Several Discourses Considering the Providence of God, Discourse · Part 3 · Sermon 40
SERMON XL.
1 Kings XIV. 1.
At that time Abijah the Son of Jerobam fell ſick. Verſ. 17. The child dyed.
I Am opening to you the hard Chapters of Divine Providence, Actual Providence juſtifying the Lords ways to be equal, even where they appear leſs equal to our ſenſe and reaſon. I am at preſent diſcourſing the Equity of Punitive Providences. I have here ſhewed you how conſiſtent it is with the Juſtice, Holineſs, and Goodneſs of God, to be the Author of evil to, though not in the Sons of men; the Author of the Evil of puniſhment, though not of the evil of ſin. I have ſhewed you how conſiſtent it is with the Attributes and Perfections of the Divine Nature, to puniſh and trouble his own people, even ſuch as he hath accepted of a ſatisfaction for their ſins at the hand of his Son, whoſe iniquities he hath pardoned, &c. How conſiſtent it is with the Wiſdom, Juſtice, Holineſs, and Goodneſs of God to puniſh wicked men, though he knoweth afflictions will do them no good, but make them worſe, hardening their hearts, and giving them occaſion to blaſpheme, becauſe of their plagues. But we do not only ſee adult, and grown perſons ſmitten of God and afflicted, and thoſe as well ſuch as fear God, as thoſe who have no fear of God before their eyes; but we alſo ſee children ſmitten of God, ſuch of whom we ſay, They have neither done good nor evil. The Queſtion is,
Queſt. How this diſpenſation of Actual Providence is reconcileable to the juſtice and goodneſs of God.
That which blindeth our eyes, and maketh this motion of Providence appear more hard and difficult to be underſtood by us, is the ſuppoſed innocency of children, they periſh oft-times before they come to exerciſe any acts of reaſon. Concerning the eternal ſtate of children, dying in their infancy, I ſhall determine nothing, becauſe indeed the Scripture (that I know of) no-where determines all ſo dying within the election of grace, nor that Chriſt as to all ſuch hath expiated the guilt of Adams ſin, or original corruption; nor that effectual ſaving grace doth always attend the Ordinance of Baptiſm, though they be brought under it, which yet many are not. This is a great ſecret what God doth with the ſouls of children dying in infancy. But this is not what I have to do with, what God doth with the ſouls of ſuch we ſee not; we have no ſufficient means to underſtand, and therefore freely leave them to the good pleaſure of God. But we ſee they are afflicted as well as others, they dye as much as others, if not in greater numbers. Shall we ſay the hand of God is not in this thing? Or that their ſickneſſes and deaths are no effects of punitive Providence, or vindicative juſtice, but the meer product of a diſordered nature and temper? this were certainly to contradict the holy Scriptures, where we find the afflictions of children made the matter of threatnings, the executions of puniſhments upon them aſcribed to God. God by his Prophet threatned the death of Davids child by Bathſheba; and of Jeroboams child in this Text, ſee verſ. 12. The afflictions and troubles of children riſe no more out of the duſt, nor more ſpring out of the ground than others; their afflictions come at his command, work at his command, bring forth the iſſues which he willeth them, and are puniſhments as well as the afflictions of more adult and grown perſons. My buſineſs muſt be to reconcile this motion of Divine Providence, to Divine juſtice and goodneſs. In order to which, I ſhall offer you ſeveral conſiderations.
