1. He does it in Mercy to themselves. He that has determined in Heaven that Evil shall come, has also determined that his Servants whose Death is precious in his sight, shall be taken out of the way before that Evil comes. So it is sometimes as to particular Families. If some Tragical thing is to befall the Children, their good Father must be taken away first. As for the man that is dead and gone to another World, his Sons are brought low and ⟨p. 14⟩he perceiveth it not of them, Job 14.21. Ecclesiastes says, that the Dead know not any thing. They know not any thing of our particular Affairs in this World, and therefore if Affliction befalls us they are not grieved or at all concerned for it. Thus also, when there are Public Calamities hastening on the World, God takes away his Servants before those Evils come. We have an instance for this in Josiah: The Lord said to him, I will gather thee to thy Fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy Grave in Peace, neither shall thy Eyes see all the Evil that I will bring on this Place, and upon the Inhabitants of the same, 2 Chron. 34.28. Notwithstanding Josiah dyed in War, yet was he gathered to his Grave in Peace, for not only did he die in Peace with God, and his Soul entered into Everlasting Peace, but there was Public Peace and Tranquillity in the Kingdom until his death. But had Josiah lived so long as according to the ordinary course of Nature he might have done, had he lived to have been but a little above Threescore years, what doleful things must his Eyes have seen? He must have seen Jerusalem destroyed, ⟨p. 15⟩the Temple burnt, his Kingdom ruined, one of his Sons brought to an Ignominious death, who notwithstanding he was a King, and a Kings Son had the burial of an Ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem; he must have seen another of his Sons fallen into the hands of a barbarous Enemy, who caused his Eyes to be put out, and bound him in chains, and carried him into Captivity, and kept him in Prison to the day of his death: He must have seen his Grand-children slain in the presence of their Father, before his Eyes were put out. All these Evils came in little more than Twenty years after Josiah's death: Therefore he must be taken away that so he might not behold them, nor any of them.
1. He does it in Mercy to themselves. He that has determined in Heaven that Evil shall come, has also determined that his Servants whose Death is precious in his sight, shall be taken out of the way before that Evil comes. So it is sometimes as to particular Families. If some Tragical thing is to befal the Children, their good Father must be taken away first. As for the man that is dead and gone to another World, his Sons are brought low and ⟨p. 14⟩he perceiveth it not of them, Job 14.21. Ecclesiastes says, that the Dead know not any thing. They know not any thing of our particular Affairs in this World, and therefore if Affliction befals us they are not grieved or at all concerned for it. Thus also, when there are Publick Calamities hastning on the World, God takes away his Servants before those Evils come. We have an instance for this in Iosiah: The Lord said to him, I will gather thee to thy Fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy Grave in Peace, neither shall thy Eyes see all the Evil that I will bring on this Place, and upon the Inhabitants of the same, 2 Chron. 34.28. Notwithstanding Iosiah dyed in War, yet was he gathered to his Grave in Peace, for not only did he dy in Peace with God, and his Soul entred into Everlasting Peace, but there was Publick Peace and Tranquillity in the Kingdom until his death. But had Iosiah lived so long as according to the ordinary course of Nature he might have done, had he lived to have been but a little above Threescore years, what doleful things must his Eyes have seen? He must have seen Jerusalem destroyed, ⟨p. 15⟩the Temple burnt, his Kingdom ruined, one of his Sons brought to an Ignominious death, who notwithstanding he was a King, and a Kings Son had the burial of an Ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Ierusalem; he must have seen another of his Sons fallen into the hands of a barbarous Enemy, who caused his Eyes to be put out, and bound him in chains, and carried him into Captivity, and kept him in Prison to the day of his death: He must have seen his Grand-children slain in the presence of their Father, before his Eyes were put out. All these Evils came in little more than Twenty years after Iosiah's death: Therefore he must be taken away that so he might not behold them, nor any of them.
