your _secret Retirements_, and +think, as surely some of you may, "How often have I there been on my +Knees before GOD on account of this Child; and what was then my +Language? Did I say, Lord, I absolutely insist on its Recovery; I +cannot, on any Terms or any Considerations whatsoever, bear to think +of losing it?" Sure we were none of us so indecently transported with +the fondest Passion, as to be so _rash with our Mouths_ as _to utter_ +such _Things before_ the Great GOD[q]. Such Presumption had deserv'd a +much heavier Punishment than we are now bearing, and, if not +retracted, may perhaps still have it.--Did not one or another of us +rather say, "Lord, I would humbly intreat, with all due Submission to +thy superior Wisdom and sovereign Pleasure, that my Child may live; +but if it must be otherwise, _not my Will, but thine be done_[r]? I +and mine are in thine Hand, _do with me_, and with them, _as seemeth +good in thy Sight_[s]". And do we now blame ourselves for this? Would +we unsay it again, and, if possible, take ourselves and our Children +out of his Hands, whom we have so often owned as all-wise and +all-gracious, and have chosen as our great Guardian and theirs? + +LET it farther be consider'd, it is done by that GOD who has _accepted +of this Surrender_, so as to undertake the Administration of our +Affairs: "He is become my Covenant GOD in Christ," may the Christian +say; "and, in consequence of that Covenant, he hath engaged to manage +the Concerns and Interests of his People so, that _all Things shall +work together for good to them that love him_[t]: And do I not love +him? Answer, Oh my Heart, dost thou not love thy GOD much better than +all the Blessings which Earth can boast, or which the Grave hath +swallowed up? Wouldst thou resign thine Interest in him to recover +these precious Spoils, to receive this dear Child from the Dust, a +thousand times fairer and sweeter than before? Rather let Death devour +every remaining Comfort, and leave me alone with him; with whom when I +indeed am, I miss not the Creatures, but rather rejoice in their +Absence, as I am then more intire with _him whom my Soul loveth._ And +if I do indeed love him, this Promise is mine, and _all Things_, and +therefore this sad Event in particular, _shall work together for my +good._ Shall I not then say, _It is well?_ What if it exceeded all the +Stretch of my Thoughts, to conceive _how_ it could, in any Instance, +be so? What are my narrow Conceptions, that they should pretend to +circumscribe infinite Wisdom, Faithfulness, and Mercy? Let me rather, +with _Abraham, give Glory to God, and in Hope believe against +Hope_[u]". + +ONCE more; let us consider how many _invaluable Blessings_ are given +us by this Covenant, and then judge whether we have not the utmost +Reason to acquiesce in such an Event of Providence. "If I am in +Covenant with God," may the Believer say, "then he hath pardoned my +Sins, and renewed my Heart, and hath made his blessed Spirit dwelling +in me, the sacred Bond of an everlasting Union between him and my +Soul. He is leading me through the Wilderness, and will, ere long, +lead me out of it to the heavenly _Canaan_. And how far am I already +arrived in my Journey thither, now that I am come to the Age of losing +a Child! And when GOD hath done all this for me, is he rashly to be +suspected of Unkindness? _He that spared not his own Son_[w], he that +gave me with him his Spirit and his Kingdom, why doth he deny, or why +doth he remove, any other Favour? Did he think the Life of this Child +too great a Good to grant, when he thought not Christ and Glory too +precious? Away with that Thought, Oh my unbelieving Heart, and with +every Thought which would derogate from such rich amazing Grace, or +would bring any thing in comparison with it. Art thou under these +Obligations to him, and wilt thou yet complain? With what Grace, with +what Decency canst thou dispute this, or any other Matter, with thy +GOD? _What Right have I yet to cry any more to the King?_[x]" Would +any of you, my Brethren, venture to say, "What tho' I be a Child of +GOD, and an Heir of Glory, it matters not, for _my Gourd is withered_; +that pleasant Plant which was opening so fair and so delightful, under +the Shadow of which I expected long to have sate, and even _the Rock +of Ages_ cannot shelter me so well? I can behold that beloved Face no +more, and therefore I will not look upward to behold the Face of GOD, +I will not look forward to Christ and to Heaven?" Would this, my +Friends, be the Language of a real Christian? Nay, are there not many +abandon'd Sinners who would tremble at such Expressions? Yet is it not +in effect the Language of our tumultuous Passions, when, like +_Rachel,_ we are _mourning for our Children,_ and _will not be +comforted, because they are not_[y]? Is it not our Language while we +cannot, like the pious _Shunamite_ in the Text, bring our afflicted +Hearts to say, _It is well?