they were deprived of those comforts other men have in their Posterity yet he would not have them look upon themselves as dry Trees a Covenant-interest would answer all and recompence abundantly the want of Children or any other earthly comfort Certainly therefore David was at the right door of relief and comfort when he repairs to the Covenant as here in the Text Yet hath he made with me an everlasting Covenant There or nowhere the Relief of Gods Afflicted is to be found Now to make any thing become a compleat any perfect relief to an afflicted Spirit these three Properties must concur and meet in it else it can never effectually relieve any man. I. It must be able to remove all the causes and grounds of troubles II. It must be able to do so at all times III. It must be capable of a good personal security to us For if it only divert our troubles as Creature-comforts use to do and do not remove the ground and cause of our trouble 't is but an Anodine not a Cure or Remedy And if it can remove the very ground and cause of our trouble for a time but not for ever then 't is but a temporary relief our troubles may return again and we left in as bad case as we were before And if it be in it self able to remove all the causes and grounds of our trouble and that at all times but not capable of a personal security to us or our well-established interest in it all signifies nothing to our relief But open your eyes and behold O ye afflicted Saints all these Properties of a compleat relief meeting together in the Covenant as it is display'd in the Text. Here is a Covenant able to remove all the grounds and causes of your trouble for it is ORDER'D iâ— all things or aptly disposed by the wisdom and contrivance of God to answer every cause and ground of trouble and sorrow in our hearts It is able to do this at all times as well in our day as in David's or Abraham's day for it is an Everlasting Covenant its vertue and efficacy is not decay'd by time And lastly it is capable of a good personal security or assurance to all Gods afflicted people for it is a Sure Covenant The concurrence of these three Properties in the Covenant makes it a compleaâ— Relief a perfect Remedy to which nothing is wanting in the kind and nature of a Remedy These three glorious Properties of the Covenant are my proper Province to open and confirm for your support and comfort in this Day of Trouble I. That the Covenant of Grace is able to remove all the causes and grounds of a Believers trouble be they never so great or many This I doubt not will be convinceingly evidenced and demonstrated by the following Arguments or undeniable Reasons Argument I. Whatsoever disarms Afflictions of the only sting whereby they wound us must needs be a compleat Relief and Remedy to the afflicted Soul. But so doth the Covenant of Grace it disarms Afflictions of the only sting by which they wound us Therefore the Covenant of Grace must needs be a compleat Relief and Remedy to the afflicted Soul. The sting of all Afflictions is the guilt of sin when God smites Conscience usually smites too and this is it that causes all that pain and anguish in the afflicted 'T is plainly so in the Example of the Widow of Zarephath when her son her only son and probably her only child died how did that stroke of God revive guilt in her Conscience and made the affliction piercing and intolerable as appears by her passionate Expostulation with Elijah who then sojourned in her house What have I to do with thee O thou man of God art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son Q. d. What injury have I done thee Didst thou come hither to observe my sins and pray down this Judgment upon my Child for them The death of her son revived her guilt and so it generally doth even in the most holy men When Iob looked upon his wasted body under Afflictions every wrinkle he saw upon it seemed to him like a witness rising up to testifie against him Thou hast filled me with wrinkles which is a witness against me and my leaness rising up in me beareth witness to my face Affliction is like a Hue and Cry after sin in the ears of Conscience and this is the envenom'd poysonous sting and Affliction pluck out this and the afflicted man is presently eased though the matter of the affliction still abide with him and lie upon him He is afflicted still but not cast down by affliction the anguish and burden is gone though the matter of trouble remain This is plain both in Scripture and in Experience Suitable hereunto is that strange but sweet Expression The inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities It 's not to be imagined these people had found such a fortunate Island oâ— happy Climate where no Disease could touch or invade their Bodies no sickness will find oâ— the Bodies of the best men where ever they live wherever sin haâ—â— been sickness and death will foâ—â—low it Heaven is the only prâ—â—viledg'd place from these miseries but the meaning is though theâ— be sick they shall not feel thâ— pains and burdens of sickness they