A39658:94
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.
All Afflictions in their own n••ture, are a part of the Curse; the•• are the consequents and punishments of sin; they work naturall• against our good: but when on• they are taken into the Covenant their nature and property is altered. As Waters in their subterranean passages meeting some virtuous Mineral in their course, a•• thereby impregnated and endowed with a rare healing property […] the Body; so Afflictions passing through the Covenant, receive from it an healing Virtue to our ⟨p. 43⟩souls. They are in themselves sour and harsh, as wild Hedge-Fruits; but being ingrafted into this stock, they yield the pleasant Fruits of Righteousness. If his children break my Statutes, 1and keep not my Commandments, then will I visit their iniquity with the rod, and their sins with stripes: nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take away, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. Here you may see all the Rods of Affliction put into the Covenant, as Aaron's Rod was into the Ark. And hence two things necessarily follow.
All Afflictions in their own n••ture, are a part of the Curse; the•• are the consequents and punis••ments of sin; they work naturall• against our good: but when on• they are taken into the Covenan• their nature and property is alte••ed. As Waters in their subterr••nean passages meeting some ver•tuous Mineral in their course, a•• thereby impregnated and endow•ed with a rare healing property the Body; so Afflictions passing through the Covenant, receive from it an healing Vertue to our