Heaven and set his own Superscription upon or suffer the Mortal Enemy to rob him of what 's so Dear and Precious to him Joh. 10.28,29 No no they have all the Safety that Infinite Love in Conjunction with Infinite Power can give them Tho' Death have removed them from this Region of Sensible Supports and Comforts yet Death has not put an utter end to them They are not perish'd by the Removal nor relaps'd into their First nothing but still live in the Divine World and another kind of Life than they liv'd here in this Vale of Sin and Sorrow 2. Having such Intimations of Hope Parents may be comforted That their own Loss is their dear Childrens Gain We can part with our Children here to Places and Countries at a remote distance and comfort our selves with this That it is for their Benefit and Gain though but a poor Worldly Gain And may we not more comfortably part with them to Heaven where their Gain infinitely exceeds any thing we can propose here below Phil. 1.21 You Tender and Sorrowful Parents you lose their Sweet and Delightful Company you lose their Charming and Refreshing Converse And as a Person that has been conducted by the Light of a Candle in the Night is the more sensible of the Darkness when it is taken away so it may be you are the more over-clouded with Sorrow by the Loss of your Hopeful Children after the sweet of your Enjoyment than if you had never enjoyed them But do you duely consider what you do You think you express your dear Love to them in your Sorrow for parting with them But should not true Love oblige you rather to rejoyce in their Gain than to grieve for your own Loss Though you are Losers yet they are infinite Gainers And should not the Thought of that diffuse a sensible Pleasure into your troubled Minds and reduce them to a Serene Calm They exchange Earthly Parents who it may be have wanted no Tenderness towards them but it is for an Heavenly Father who is not only Loving but pure and perfect Love it self They bid adieu to their Dear but Imperfect Friends here below but it is to go to better and more desirable Friends above where there is all Perfection and Pleasure and Harmony They put off their filthy Garments of sinful Mortality but it is to be arrayed with shining Robes of Immortality and Glory They are called from a State of Sin and Sorrow and Temptation here but it is to pass into an endless State of perfect Purity and Joy in the Blessed Mansions above They are snatch'd out of your tender and Compassionate Arms but they are received into the dearer Embraces of a Glorified Redeemer They are taken from your Charge and Care but they are taken under the immediate Wing and Care of a Faithful Covenant-keeping God Oh Blessed Exchanged Who would not take Comfort at the Thoughts of their Children or Friends making such a Glorious and Happy Change 3. Having this Hope Parents may be supported that they and their Children shall meet again with Rejoycing Though you and they are separated for the present yet it 's not an Everlasting Separation You shall meet again not indeed by their Return unto you but by your going unto them 2 Sam. 12.23 as afflicted David comforts himself as to his Child And your Meeting shall be in another manner than now you part Your parting indeed is sorrowful and attended with a great deal of Bitterness and Exercise what by dying Agonies on the one side and what by cutting Resentments on the other But the Comfort of your Meeting will infinitely countervail the Sorrow of your parting You part in the vile Rags of perishing Mortality but your Meeting will be in the Royal Robes of Immortal Holiness and Glory You part in Tears and Fears and Complaints and Sorrows but you meet again with Everlasting Joy upon your Heads with all Tears wiped from your Eyes and with all Fears banish'd from your Hearts never to sin never to Sorrow any more You part so as to expect to see one another no more in this Lower Region but you shall meet again in the Coelestial Regions above never to be separated any more but to enjoy God and one another in God for ever You part from one another Mourning though bearing your precious Seed but you shall meet again Rejoycing bringing your full Sheaves with you Oh Triumphant Meeting How reviving must the Thought of it be What Mournful Breast is there whose Soul springs not within him at the Prospect of such a Meeting Set the Joys of Meeting against all the Afflictive Circumstances of Parting and refuse to be comforted it you can Having thus dispatcht the Doctrinal Part it remains now that we make some short Application 1. Let me address a few words to you Mournful Parents both you who are immediately concerned in the present occasion and all others in the like case Your Faces are covered with Sadness and your Hearts ready to bleed within you over the Loss of your Dear and Hopeful Children But let Consideration govern your Passion and while you are shewing your Parental Affection in your Mourning labour to express your Christian Moderation in