shall not say they are sick Anâ— why so because their iniquitieâ— are forgiven Plainly confirminâ— what was before asserted that the anguish of an Affliction is gone as soon as ever the sting of guilâ— is plucked out And hence parâ—doning of the Soul and healing oâ— the Body are put together as coâ—â—jugate mercies Bless the Lord O my soul who forgiveth all thine iniquities and healeth all thy diseases When the soul is at ease the pains of the body are next to nothing sickâ—ness can cloud all natural joys but not the joy of a Pardon Nay which is yet more pluck out but the sting of sin and there is no horrour in Death the King of Terrours and worst of all outward Evils See how the pardoned Believer triumphs over it O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin They are words of defiance as men use to deride and scorn a boasting insulting Enemy when they see him cast upon his back and his sword broken over his head Heus uhi nunc fastus altaque verba jacent Where are your boasts and menaces now O Death thou hast lost thy sting and terrour together Thus the pardoned Believer with an holy gallantry of spirit derides and contemns his disarmed Enemy Death so then 't is manifest that whatever plucks out the poysonous sting of Affliction must needs be an effectual Remedy and Cure to the afflicted person But this the Covenant of Grace doth it reveals and applies Gospel-remission to them that are
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 Iohn Vpton of Lupton Esq By IOHN FLAVELL Preacher of the Gospel at Dartmouth in Devon. London Printed for I. Harris at the Harrow against the Church in the Poultrey 1688. To the Vertuous And much Honoured MADAM VRSVLA VPTON OF Lupton in Devon. MADAM IF I find it an hard Task to write on such a doleful Subject it cannot be imagined but your part must be abundantly harder who feel over and over what is here written Could I tell how to administer Counsels and Comforts to you without exasperating your Sorrows I would certainly take that way but seeing the one in this case cannot be done without the other 't is our Duty to submit to the method Providence hath prescribed to us The design of the ensuing Discourse is to evince the truth of what seems a very great Paradox to most men namely that the Afflictions of the Saints can do them no hurt and that the Wisdom of Men and Angels cannot lay one circumstance of their condition how uneasie soever it seems to be better or more to their advantage than God hath laid it I attempt not by a flourish of Rhetorick to perswade you against the Demonstrations you can fetch from Sense and Feeling to the contrary but to overthrow the false Reasonings of Flesh and Sense by the allowed Rules of Scripture and sure Principles of Religion And methinks you and every Christian should gladly entertain that comfortable conclusion when you shall find the foundation of it as strong as the influences thereof are sweet and comfortable Certainly Madam the intent of the Redeemer's undertaking was not to purchase for his People Riches Ease and Pleasures on Earth but to mortifie their Lusts heal their Natures and spiritualize their Affections and thereby to fit them for the eternal fruition of God. Upon this supposition the truth of this conclusion how strange soever it seems is firmly built It was not without divine direction that the subject of the ensuing Discourse was as pertinently as seasonably recommended to me by your dear Husband in the day of your sorrows for your only Son. He took I hope his Portion of Comfort out of it before he died and it is now left as a Spring of Comfort to you who then mourned with him and now for him Heavy Pressures call for strong Support and fainting Seasons for rich Cordials Your Burden is indeed heavy yet I must say 't is much our own fault they are so heavy as we feel them to be for according to the measure of our delight in and expectation from the Creature is our sorrow disappointment when we part from it The highest Tydes are always followed with the lowest Ebbs. We find Temperance and Patience knit together in the same Precept and Intemperance and Impatience as inseparably connected in our own Experience It may be we did not suspect our selves of any sinful excess in the time of their enjoyment but it now appears the Creature was gotten deeper into our hearts than we imagined by the pain we feel at parting Did we not lean too hard upon it there would not be such shakings as we feel when it is slipt from us But Madam 't is high time to recal your thoughts and bound your sorrows which the following Considerations would greatly assist you in 1. What is the very ground and reason of our excessive sorrows for the â—oss of earthly Comforts â—s it not this that they are perishing and transitory that is that you find them to be as God made them And can you expect that God should alter the Laws of Nature to please and humour us It is as natural to our Relations to die as it is to Flowers to wither or the Moon to wane 2. That there is no such necessary connection