A39658:248
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.
Fifthly, 1The consideration of the time in which good men die, aggravates the loss, and justly incenses the sorrow of them that remain, and that upon a threefold account. (1.) That it falls out in the declining state of Religion, when the Spirit and power of Godliness is so much weakened and impoverished. This is like the loss of good Blood in a consumptive Body, which must bring it very low. (2.) That it falls out also in a time when the numbers of the Godly are so much thinned and lessened, not when the Churches Children ⟨p. 134⟩say in her Ears, The place is too straight, give place that we may dwell; but when they are everywhere lamenting, the paucity and scarcity of good men, as the Psalmist did, Psal. 12.1. Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, for the righteous fail from among the children of men. At a time when they are bewailing themselves in the language of the Prophet, Micah 7.1. Woe is me, for I am as when they have gathered the summer-fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat; my soul desired the first ripe fruit. Alluding to a hungry man that goes into a Vineyard to refresh his spirits with the fruit thereof; but alas, there is not one pleasant bunch to be found, none but sower Grapes, to increase his Hunger, and set his Teeth on edge. (3.) And that which much more aggravates the loss, is this: when it falls in a time wherein the spring and succession of good men is obstructed. In this case Death, like a storm of Wind, overturns the fairest, ⟨p. 135⟩pleasantest, and most fruitful Trees in the Orchard, when there is no Nursery from whence others may be taken to plant in their rooms.
Fifthly, 1The consideration of the time in which good men die, aggravates the loss, and justly incenses the sorrow of them that remain, and that upon a threefold account. (1.) That it falls out in the declining state of Religion, when the Spirit and power of Godliness is so much weakned and impoverished. This is like the loss of good Bloud in a consumptive Body, which must bring it very low. (2.) That it falls out also in a time when the numbers of the Godly are so much thinn'd and lessen'd, not when the Churches Children