_ + + + +III. PIOUS PARENTS, in such a Circumstance, have farther Reason to +say, _It is well_,--as they may observe an apparent Tendency in such a +Dispensation to teach them a Variety of the most instructive and +useful Lessons, in a very convincing and effectual Manner. + +'TIS a just Observation of _Solomon_, that _the Rod and Reproof give +Wisdom_[z]; and 'tis peculiarly applicable to such a Chastisement of +our heavenly Father. It should therefore be our great Care to _bear +the Rod and him that hath appointed it_[a]; and so far as it hath a +Tendency to teach us our Duty, and to improve the divine Life in our +Souls, we have the highest Reason to say, that _it is_ indeed _well._ + +EVERY Affliction hath in its Degree this kind of Tendency, and 'tis +the very Reason for which _we are_ thus _chastened_, that we may +_profit_ by our Sorrows, and be made _Partakers of God's Holiness_[b]. +But this Dispensation is peculiarly adapted, in a very affecting +Manner,--to teach us the Vanity of the World,--to warn us of the +Approach of our own Death,--to quicken us in the Duties incumbent upon +us, especially to our surviving Children,--and to produce a more +intire Resignation to the Divine Will, which is indeed the surest +Foundation of Quiet, and Source of Happiness. + +I SHALL insist a little more particularly on each of these; and I +desire that it may be remembered, that the Sight and Knowledge of such +mournful Providences as are now before us, should, in some Degree, be +improved to these Purposes, even by those Parents whose Families are +most prosperous and joyful: May they learn Wisdom and Piety from what +_we_ suffer, and their Improvements shall be acknowledged as an +additional Reason for _us_ to say, _It is well._ + + + +1. WHEN GOD takes away our Children from us, it is a very affecting +Lesson of the Vanity of the World. + +THERE is hardly a Child born into it, on whom the Parents do not look +with some pleasing Expectation that it shall _comfort them concerning +their Labour_[c]. This makes the Toil of Education easy and +delightful: And truly 'tis very early that we begin to find a +Sweetness in it, which abundantly repays all the Fatigue. Five, or +four, or three, or two Years, make Discoveries which afford immediate +Pleasure, and which suggest future Hopes. Their Words, their Actions, +their very Looks touch us, if they be amiable and promising Children, +in a tender, but very powerful Manner; their little Arms twine about +our Hearts; and there is something more penetrating in their first +broken Accents of Indearment, than in all the Pomp and Ornament of +Words. Every Infant-Year increases the Pleasure, and nourishes the +Hope. And where is the Parent so wise and so cautious, and so +constantly intent on his Journey to Heaven, as not to measure back a +few Steps to Earth again, on such a plausible and decent Occasion, as +that of introducing the young Stranger into the Amusements, nay +perhaps, where Circumstances will admit it, into the Elegancies of +Life, as well as its more serious and important Business? What fond +Calculations do we form of what it _will be_, from what _it is_! How +do we in Thought open every Blossom of Sprightliness, or Humanity, or +Piety, to its full Spread, and ripen it to a sudden Maturity! But, oh, +who shall teach those that have never felt it, how it tears the very +Soul; when GOD roots up the tender Plant with an inexorable Hand, and +withers the Bud in which the Colours were beginning to glow! Where is +now our Delight? Where is our Hope? Is it in the Coffin? Is it in the +Grave? Alas! all the Loveliness of Person, of Genius, and of Temper, +serves but to point and to poison the Arrow, which is drawn out of our +own Quiver to wound us. Vain, delusive, transitory Joys! "And such, Oh +my Soul," will the Christian say, "such are thine earthly Comforts in +every Child, in every Relative, in every Possession of Life; such are +the Objects of thy Hopes, and thy Fears, thy Schemes, and thy Labours, +where Earth alone is concerned. Let me then, once for all, direct mine +Eyes to another and a better State. From these _broken Cisterns_, the +Fragments of which may hurt me indeed, but can no longer refresh me, +let me look to the _Fountain of living Waters_[d]. From these setting, +Stars, or rather these bright but vanishing Meteors, which make my +Darkness so much the more sensible, let me turn to the _Father of +Lights._ Oh Lord, _What wait I for? my Hope is in thee_[e], my Pure +Abode, my everlasting Confidence! My Gourds wither, my Children die; +but _the Lord liveth, and blessed be my Rock, and let the God of my +Salvation be exalted_[f]. I see, in one Instance more, the sad Effects +of having over-loved the Creature; let me endeavour for the future, by +the Divine Assistance, to fix my Affections there where they cannot +exceed; but where all the Ardor of them will be as much my Security +and my Happiness, as it is now my Snare and my Distress." + + + +2. THE Removal of our Children by such awful Strokes may warn us of +the Approach of our own Death. + +HEREBY GOD doth very sensibly shew us, and those around us, that _all +Flesh is as Grass, and all the Glory_ and Loveliness _of it like the +Flower of the Field_[g]. 