1. Could I aſſure you, that all children dying in their infancy, are undoubtedly ſaved, either as being within the decree of election, and all of them choſen in Chriſt to eternal life before the foundation of the world, or as having their ſhare in the guilt of Adams ſin expiated by Chriſt, and their original pollution waſhed away in his blood, this queſtion were determined, and the objection of no value. It is a priviledged ſoul that firſt gets out of the priſon of the fleſh into the liberty, the glorious liberty of the ſons of God. Suppoſing this, it would be no act of juſtice and ſeverity, but mercy and goodneſs of God, to cut off our children from the womb, and from the breaſts; to deliver them from the bodily pains and aches, from all other vexations, croſſes and diſturbances which they ſhall be ſure to meet with in the world; happy, thrice happy is that ſoul certainly that makes but one leap from the womb into Abrahams boſom, that takes but one ſtep into the world, and the next into Paradiſe: and certainly this is the caſe of very many; Chriſt hath told us, that of ſuch is the kingdom of God: if all ſuch be not there (as to which the Scripture is ſilent) yet many ſuch are there, all choſen in Chriſt are there. There is good hopes of the ſeed of thoſe that fear God; the Covenant of God is with his people, and with their ſeed: and how happy are they that can get to Heaven with a groan or two, with ſuch a degree of pain and aches, as thoſe little bodies can only bear, and that before their reaſon is improved by its reflections, to make their pains and miſeries more bitter. So that as to all ſuch as are ordained unto life, the caſe is plain; Divine goodneſs is eminently ſeen in giving them ſo ſhort a paſſage through the vale of miſery, and ſhewing them a far ſhorter and nearer way to Heaven, than what more grown perſons muſt go, through much tribulation. Now though I cannot aſſure you this concerning all, yet I can concerning many, which makes the day of their afflictions and death to be much better than the day wherein it was ſaid of them, There is a child born into the world: and ſurely if the Thracians (who were heathens) upon the proſpect of no more than the miſeries to which humane life is ſubjected, could alter the common cuſtom of rejoycing at Nativities, and mourning at Burials, into a mourning at the birth of their children, and a rejoycing and triumphing at the death of their friends; we to whom a life and immortality is brought to light by the Goſpel, and to whom the immediate tranſition of elect ſouls out of a ſtate of mortality and miſery, into a ſtate of happineſs and eternal bleſſedneſs, is matter of faith, have much more reaſon to adore the goodneſs of God in the preſent determination of our childrens lives, than to quarrel at Divine Providence for bringing ſuch things to paſs, while it doth us, nor ours, any further harm than depriving us of the little pleaſure we take in beholding thoſe pictures of our ſelves, dandling them in our laps, hugging them in our boſoms, while alſo this pleaſure is embittered to us by a thouſand fears, and cares, and ſollicitudes, and troubles, for, with, and concerning them. But becauſe I cannot aſſure you this concerning all, ſomething further muſt yet be ſaid to vindicate the juſtice of God in this diſpenſation.
2. Therefore, I ſay, the original ſin of children is enough to juſtifie God in all his afflictions of Children: nor is this, that I know, denied by any valuable or conſiderable party. It was indeed the opinion of Arminius, That no perſon was damned, meerly for original ſin; but upon what grounds none of his diſciples have been able ever to tell the world, to any ſatisfaction: and it were ſtrange if they ſhould, when the Scripture ſaith expreſly, Epheſ. 2.3. That we are by nature the children of wrath, that is, (certainly) heirs of wrath, and expoſed to the wrath of God: and the Apoſtle tells us Rom. 5.18. That by the offence of one man, judgement came upon all to condemnation. Now when-as all men were by Adams ſin ſubjected to wrath and condemnation, and by their original ſin, children of wrath: what ground hath any to aſſert that none ſhall be eternally condemned meerly for original ſin, would poſe the thoughts of any intelligent perſon, I think. I do indeed know that ſome tell us, that Chriſt as to all men expiated the guilt of Adams ſin, ſome add alſo original ſin; others tell us that is all waſhed off in Baptiſm. I want one clear Scripture for any thing of this, but yet Arminius never denied (ſo far as I have read him) that infants have not upon them the guilt of original ſin, which God may puniſh certainly, if not with eternal, yet with temporal puniſhments; for even paſt and pardoned ſins may be thus puniſhed, as I have before ſhewed you in my Obſervations upon the motions of Actual Providence. Every infant cometh into the world under the guilt of the firſt mans tranſgreſſion reckoned to him, as he was in the loyns of Adam, and under the want of original righteouſneſs, with an innate pravity and corruption of nature, averſe naturally to all that is good; prone and inclined unto that which is evil. Suppoſing now what Arminius would have, and can never be proved, that