carrying your selves like Mourners of Hope And therefore 1. Indulge not an unbounded Sorrow For the same Hand that hath made you to bleed hath not left you without an Healing Balsam seasonably to close up again the gaping Orifice You need not take on as those that have no Hope or as those that have bruied their Children and their Hopes both in the same Grave 1 Thess 4.13 You may not sit down in your Despondency with Hagar Gen. 21.16,19 as if you had no Well of Consolation by you when the Well is so near you though your Children be gone and gone never to return more yet God call'd them not away till they had left with you some Blessed Pledges of Hope to let you know whither they were a going Tho' you are never like to see them nor to hear from them nor of them any more till you go where they are yet they were not sufifered to leave you till they had dropt some sweet Tokens into your Bosom which may be a sensible Support till you meet again And having such Encouragement does it become you to Mourn as if the Swelling-Waves knew no Bounds There be many that Die who neither carry any good ground of Hope with them nor leave any good ground of Hope behind them to their surviving Relations And indeed I scarce know a more humbling afflictive Case that can befal Godly Persons then when they have the bitter Occasion to mourn over Hopeless Relations who neither had any Comfort in their own Death nor left any matter of Comfort behind them This was probably the wounding Ingredient 2 Sam. 2.23 that made David so passionate in his Resentments when he had lost his Absalom But this is not your Case though the
cross and sour upon the Management of any Holy Duty Thereby manifesting their secret Disrelish of and prevailing Aversness unto things of a Spiritual Heavenly Character But on the contrary when Children evidence a pleasant Towardliness to the Holy ways of God when they manifest a dear Affection to Prayer and reading good Books and Religious Discourse as performed and managed by others and when they frame themselves to these things in what Manner and Measure their short Capacity will admit making up in the Will wherein they come short in the Work This is also a very Amiable Hopeful Symptom It 's left as a Mark of Honour upon young Josiah That when he was but Eight Years old he walked in the ways of his Father David to do that which was Right in the Sight of the Lord. 2 Kin. 22.1,2 What a lovely Discovery was it of an Immortal Seed dropt into the Heart when it thus began to sprout above Ground How delightful were such early and choice Beginnings The Power of Divine Grace must be at work betimes where the Effects were so Early and Signal Well It ministers no less matter both of Delight and Hope to see our Children beginning to savour the things of God and to disrelish their Childish Vanities in the timely Spring of their Day And it cannot but bespeak a new Divine Palat formed in the Soul to which the Vanities of Youth are so unsavoury and the Exercises of Heaven so Grateful and Pleasant 4. A Thoughtful Concernment about an Eternal State is another hopeful Indication of early Goodness Childhood is a Time of Life that ordinarily runs so much into Froth and Vanity that it seldom admits of any serious Consideration How difficult is it to fasten a serious Thought upon Children either of their Duty or Danger either of their Present State or Future Doom Their Vain Minds are possess'd with their Childish Trifles Eccles 11,10 that there 's no Entertainment for Thoughts or Fears or Cares of an higher Nature They are so charmed by the present Allurements of Time that they know not how to apply their Minds to the more solemn Concerns of Eternity And therefore where any Thoughtfulness appears of this kind it is the more remarkable For Children to be possess'd with an Awful Sense of an Eternal State to hear them inquiring What they shall do to be saved to see them concerned about Death and Judgment and Heaven and Hell must be much more than the same things in grown Persons It 's the more observable in them by how much it 's the more rare and more contrary to the Temper of that Foolish Age. It 's rare to have a Child's Mind composed to any thing and much more to things that lie so remote from Sense and Fancy which are their chief Governing Principles Whence then must these Thoughts have their Original To what Spring must they be ascribed Certainly to no other than the secret Operation of Heaven Children do not use to look into their Graves or take a Prospect of Eternity but when the Finger of the Almighty powerfully directs them thither They do not use to entertain themselves with Anxieties about another World or what will be their suture State therein but when such Thoughts are dropt from above And how seldom do such Thoughts abide but when they are rivetted by the same Hand that made the first Impression When therefore Thoughts of this Nature take up such early Possession in the Minds and Hearts of Children it is a Token of