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 me_[h]. One of my Family, and some of +us may add, the Firft-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. THE Providence before us may be farther improved to quicken us in +the Duties of Life, and especially in the Education of surviving +Children. + +IT is, on the Principles I hinted above, an Engagement, that _whatever +our Hand findeth to do, we should do it with all our Might_, since it +so plainly shews us that we are _going to the Grave, where there is no +Device, nor Knowledge, nor Working_[j]: 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 will _ere long_ apply 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 more _convenient Season_[k], 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. + +BUT I 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 GOD hath 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 the _Israelites_, to +_talk of them going out and coming in, lying down and rising up_[l]? +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, GOD might have put a Word +into its dying Lips, which I might all my Life have recollected with +Pleasure, and _out of its_ feeble _Mouth might have perfected +Praise_[m]?" + +MY Friends, let us humble ourselves deeply before GOD under 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 be _that_ with regard to every Child that yet remains, which we +proposed and engaged to be to that which is taken away, when we +pleaded with GOD for 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 say _it is well_, if it teach us so useful a +Lesson. + + + +4. THE Providence before us may have a special Tendency to improve our +Resignation to the Divine Will; and if it does so, it will indeed be +_well_. + +THERE is 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 [*]Sir _William Temple_ finely 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 GOD in Prayer; till at length the Storm is laid, and +_Tribulation worketh Patience, and Patience Experience, and Experience +a Hope which maketh not ashamed,_ while _the Love of God is so shed +abroad in the Heart_[n], 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 Salvation_[o]. And when we are brought to this, the whole Horizon +clears, and the Sun breaks forth in its Strength. + +NOW I appeal to every sincere Christian in the Assembly, whether there +will not be Reason indeed to say _it 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. THAT pious Parents have Reason to hope _it is well_ with those +dear Creatures who are taken away in their early Days. + +I SEE not that the Word of GOD hath 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 the _Ninevites_[p], +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 Adam_ they _all died_, they may _in Christ all +be made alive_[q]. At least, methinks, from the Covenant which GOD +made with _Abraham_, and his Seed, _the Blessings of which_ are _come +upon the_ believing _Gentiles_[r], there is Reason to hope well +concerning the Infant Offspring of GOD'S People, early devoted, and +often recommended to him, that their _Souls_ will be _bound in the +Bundle of Life_[s], and _be loved for their Parents Sakes_[t]. + +IT is, 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. + +NOW for 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, where _little Children_ are 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; whose _tender +Mercies are over all his Works_[t]; who declares that Judgment is _his +strange Work_[u]; who _is very pitiful, and of tender Mercy_[w], +_gracious and full of Compassion_[x]; who _delighteth in Mercy_[y]; +who _waiteth to be gracious_[z]; and _endureth, with much +Long-suffering,_ even _the Vessels of Wrath fitted to Destruction_[a]. +He intimately _knows our Frame_[b], 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 thou _open thine Eyes on such a one, to bring_ it _into_ +strict _Judgment with thee_[c]? 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? + +LET us farther consider, as it is a very comfortable Thought in these +Circumstances, the compassionate Regard which the blessed _Jesus_ +expressed to little Children. He was _much displeased_ with those who +forbad their being _brought_ to him; _and said, Suffer them to come +unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of GOD_; and +_taking them up in his Arms, he laid his Hands upon them, and blessed +them_[d]. In another Instance we are told, that he _took a little +Child_, (who appears to have been old enough to come at his Call,) and +_set 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 +Heaven_[e]. 