betwixt these things and our comfort that whenever God removes the one he must needs remove the other with it Christ and Comfort are indeed so united but nothing beside him is or can be so I hope you will shortly experience the truth of this Conclusion by the Comforts God will give you in the absence of those Comforts you have lost Can you not now have as free access to God as before Yea do not these very Afflictions send you oftener into his presence And if God meet you in those duties as in days of distress he uses to meet his People then it will be evident to you that your Joy and Comfort lives though your Husband and Children be laid in their Graves 3. That the removinâ— of your earthly Comforts hinders not but that yoâ— may still pursue the greaâ— end and business of youâ— life and carry on all youâ— designs for Heaven as successfully as ever Indeed Madam had we been sent into this World to raise Estates contract Relations and then sit down in the midst of them as our Portion then our design had been utterly dasht and disappointed but you know this is not your main end or great business upon Earth but to honour God by an holy fruitful life here and make â—eady for the full enjoyment of him hereafter And what hinders but you â—ay as prosperously maâ—age and carry on this â—our design as ever You â—o not think the Travelâ—er is disabled for his Jourâ—ey because he hath fewâ—r clogs and hindrances â—â—an before I think few Christians find much furâ—â—erance Heavenward by â—â—eir multiplicity of Enâ—agements or Enjoyments 〈◊〉 this World. Your â—â—res and fears about these â—â—ings will now lie in a â—arrower compass than they did before and there by you may have yoâ— thoughts more about yoâ— to attend the great coâ—â—cerns of Gods glory anâ— your own salvation 4. But above all yoâ— will certainly find yoâ— relief and consolation 〈◊〉 lie in the everlasting Câ—â—venant of God. Thenâ— it was that David fetcâ— his support under a muâ—â— heavier Burden adn smaâ—â—ter Rod than yours fâ—â— your Relations were suâ—â— as gave you comfort their lives and left yâ—â— many grounds of hope their deaths but his weâ— taken away in their sins But though the grounds of his sorrow blessed be God are not yours yet I hope the grounds of his comfort in the Text are fully yours I confess I have prepared these things in too much hast and distraction of thoughts which in this juncture was unavoidable nor have I bestowed much of Art or Language upon them and if I had they would have been never the more effectual to your relief for that But such as they are I humbly present them to you with my hearty Prayers That God would make them a Soveraign Balm by the blessing of
under-propp'd A bowing Wall doth not more need a strong Shore or Butteress than the mind of man needs â— strong Support and Stay from Heaven when the weight of Affliction makes it incline and leaâ— all one way Unless thy Law haâ— been my delights I should then havâ— perished in my affliction Q. d. Whaâ— shift other men make to stand the shock of their afflictions I know not but this I know that if God had not seasonably sent me the relief of a promise I had certainly gone away in a faint fit of Despondency O how seasonably did God administer the Cordials of his Word to my drooping sinking Soul This weakness in the mind to support the burdens of Affliction proceeds from a double cause viz. 1. From the sinking weight of the Affliction 2. From the irregular and inordinate workings of the thoughts under it 1. From the sinking weight that is in Affliction especially in some sorts of Afflictions they are heavy pressures ponderous burdens in themselves So Iob speaks O that my grief were throughly weighed and my calamity laid in the balances together for now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea therefore my words are swallowed up Q. d. If all the Sand that lies upon all the shores in the World were shovelled up into one heap and cast into one scale and my sorrowâ— into the other my grief would weigh it all up How heavy are the hearts of the afflicted what insupportable sorrows do they feel and groan under especially when God smites them in the dearest and nearest concerns they have in the World 2. But especially the reelings and staggerings of the mind are occasioned by the inordinate and irregular workings of its own thoughts Were it but possible to keep the mind in a serene sedate and ordinate frame our burdens would be comparatively light to what we now feel them to be but the falling of the thoughts into confusions and great distractions spoils all Upon this account iâ— is that Afflictions are compareâ— to a stupifying Dose which casâ— the Soul into amazement Thâ—â— hast shewed thy people hard thingâ— thou hast made us to drink the wiâ— of astonishment Afflictions are called the Wine of Astonishment from their effects upon the mind for under a great and sudden stroke of God it is like a Watch wound up above its due height so that for a time it stands still neither Grace nor Reason move at all