A39658:50
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.
1. By their Death, when Go• lops off the hopeful springing Branches thereof; especially th• last and only Prop of it, in whom not only all the care and love, bu• all the hope and expectation of th• Parents is contracted and bound up. For, 1Omnis in Aseanio stat chary cur• parentis. The hearts of tender Parents are usually bound up in the life of an only Son. As a mans Wife is but himself divided, so his Children ⟨p. 21⟩•re but himself multiplied; and •hen all love and delight, hope •nd expectation, is reduced to one, ••e affection is strong, and that •akes the affliction so too. If it •ere not an unparalleled grief a•ong all earthly griefs and sorrows, the Spirit of God would ne•er have chosen and singled it out •om among all other sorrows, to illustrate sorrow for sin by it, yea, •orrows for that special sin of piercing Christ, as he doth. They •all look upon him whom they have pierced, 2and shall mourn for him, as ••e that mourneth for an only son. How naked are those Walls, and •ow unfurnished is that House, •here the Children (its best Ornaments) are taken down and removed by Death! It is natural to •ll men, to desire the continuance f their Names and Families in he Earth; and therefore when God cuts off their expectations in hat kind, they look upon themselves as dry Trees, or as the withering Stalks in the Fields, when he Flowers are fallen off and blown way from them.