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 +the _first Fruits of the Spirit_[f], which he would, in due Time, have +ripened into Christian Graces, and are now, on a sudden, perfected by +that great Almighty Agent _who worketh all, and in all_[g]? + +SURE I 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. + +NOW what a noble Source of Consolation is here! Then may the +affectionate Parent say, "_It is well_, not only with me, but _with +the Child_ too: Incomparably better than if my ardent Wishes, and +importunate Prayers for its Recovery, had been answered. _It is_ +indeed _well_, if that beloved Creature be _fallen asleep in +Christ_[h]; 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 truly _loved_ my Child with a solid, rational Affection, I should +much rather _rejoice_, to think _it is gone to_ a heavenly _Father_[i], +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 GOD hath taken it to the Family above? And +what if he hath chosen to bestow the distinguished Favour on _that +one_ of 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. _Howe_ expressed it on another Occasion, "_If GOD be 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' GOD loves +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?_[k] Was this my Desolation? this my +Sorrow? to part with thee for a few Days, _that I might receive thee +for Ever_[l], 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. + +IN the 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 GOD still 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 is_ +therefore _well_. + +IT only remains, that I conclude with a few Hints of farther +Improvement. + + + +1. LET pious Parents, who have lost hopeful Children _in a maturer +Age_, join with others in saying, _It is well_. + +MY Friends, 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. + +I KNOW you 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 acknowledge _it 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 apparently _made meet_? Some of them, perhaps, had +already quitted their Father's House: As for others, had GOD spared +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 GOD into 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. + +ON the 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 GOD did 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._ + +BUT while 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 your _Absaloms_, and almost wishing +_you had died for them_[m]? Shall I urge _you_ to say _it is well?_ +Perhaps you may think it a great Attainment, if, like _Aaron,_ when +his Sons _died before the Lord_, you _can hold your Peace_[n], under +the awful Stroke. My Soul is troubled for you; _my Words are_ almost +_swallowed 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 GOD is +setting before _you_. For surely you still have abundant Reason to +rejoice in that Grace, which gives your own _Lives 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. FROM what we have heard, let us learn not to think of the Loss of +our Children with a slavish Dread. + +IT is 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 GOD hath 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, we _sorrow not as those who have no +Hope_[p]. 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 GOD should 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. LET us not sink in hopeless Sorrow, or break out into clamorous +Complaints, if GOD has brought this heavy Affliction upon us. + +A STUPID Indifference would be absurd and unnatural: GOD and Man might +look upon us as acting a most unworthy Part, should we be like _the +Ostrich in the Wilderness, which hardeneth herself against her young +ones, as if they were not hers; because GOD hath deprived her of +Wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her Understanding_[q]. 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 GOD hath 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 properly _bring to our Remembrance_[r]; and let that +silence us, and teach us to own, that _'tis of the Lord's Mercies we +are not consumed_[s], and that we are _punished less than our +Iniquities deserve_[t]. 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, Even _this is well._ And may +the GOD of 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 whose _tabernacles are in Peace_[u], and whose +_Children are yet about you_[w], that you would not be severe in +censuring our Tears, till you have experimentally known our Sorrows, +and yourselves tasted _the Wormwood and the Gall_, which we, with all +our Comforts, must have in a long and a bitter _Remembrance_[x]. + + + +4. LET those of us who are under the Rod, be very solicitous to +improve it aright, that in the End it may indeed be _well_. + +HEAR, my Brethren, my Friends and Fellow-Sufferers, hear and _suffer +the word of Exhortation_[y]. 