God will eternally condemn none meerly for this ſin; yet ſurely he may juſtly ſcourge and correct with the utmoſt puniſhments ſhort of eternal puniſhment, even this guilt in children, which have not actually finned. It was Gods threatning annexed to his Covenant with Adam; In the day thou eateſt thereof, thou ſhalt dye. Some queſtion how God juſtified it when Adam lived to nine hundred and thirty years before he dyed. Divines therefore expound it, by eris mortalis, thou ſhalt be ſubject and liable unto death: in the day in which he did eat, he became mortal; from that day he began to dye, and was made liable to that change. Every child aſſoon it cometh into the world eateth of this forbidden fruit, I mean, becomes liable to the guilt of its proparents eating, and ſo is liable unto death. It is true, the Lord doth not cut off all children, how then ſhould the world be repleniſhed and ſtand, but yet he cutteth off ſome for the declaration of his juſtice: as a Prince, when a whole City or Province is in a rebellion, he will not cut them off all, becauſe he will not waſte and depopulate a Country; but he will cut off ſome for the declaration of his juſtice. Thus you ſee this motion of Providence is eaſily reconcileable to the juſtice of God upon this hypotheſis, that children are ſinners, and under an original guilt: and if we could be ſo confident, as ſome are, that none ſhall be damned for that ſin only, or that it is expiated on the behalf of all, or waſhed away in Baptiſm, as to all born within the pale of the Church: Yet nothing hinders but by the ſame juſtice by which God puniſheth paſt and pardoned ſins, (which I have formerly at large opened to you) God might yet juſtly trouble and afflict little ones: they might be ſick, and they might dye, as Jeroboams child mentioned in the Text did; though verſ. 13. ſaith of him expreſly, That there was ſome good thing found in him, towards the Lord God of Iſrael. Let this be a ſecond conſideration to ſatisfie you as to the righteouſneſs of God in theſe diſpenſations. But I proceed yet further.
3. This motion of Providence ſeemeth very reaſonable, and competent to the wiſdom of God. That he might declare to the world, that he is that God in whom all breath, he in whom they live, they move and have their being. If we ſhould ſee none dye but in an old age, we ſhould be ready to think, that our candle never went out but for want of oyl; and ſhould not underſtand how much we were beholden to God for every hour of life: how much we depended upon him for our daily breath, as well as for daily bread. Now it is but reaſonable, that the world ſhould underſtand God to be the fountain of life; that ſickneſs and death do not meerly depend upon ſecond cauſes; but there is a firſt cauſe, that is the efficient, the principal efficient cauſe of theſe changes, though he uſeth a variety of ſecond cauſes: he will therefore ſuffer irregular motions of humours in children, which ſhall in them cauſe ſickneſſes and death, though they never were ſurfeited with meats, nor Inflamed with drinks. He bloweth out Candles newly lighted, to let us know, that the iſſues of life and death are in his hand, and that the breath of man is not meerly in his own noſtrils; and it is but reaſonable that God ſhould make himſelf thus known to us as the God of our lives.
4. Again, this diſpenſation of Providence is reconcileable to the goodneſs of God. God by this means doth deliver little ones from the evil to come. This is the very caſe in the Text, God was bringing evil upon the houſe of Jeroboam, as he threatneth, verſ. 10, 11, 12. he intended to take away the remnant of the houſe of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung from the earth. Abijah falls ſick and dies, and this out of mercy to him that his eyes might not ſee, nor he have any ſhare in the evil which God was about to bring upon his Fathers houſe. God gathereth up the Lambs before the ſtorm cometh. It is ſaid of Babilon, Pſal. 137. That he ſhould be happy, that ſhould take their little ones and daſh them againſt the ſtones: and we read in Scripture of ſuch famines as inforced women to eat their own children. Now God often cuts off little ones in his mercy to them. I might here further add, that God by this diſpenſation preventeth much ſin in thoſe that are thus taken away: But I paſs on yet to ſome further conſiderations, clearing Gods juſtice.
5. It is but reaſonable that God ſhould do this to puniſh the ſins of the Parents, and to do them good. It was one of my obſervations concerning the motions of Actual Providence. That God doth very ordinarily puniſh Relations in their Correlates, Parents in their Children; and I ſhewed you the reaſonableneſs of Divine Providence in this motion. It was for the puniſhment of Davids ſin, that his child by Bathſheba died; and the death of it was threatned by Nathan as a part of Davids puniſhment, 2 Sam. 12.14. Poſſibly God may ſometimes do it to abate our affections to our children, and that he might have more of our heart and affections; as the Gardiner cutteth off the ſuckers which draw too much from the root; and the country Houſewife takes away the Calf when it ſucketh ſo much as it leaveth no milk for the pail.