and when it begins to move again O how confused and irregular are its motions It is full of murmurs disputes and quarrels these aggravate both our sin and misery 'T is our own thoughts which take the Arrow God shot at us which did but stick before in our Clothes and was never intended to hurt us but only to warn us and thrust it into our very hearts For T1houghts as well as Ponyards can pierce and wound the hearts of men Luke 2.35 A sword shall pierce through thine own soul i. e. thy thoughts shall pierce thee They can shake the whole fabrick of the Body and loose the best compacted and strongly joynted parts of the Body Dan. 5.6 His thoughts troubled him and the joynts of his loyns were loosed And thus a mans own mind becomes a Rack of Torment to him a misery which no Creatures except men and Devils are subjected to O how many Bodies have been destroy'd by the Passions of the Soul they cut through it as keen Knife through a narrow Sheath Worldly sorrow works death 2 Cor. 7.10 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 In 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 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 burthened and distracted Soul. One word of God will signifie more to our peace than all the famed and admired Precepts of men To neglect God and seek relief from the Creature is to forsake the Fountain of living Waters and go to the broken Cisterns which can hold no water The best Creature is but a Cistern not a Fountain and our dependance on it makes it a broken Cistern strikes a hole through the bottom of it so that it can hold no water I even I saith God am he that comforteth thee The same hand that wounds you must heal you or you can never be healed Ouâ— compassionate Saviour to asswage our sorrows hath promised he wiâ—â— not leave us comfortless Our God will not contend for ever lest the Spirit fail before him Isai. 57.16 He knew how ineffectual all other comforts and Comforters would be even Physicians of no value and therefore hath graciously prepared comforts for his distressed ones that will reach their end Proposition III. God hath gathered all the materialâ— and principals of our relief into the Covenant of Grace and expects that 〈◊〉 betake our selves unto it in times oâ— distress as to our sure sufficient and only Remedy As all the Rivers run into the Sea and there is the Congregation of all the Waters so all the Promises and Comforts of the Gospel are gathered into the Covenant of Grace and there is the Congregation of all the sweet streams of Refreshment that are dispersed throughout the Scriptures The Covenant is the Store-house of Promises the Shop of Cordials and rare Elixirs to revive us in all our Faintings though alas most men know no more what are their Virtues or where to find them than an illiterate Rustick put into an Apothecary's Shop What was the Cordial God prepared to revive the hearts of his poor Captives groaning under hard and grievous Bondage both in Egypt and in Babylon Was it not his Covenant with Abraham And why did he give it the solemn confirmation by an Oath but that it might yield to him and all his believing Seed strong consolation the very spirit of joy amidst all their sorrows And what was the relief God gave to the believing Eunuchs that kept his Sabbaths took hold of his Covenant and chose the things in which he delighted To them saith he will I give in my house and within my walls a place and a namâ— better than that of sons or of Daughters Though
thy self before me and didst rend thy cloaths and weep before me c. He was not so intent upon his own pleasures though in the sprightly vigour of Youth nor on the weighty concerns of the Kingdom as to forget the interest of God and the greater concerns of his Glory Fourthly He was exceeding careful to propagate the interest of Religion and spread it far and wide among his People Though he could not infuse the inward Principle that was the work of God yet he did enjoyn the external practice of it upon all his Subjects which was his part and duty ver 33. He made all that were present in Israel to serve even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they departed not from following the God of their Fathers But yet good Iosiah had his mistakes and failings The best of men are but men at best He was too rash and hasty in resolving and too stiff and obstinate when resolved and this was the occasion of his ruine The case was thus Pharoah Necho King of Egypt was at that time making War upon Charchemish a place that belonged to him but was taken from him by the King of Assyria so the War of Necho was a just War and Iudah lying between him and Charchemish and being at peace with Iudah he requests leave of Iosiah to march his Army peaceably through his Country to the seat of the War Iosiah takes an Alarm from this Message and arms against him Hereupon Necho send Embassadours to Iosiah chap. 35. ver 21. saying What have I to do with thee thou king of Iudah I come not against thee this day but against the house wherewith I have