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 GOD is calling us to Mourning +and Lamentation, be _searching and trying our Ways, that we may turn +again unto the Lord_[z]. 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 infinitely _better to us than ten +Children_[a], who hath _given us a Name better than that of Sons or of +Daughters_[b], 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. + +ETERNAL Glory, my Friends, is so great a Thing, and the compleat Love +and Enjoyment of GOD so 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 +our _Isaac's_ have been conditionally sacrificed, and where we +commemorate the real Sacrifice which GOD hath made even of his only +begotten Son for us. May our other Sorrows be suspended, while we +_mourn for him whom we have pierced, as for an only Son, and are in +Bitterness as for a First-born_[c]. 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 Houses _are not so with +GOD_, as they once were, as we once expected they would have been, but +_he 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:_ May _it be all our Salvation, +and all our Desire_[d]; and then it is but a little while, and all our +Complaints will cease. _GOD will wipe away these Tears from our +Eyes_[e], 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 Victory_[f], 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, that _All was indeed well_. Amen. + + +_FINIS._ + + + +Footnotes. + ++ _The Duke of_ Burgundy. _See_ Cambray's _Life_, p. 329. + +* Tibi monstrabo Amatorium sine Medicamento, sine Herbis, sine ullius +Veneficae; Carmine, _Si vis amari, ama._ SEN. + +a Heb. iv. 15.--Heb. ii. 18. + +b 2 Cor. i. 4. + +c Job iv. 3,--5. + +d Job xv. 11. + +e Isa x. 18. + +f Heb. xii. 9. + +g Lev. x. 3. + +h Job i. 21. + +i Math. xxi. 16. + +k Luke i. 18. + +l Luke i. 38. + +m Jon. ii. 2. + +n Jon. iv. 9. + +o 2 Kings iv. 18, 20. + +p 1 Kings xvii. 17, & seq. + +* See _Henry_, in loc. + +q 1 Tim. vi. 11; 2 Tim. iii. 17. + +r 2 Kings. iv. 23. + +s Isa. xxxix. 8. + +t Ezek. xxiv. 16. + +u Psal. cxli. 3. + +w Jer. x. 19. + +x Psal. lxxiv. 22. + +y Psal. xxxix. 9. + +z 1 Sam. iii. 18. + +a Rom. ix. 20. + +b Psal ciii. 19. + +c Matt. x. 29, 30. + +d Psal. cxxi. 4. + +e Jer. xv. 7. + +f Ezek. xxiv. 16. + +g Job xiv. 20. + +h Psal. xc. 3. + +i Job xxi. 22. + +k Job. ii. 5. + +l Psal. xcvii. 2. + +m Heb. viii. 10. + +n Ibid. xii. 9. + +o 2 Cor. i. 3. + +p John xviii. 11. + +q Eccles. v. 2. + +r Matt. xxvi. 39. + +s 2 Sam. xv. 26. + +t Rom. viii. 28. + +u Rom. iv. 18, 20. + +w Ibid. viii. 32. + +x 2 Sam. xix. 28. + +y Jer. xxxi. 15. + +z Prov. xxix. 15. + +a Mich. vi. 9. + +b Heb. xii. 10. + +c Gen. v. 29. + +d Jer. ii. 13. + +e Psal. xxxix. 7. + +f Ibid. xviii. 46. + +g 1 Pet. i. 24. + +h Job xvii. 1. + +j Eccles. ix. 10. + +k Acts xxiv. 25. + +l Deu. vi. 7. + +m Matth. 21. 16. + +* _Temple_'s Essays, Vol. I. p. 178. + +n Rom. v. 3--5. + +o Hab. iii. 17, 18. + +p Jonah iv. _ult_. + +q 1 Cor. xv. 22. + +r Gal. iii. 14. + +s 1 Sam. xxv. 29. + +t Rom. xi. 28. + +t Psal. cxlv. 9. + +u Isa. xxviii. 21. + +w James v. 11. + +x Psal. cxi. 4. + +y Micah vii. 18. + +z Isa. xxx. 18. + +a Rom. ix. 22. + +b Psal. ciii. 14. + +c Job xiv. 3. + +d Mark x. 13,--16. + +e Mat. xviii. 2, 3. + +f Rom. viii. 23. + +g 1 Cor. xii. 6. + ++ I bless GOD, all these Things were very evident in that dear Child, +whose Death occasioned this Discourse. + +h 1 Cor. xv. 18. + +i John xiv. 28. + +* _Howe_'s Life, _pag_. 32. _Fal. Edit._ + +k Isa. xlix. 21. + +l Philem. _ver_. 13. + +m 2 Sam. xviii. 33. + +n Lev. x. 3. + +* In the Sixth of my _Sermons to young Persons_, intitled, _The +Reflections of a pious Parent on the Death of a wicked Child._ + +p 1 Thess. iv. 13. + +q Job xxxix. 16, 17. + +r 1 Kings xvii. 18. + +s Lam. iii. 22. + +t Ezra ix. 13. + +u Job v. 24. + +w Ibid. xxix. 5. + +x Lam. iii. 19, 20. + +y Heb. xiii. 22. + +z Lam. iii. 40. + +a 1 Sam. i. 8. + +b Isa. lvi. 5. + +* _N. B._ This Sermon was preached _October_ 3, 1736. it being +Sacrament Day. The Child died _October_ 1. + +c Zech. xii. 10. + +d 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. + +e Rev. xxi. 4. + +f 1 Cor. xv. 54. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Submission to Divine Providence in the +Death of Children, by Phillip Doddridge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEATH OF CHILDREN *** + +***** This file should be named 26097.txt or 26097.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/9/26097/ + +Produced by Keith G Richardson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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