A39658:63
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.
Proposition II.
The merciful God, in condescension to the weakness of his people, hath provided the best supports and reliefs for their feeble and afflicted Spirits.
1In the multitude of the thoughts I had within me, thy comforts delight my Soul. Carnal men seek their relief, under trouble, from carnal things; when one Creature forsakes them, they retreat to another which is yet left them, till they are beaten out of all, and then their hearts fail, having no acquaintance ⟨p. 29⟩with God, or special interest in him: for the Creatures will quickly spend all that allowance of comfort they have to spend upon us. Some try what relief the Rules of Philosophy can yield them, supposing a neat sentence of Seneca may be as good a remedy as a Text of David or Paul; but alas, it will not do: submission from fatal necessity, will never ease the afflicted mind, as Christian resignation will do. It is not the eradicating, but regulating of the affections, that composes a burdened and distracted Soul. One word of God will signify more to our peace, than all the famed and admired Precepts of men.
1In the multitude of the thoughts I had within me, thy comforts delight my Soul. Carnal men seek their relief, under trouble, from carnal things; when one Creature forsakes them, they retreat to another which is yet left them, till they are beaten out of all, and then their hearts fail, having no acquaintance