Part 3

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.