very comfortable Signification 5. A real Desire after an Interest in Christ is another Intimation that affords a good Ground of refreshing Hope What an Encouraging Presage doen it suggest to hear Children timely inquisitive after the Blessed Jesus asking who and what is he and of what use to the Souls of Sinners And upon Intelligence received to be mighty sollicitous and concerned about an Interest in his Grace and Mercy Our blessed Saviour himself who was no Stranger to the early Appearances of Divine Grace lays it down as a fundamental Maxim Job 17.3 This is LIfe Eiernal to know the only God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent It 's Eternal Life in the Seed though not in the Flower in the Beginnings though not in the Perfection of it The first Buddings of Spiritual and consequently of Eternal Life are frequently couched in Pleasing Inclinations to hear of this Incomparable Person and in secret Desires to have a Part and Lot in him And this argues both some Conviction of a lost State by Nature and also some Spiritual Acquaintance with the Nature Uses and Ends of Jesus Christ as the great Contrivance of Heaven for saving Perishing Souls Why do such Souls esteem it their concern to look after a Saviour but that they are in some measure sensible of their guilty undone Condition by reason of Sin And why do they desire to be interested and wrapt up in the Mercies of a Gracious Jesus but that they have had some Beam of DivineLight breaking into their Minds whereby to understand him as the great Propitiation ordained of the Father for Guilty Sinners You must allow for the Incapacity of Children in not coming to that distinct Acquaintance with Christ which maturer Years may arrive unto But it is a singular Foundation of Hope when they know so far of themselves as to be afraid of dying in a Natural State and so far of Jesus Christ as to breathe out their Hearts in an Affectionate Concernment for a Portion in him as the only Saviour of dying Souls And more may be wrapt up in a Sigh a Groan a Word a Tear of theirs to this purpose than we are aware of 6. A tender Fearfulness of known Sin is another hopeful Testimony of early Goodness We must indeed make allowance for the unballasted Temper of Childish Years which cannot be expected to be altogether free from the Vanities and Follies of that Age But when Children are under powerful Impressions of Fear of doing any thing which they are convinced to be downright Sin and this not so much from a Servile Awe of the Rod as from an ingenuous Tenderness of Heart it cannot but suggest a good Hope notwithstanding some Childish Follies that they may be incident to Children cannot be supposed to have that explicite and extensive Knowledge of Sin that riper Years may attain unto But what they understand to be Sin they are sensible it 's offensive to God and displeasing to their Godly Parents as well as Damning to their own Souls and from all these Considerations are possessed with an Awful Fear of doing amiss Who can esteem this any other than a Divine Spark struck from Heaven into their Hearts while yet in their tender Minority How fearful have some Children been in Lying tho' an Iniquity too commonly incident to that Age of taking the Name of God in vain of profaning the Sabbath or bearing apart in the wicked Excesses that other
Children run into How conscientious have some been to reprove their Fellows that have been involved in these and such like Vices and that to the Admiration of such as have observed them How careful have some been to avoid the Company of those that could not be reclaimed from their early Prophaness They have had no mind to Play or Converse or keep Company with such tho' under many Temptations thereunto What Construction can be made of this early Tenderness but that it is some line or stroke of the New Creature drawn in the Heart of such young ones which may justly encourage Parents to entertain a Comfortable Hope concerning them It 's observed as a Character of a Gracious Import in the young King Josiah 2 Kin. 22.19 That his Heart was tender When Conscience is so early impressed with the Sense of Sin and Duty it is a good Sign It 's taken notice of as an early Appearance of Goodness in this young Prince and it is the like in others where-ever it is found Jer. 32.40 Being a Branch of that Fear which God hath promised to put into the Hearts of his own People 7. An Obediential Regard unto Parents is another Argument for Good As it is a frequently-repeated Charge upon Children Eph. 6.1 Col. 3.20 To obey Parents in the Lord so it is a very Promising Intimation when they are early affected with the Conscience of their Duty in this particular Disobedient Children as they are the Grief and Heart-break of their Parents for the present so they generally give but a very poor Prospect of Hope for the future especially when their Disobedience is attended with Contempt and Obstinacy Accordingly it is very observable that among the Persons