But we did not, we do not know, What they might be, in case they were continued among the Living on the Earth. We cannot tell whether our Sons would prove as Plants grown up in their Youth, and our Daughters as Corner-stones polished after the similitude of a Palace; or, whether our Sons might not, like Isaac's Son, do those things that would be a grief of Mind unto us, and our Daughters like Jephta's Daughter, be of them that Trouble us. Christians, let us be content that our wise and good God should Carve our Portion for us; he will appoint us none but a goodly Heritage. Our Temptation is no more than ⟨p. 50⟩what is common to Men, yea, and to good Men. The biggest part of those Humane Spirits that are now beholding the Face of God in Glory, are such as dwelt in the Children of Pious people, departed in their Infancy. And what have we to say, why we should not undergo it as well as they! Was the Infant whose Decease we do deplore, one that was very Pretty, one that had pretty Features, pretty Speeches, pretty Actions? Well, at the Resurrection of the Just we shall see the dear Lambs again; the Lord Jesus will deal with our dead Children as the Prophets▪ Elijah and Elisha did by those whom they Raised of Old; he will bring them to us, recovered from the pale Jaws of Death; and how Amiable, how Beautiful, how Comely they will then be, no Tongue is able to express, or Heart conceive. Tho' their Beauty do Consume in the Grave, yet it shall be Restored, it shall be Advanced, when they shall put off their Bed-cloths in the Morning of the day of God. Again, Was the Infant now lamented, very suddenly snatched away? and perhaps Awfully too! not merely by a Convulsion, but by Scalding, by Burning, by Drowning, by Shooting, by Stabbing, or by some unusual Harm? Truly, it is often ⟨p. 51⟩so, that the quicker the Death, the better. It is more desirable for our Children to feel but a few Minutes of Pain, than it is for them to lye Groaning in those exquisite Agonies which would cause us even our selves to wish that the Lord would take them out of their Misery. As for any more grievous and signal circumstance attending of our Dying Children, our best course will be to have it said of us, They ceased, saying, The Will of the Lord be done! As the Love or Wrath of God is not certainly declared in, so, our Grief before him should not be too much augmented by such things as these.
But we did not, we do not know, What they might be, in case they were continued among the Living on the Earth. We cannot tell whether our Sons would prove as Plants grown up in their Youth, and our Daughters as Corner-stones polished after the similitude of a Palace; or, whether our Sons might not, like Isaac's Son, do those things that would be a grief of Mind unto us, and our Daughters like Iephta's Daughter, be of them that Trouble us. Christians, let us be content that our wise and good God should Carve our Portion for us; he will appoint us none but a goodly Heritage. Our Temptation is no more than ⟨p. 50⟩what is common to Men, yea, and to good Men. The biggest part of those Humane Spirits that are now beholding the Face of God in Glory, are such as dwelt in the Children of Pious people, departed in their Infancy. And what have we to say, why we should not undergo it as well as they! Was the Infant whose Decease we do deplore, one that was very Pretty, one that had pretty Features, pretty Speeches, pretty Actions? Well, at the Resurrection of the Iust we shall see the dear Lambs again; the Lord Jesus will deal with our dead Children as the Prophets▪ Elijah and Elisha did by those whom they Raised of Old; he will bring them to us, recovered from the pale Jaws of Death; and how Amiable, how Beautiful, how Comely they will then be, no Tongue is able to express, or Heart conceive. Tho' their Beauty do Consume in the Grave, yet it shall be Restored, it shall be Advanced, when they shall put off their Bed-cloths in the Morning of the day of God. Again, Was the Infant now lamented, very suddenly snatch'd away? and perhaps Awfully too! not meerly by a Convulsion, but by Scalding, by Burning, by Drowning, by Shooting, by Stabbing, or by some unusual Harm? Truly, it is often ⟨p. 51⟩so, that the quicker the Death, the better. It is more desirable for our Children to feel but a few Minutes of Pain, than it is for them to lye Groaning in those exquisite Agonies which would cause us even our selves to wish that the Lord would take them out of their Misery. As for any more grievous and signal circumstance attending of our Dying Children, our best course will be to have it said of us, They ceased, saying, The Will of the Lord be done! As the Love or Wrath of God is not certainly declared in, so, our Grief before him should not be too much augmented by such things as these.
