A39658:10
The balm of the covenant applied to the bleeding wounds of afflicted saints First…
The balm of the covenant applied to the bleeding wounds of afflicted saints First composed for the relief of a pious and worthy family, mourning over the deaths of their hopeful children; and now made public for the support of all Christians, sorrowing on the same or any other account. To which is added, A sermon preached for the funeral of that excellent and religious gentleman John Upton of Lupton esq; by John Flavell, preacher of the gospel at Dartmouth in Devon.The balm of the covenant applied to the bleeding wounds of afflicted saints First composed for the relief of a pious and worthy family, mourning over the deaths of their hopeful children; and now made publick for the support of all Christians, sorrowing on the same or any other account. To which is added, A sermon preached for the funeral of that excellent and religious gentleman John Upton of Lupton esq; by John Flavell, preacher of the gospel at Dartmouth in Devon.
London: printed for J. Harris, 1688
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
IF I find it an hard Task to write on such a doleful Subject, it cannot be imagined but your part must be abundantly harder, ⟨image 3⟩who feel over and over what is here written. Could I tell how to administer Counsels and Comforts to you, without exasperating your Sorrows, I would certainly take that way; but seeing the one (in this case) cannot be done without the other, 'tis our Duty to submit to the method Providence hath prescribed to us.
The design of the ensuing Discourse, is to evince the truth of what seems a very great Paradox to most men, namely, that the Afflictions of the Saints can do them no hurt, ⟨image 3⟩and that the Wisdom of Men and Angels cannot lay one circumstance of their condition (how uneasy soever it seems to be) better, or more to their advantage than God hath laid it. I attempt not by a flourish of Rhetoric to persuade you against the Demonstrations you can fetch from Sense and Feeling to the contrary, but to overthrow the false Reasonings of Flesh and Sense, by the allowed Rules of Scripture and sure Principles of Religion.
The design of the ensuing Discourse, is to evince the truth of what seems a very great Paradox to most men, namely, that the Afflictions of the Saints can do them no hurt, ⟨image 3⟩and that the Wisdom of Men and Angels cannot lay one circumstance of their condition (how uneasie soever it seems to be) better, or more to their advantage than God hath laid it. I attempt not by a flourish of Rhetorick to perswade you against the Demonstrations you can fetch from Sense and Feeling to the contrary, but to overthrow the false Reasonings of Flesh and Sense, by the allowed Rules of Scripture and sure Principles of Religion.