whom the Children of Israel were to pronounce Accursed upon Mount-Ebal Contemptuous Undutiful Children are set almost in the very Front of the Black Catalogue Next to the Idolater that Maketh and Worshippeth any Graven or Mosten Image Deut. 27 16. is He that setteth Light by his Father and Mother And what blacker Mark of Infamy and Hopelesness can be put upon any Persons than to be set in the Forefront of such as the Curse of Heaven is upon To bear any Place in that miserable Beadroll is sad enough But to be the very second Rank of the Accursed Crew bespeaks the Case to be particularly dreadful and discouraging But on the contrary dutiful obedient Children as they are the Joy and Crown of their Parents while they live so they give very good Ground of Hope when they come to die For they are the Children of Promise And if they have not the Promise made good to them in a long Life upon Earth it cannot but be comfortably hoped that a Gracious and Faithful God will fulfil it in that which is better even Life everlasting in Heaven I know the Exterternal Acts of Obedience may proceed from different Springs or Principles whichmay often vary the case A Child may yield outward Obedience from Fear as well as from Love The dread of the Rod may overawe them when Love and the Sense of Duty does not incline them and in that case we cannot make so hopeful a Conclusion But when a Child's Obedience evidently springs from an Obediential Disposition when it is influenced not so much by a slavish awful Fear as by Principles of Conscience Love and Reverence Love and Reverence to Parents and Conscience to the Command of God it cannot but be reckon'd a very encouraging Symptom It 's recorded to the Honour of our blessed Saviour That he was Subject to his Parents Tho' the Advancement of his Humane Nature into the Person of the Son of God advanced him above any Obligations of that kind yet to testifie how natural how amiable how becoming Obedience to Parents is himself yielded all the Subjection and Obedience that could be expected from the Relation He was Subject that was Lord over all to leave a blessed Example to Children to be and do likewise And it cannot but be esteemed an Hopeful sign to be conformable to so good a Pattern It 's a part of the Image of the blessed Son of God Rom. 8.29 to which all the Children of God are predestinated to be conformed And any Branch of Conformity to that Image cannot but afford a good Hope concerning those in whom it is found Do you see then Children giving all becoming Proofs of their inward Acknowledgment of and Veneration for their Parents Do you see them careful to please and fearful to offend and grieve them When other Children are Proud and Stomachful and Self-will'd impatient either of Advice or Reproof Do you see these listning to their Parent 's Exhortations and melting under their Reproofs When others make no matter of disobeying and offending and provoking their Parents Do you see these efflicted and grieved at themselves for grieving theirs When the Obedience of others lasts no longer than while their Parents Eye is over them Do you see these bear a tender respect to their Parents Pleasure and Favour as well from under as while they are under their Parents Eye In a word Do you see them Fearful of or Penitent for any thing that looks like Undutifulness Such Children but be lookt on as leaving a good Testimony behind them tho' snatcht away in their Morning-age 8. A particular Love to good People is another hopeful Appearance in Children That Love to the Saints is made an evidence of Grace in Adult Persons is so plain in Scripture that nothing can be plainer Particularly it 's the Mark mainly insisted upon by the Beloved Disciple John whose own Heart being much affected with Love to God and the Brethren he makes this a Principal Tryal with respect to others I need not point to all the places that occur in his Epistles to this purpose That one is enough 1 Joh. 3.14 We know that we are pasled from Death unto Life because we love the Brethren Observe he lays it down not meerly as a probable but as a Damonstrative Argument We know that is with an Holy Confidence and Assurance that we are passed from Death unto Life from a State of Sin unto a State of Grace because we love the Brethren that is the Children of God as such or under that Consideration and Character And as this is a Character so express in Scripture so in Experience it has been so singularly useful that it has supported the Spirits and quieted the Fears of many doubting Souls when all their other Graces not being so perceptible in their Operations have been able to afford them little or no Relief Now if it be an Argument of such Evidence in grown Persons why may we not allow it the like evidentialness with respect to Children It 's true Love may be caused by such Motives as may prove too weak a Foundation to build upon in this case as when it proceeds from nearness of Natural Affinity or from a sweetness of Temper and