6. Finally, Why may not this motion of Providence ſeem reaſonable, That room might be left in the world. The world is a great Theatre, in which he hath many to act their parts: God at firſt lengthned out the lives of the Patriarchs to ſeven, eight, nine hundred years, that the world might be repleniſhed with Inhabitants. He now ſhortneth the lives of thoſe that are born into the world, that the world might not be overburdened with Inhabitants. More might be added. By the death and ſickneſſes of little ones, all are warned to be continually upon their watch, not knowing when the Lord will call for them; every little Bell that telleth us a child is gone ſoundeth to us, would we but underſtand it, Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come. Further yet, God by this diſpenſation (in which as you have heard he is juſt) doth mind all of the duty they owe unto their children, to bring them up in the knowledge of the Scriptures, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and particularly not to defer the ordinance of Baptiſm beyond a reaſonable time. It is doubtleſs Gods ordinance as to children, not only a ſign of Gods Covenant, but a medium in order to ſalvation, though efficacious only when God is pleaſed to make it ſo, not ex opere operato, upon the work done. I have now ſhewed you the equity of God in this particular way of his Providence.
Ʋſe. It is a diſpenſation under which there are few Parents that are not brought. Let me therefore enlarge a little upon ſome practical Application of this Diſcourſe, ſhewing you what may be our duty, reaſonably concluded from this diſpenſation. I ſhall open to you ſomething of it in three or four particulars.
1. It is doubtleſs our duty, yea the duty of all fleſh, To be ſilent before the Lord under ſuch Providences. The loſs of a child, eſpecially if it be a firſt-born, or an only child, ſometimes goeth very near us. But oh, let us not be tempted from it to open our mouths againſt the God of Heaven, nor to entertain a thought in our ſouls derogatory to the juſtice and goodneſs of God. Our children are ſinners, and obnoxious to the juſtice of God; God may in juſtice puniſh them for their own ſins, or for our ſins: I hinted to you before, that it was a beam of Arminius his new light, that none ſhould be condemned for original ſin only; and he is followed in it by all the Remonſtrants in their Confeſſions, Apologies, as alſo by others of that tribe: Socinus alſo and his followers ſhake hands with them in that notion. Yet Arminins anſwering Mr. Perkins (who to diſprove Arminius his doctrine of Gods rejection of any, becauſe he foreſaw they would reject the grace of the Goſpel) had pinched him, telling him this could be no cauſe of the rejection of infants out of the pale of the Church. God could not foreſee they would reject the Goſpel, who he foreſaw ſhould never have the Goſpel preached or tendred to them, anſwereth him thus, At inquam ego in parentibus, abavis, avis, atavis, tritavis evangelii gratiam repudiarunt, quo actu meruerunt ut a Deo deſerantur. That is, But I ſay (ſaith he) they rejected the Goſpel in their Parents, their Grandfathers, their great Grandfathers, or former Progenitors. Now how this is conſiſtent with his other doctrine, I cannot underſtand: for certainly if God may be juſtified in rejecting the ſouls of ſome infants from eternity, becauſe he foreſaw that their Great-Grandfathers would reject and refuſe the Goſpel, when-as they by no perſonal act ſhould do any ſuch thing; he may be juſtified even in the eternal condemnation of children for the ſin of Adam, or the perſonal obliquity and corruption of their natures; and ſo it is not unrighteous with God eternally to condemn a child for its original corruption only. But we are not now ſpeaking of eternal condemnation, but of bodily and temporal; yea and temporary puniſhments, which may very well conſiſt with the eternal ſalvation of the ſoul: and it is very abſurd for us to think, that for ſuch puniſhments the infant may not be puniſhed (without the impeaching of the juſtice of God) though it hath been guilty of no actual ſin, deſerving ſo early a chaſtiſement of it. Oh, therefore ſuffer not in ſuch caſes your hearts or lips to tranſgreſs, God may do it in righteouſneſs. He may thus juſtly puniſh original ſin in the child; he may juſtly puniſh our ſins upon the backs of our children. Speak not a word againſt God in this Providence.
