A50157:64
Right thoughts in sad hours representing the comforts and the duties of good men…
Right thoughts in sad hours representing the comforts and the duties of good men under all their afflictions; and particularly, that one, the untimely death of children: in a sermon delivered at Charles-town, New England; under a fresh experience of that calamity.Right thoughts in sad hours representing the comforts and the duties of good men under all their afflictions; and particularly, that one, the untimely death of children: in a sermon delivered at Charls-town, New England; under a fresh experience of that calamity.
London: printed by James Astwood, 1689
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.
Those very things which your Affliction lies in the absence of, might for ought you can say, be very much unto your prejudice.
That very Joseph, that very Simeon, that very Benjamin, which you are Afflicted for the want of, might do you more Hurt than Good.
That very Ioseph, that very Simeon, that very Benjamin, which you are Afflicted for the want of, might do you more Hurt than Good.
Even in outward Respects, you cannot determine what is best for you: It were as much Arrogance in you to direct the Providence of God, as it was Blasphemy in the well-known Prince to Correct the Creation of God, when he said, Had I been by at the Making of the World, I could have shown how some things might have been better done. Perhaps you are Afflicted, because your Possessions about you are diminished; but have you not read in Eccl. 5. 13. of Riches kept to the hurt of the Owners: Many a Mans Cash has been his Crime; his House has cost him his Head, by his Land he has forfeited his Life; the poor Heathen of old, cursing of his Enemy, wished that he might be a Rich man. Perhaps you are Afflicted because of a little Mud thrown upon your Reputations; but have you not read in Prov. 27. 14. How pernicious a thing it is to have too much Applause in the World? To be too well spoken of, procures that Envy, before which, Who can stand? The Breath in the Trumpet of Fame not rarely carries a Plague, and a Bane to them whose Names it founds. It may be, your Affliction is the loss of Children; well, have you not read such a Message sent to a godly Man, as that in 1 Sam. 2. 33