war for God commanded me to make hast forbear thee from medling with God who is with me that he destroy thee not Expositors conceive Necho had this discovery of the mind of God from the Prophet Ieremiah Per oraculum non scriptum sed viva voce editum even by word of mouth If so no doubt Ieremiah also disswaded Iosiah from going out against him However this is clear Iosiah did not consult the mind of God about that expedition as he ought and was too hasty and resolute therein ver 22. Nevertheless Iosiah would not turn his face from him c. By this means this excellent man came to a tragical end and that in the very flower of his days He dies in that unhappy Expedition from which he would not be diverted is brought home to Ierusalem in the second Chariot dies and is buried in the Sepulchre of his Fathers to the universal sorrow of all good men in Israel as you read in the Text wherein we have these two parts to consider I. The Nature and Quality of the Lamentation II. The Cause and Ground of it 1. For the Lamentation here made it was extraordinary never such cries heard before in Israel at any Funeral whether we consider it either 1. Extensively 2. Intensively or 3. Protensively 1. Extensively all Iudah and Ierusalem that is City and Country mourned that day not every Individual but all that had any sense of the worth of the man the good that he did or the evils that followed upon his removal No doubt the Priests of Baal their Abettors and Associates secretly rejoyced at his fall but all good men mourned But among all the Mourners one only is specified by name and that is Ieremiah the Prophet in whom all the faithful Ministers of God were included To them he was a true and faithful Friend and in him they lost a Father and a famous Instrument of Reformation 2. Consider it Intensively as to the degree of the sorrow it was a bitter Lamentation so pungent intense and deep that the Mourning of the Iews for Christ at the time of their conversion to him is compared to this Mourning for Iosiah Zach. 12. ver 11. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Ierusalem â—s the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon This Hadadrimmon was a little Town in the Valley of Megiddon near the place of this fatal Battle whose Inhabitants receiving the first tydings of the fall of Iosiah made the Town ring with doleful Outcries and Lamentations 3. Lastly Consider it Protensively in its continuance and duration it was made an Ordinance in Israel and accordingly the singing-men and singing-women spake of Iosiah in their lamentations to this day i. e. Whenever any solemn Funeral or publick Calamity was solemniz'd in Israel those persons that were skilful in Lamentations brought in the story of Iosiah's death as the burthen of that doleful Song or Funeral-Elegy II. Let us consider the Cause and Ground of this Lamentation which certainly was great and weighty enough to justifie that sorrow as great and bitter as it was for in him they lost a faithful publick useful zealous and tender-hearted Instrument whose Life had been eminently useful to the Church of God and whose Death opened the gap to all the following Calamities upon Iudah Now considering Iosiah here especially in his religious capacity as so faithful industrious and useful an Instrument for the Church of God rather than in his political capacity as a King the Note from it will be this Doctrine That faithful active and publick spirited men in the Church of God should not be laid in their Graves without great Lamentations When Iacob was buried a man famous for Religion a great and sore lamentation was made for him Gen. 50. v. 10. And when Aaron died all the House of Israel mourned for him 30 years Num. 20. v. 29. When Stephen the Proto-Martyr died devout men carried him to his Grave with great lamentations Acts 8.2 and indeed for any good man to be laid in his Grave without lamentation is lamentable The living Saints have ever paid this respect and honour to dead Saints as men sensible of their worth and how great a loss the World sustains by their removal I know the departed souls of Saints have no concernment in these things yet respect is due to their very Bodies as the Temples wherein God hath been served and honoured as they are related to Christ who will one day put great glory and honour upon them In the Explication and Confirmation of this point I will shew you 1. Negatively on what account the death of good men is not to be lamented 2. Positively on what account Tears and Lamentations are due to them with the grounds and reasons thereof 1. Negatively there is not a Tear or Sigh due to the death of any good man upon the account of any real loss or detriment that he sustains thereby No no in this case all Tears are restrained all Sorrows prohibited by the Principles and Rules of Christianity 1 Thess. 4.13 14. Religion differences the sorrows as well as the joys of its Professors from the common joys and sorrows of the World. Dead Saints are better where they are than where they were to be with