2. Do what in thee lyeth ſecondly to find out the cauſe. When the Jews queried our Saviour concerning the man that was born blind, for whoſe ſin it was, whether his, or his parents? Our Saviour anſwereth them, that it was neither for his ſin, nor yet for his Parents, but that the glory of God might appear in that famous miracle, which our Saviour wrought in reſtoring him to his ſight. It is an hard thing to find out Gods ends in his diſpenſations of punitive Providence; God may ſometimes afflict, and take away little ones for their own ſins, for the ſin of Adam; for the iniquity in which they were conceived, and the ſin in which they were brought forth. God may ſometimes do it for the Parents ſins. Sometimes he may do it principally neither for the one, nor for the other of theſe ends, but for the good of the Parents, or for the good of the Children: you have heard that this motion of Divine Providence, is highly reaſonable upon more then one account. But yet when we feel the ſmart of ſuch a diſpenſation, we know not how to look upon it otherwiſe than as a puniſhment; but now our buſineſs under ſuch providences is to enquire, what ſin in us God doth in that manner revenge. The Scripture will guide us a little in the finding out of this, and we may poſſibly find out ſome other helps, to make us underſtand theſe diſpenſations. It was threatned to David, 2 Sam. 12. For his ſins in the matter of Ʋriah and his wife, and for that by them he had given occaſion to the enemies of God to blaſpheme. It is one of thoſe common ſcourges with which God chaſtiſeth ſome Parents for their ſinful lives; and whoſo is conſcious to himſelf of a ſinful courſe of life, need not enquire much for what cauſe God brings him under ſuch diſpenſations. It is matter of more narrow enquiry why God thus chaſteneth his own people. Poſſibly if they will ſearch narrowly under ſuch a Providence, they may find, if not the very ſin for which God contendeth with them, yet ſome laps of their lives of that nature, as may give them a juſt ground of jealouſy and ſuſpicion, that that is the ſin for which God ſo troubleth them. I ſhall not be poſitive in this determination leſt, I ſeem too boldly to inquire into the ſecret counſels of God: men ſhould do well under theſe Providences to liſten to their own conſciences, which oft times tell them the truth in ſuch caſes. But let me ask of thee, or rather deſire thee to ask thy ſelf, theſe two or three following Queſtions.
1. Didſt thou never ſinfully diſtruſt the Providence of God concerning thy Children; And ſecretly repine, at Gods bounty to thee in them? this is now a temptation incident to ſuch as are of meaner condition in the world, and not ſo able as others to maintain their Families. God promiſeth the fruit of the womb as a bleſſing; and bleſſeth him, that hath his quiver full of theſe ſhafts, but now the poor man, knoweth not how to underſtand this; and it is hard for him not to repine at the multiplying of it: a great error doubtleſs, but ſuch as for ought I know good people may fall into; we cannot truſt God to provide for thoſe which he giveth us, if this hath been thy error, God but pays thee in thy own kind, by ſhortning thy number, and maketh thy own ſecret, ſinful wiſh now to be thy Plague and Torment; but this ordinarily is the ſin of the poorer and meaner ſort of Chriſtians.
2. Didſt thou not let thy heart run out too much upon thy Children? God is jealous, and it is the nature of jealouſy not to ſuffer a rival in the object beloved, be it a perſon, or a thing. God is the object, and he will be the prime object of his peoples love, deſire, and delight, It is his Law. Thou ſhall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy Soul, and with all thy ſtrength; it may be thy Child had more of thy heart, more of thy love and and delight than God had, no wonder if he hath taken it from thee: this is now uſually the ſin of thoſe whoſe circumſtances in the world are better, they have a fair eſtate in the world, and Children few enough to leave it to, and in ſuch caſes it is a very hard thing to keep our hearts within due bounds; but our affections are ready to overflow, eſpecially if there be nothing in the temper, or behaviour of the Child, that takes off the edge of our affections to it.
3. Doth not thy heart ſmite thee for the neglect of thy duty to thy Child, eſpecially if it were of any years? Thy duty in inſtructing it, or thy duty in reproving and admoniſhing it. Elie's Sons were indeed men grown, but God cut off his Children; though their perſonal guilt juſtified God in his ſeverity againſt them, yet Eli ſmarted in their puniſhments for honouring his Sons more than God, for dealing too gently with them for their moſt enormous wickedneſſes. Thou mayeſt alſo neglect thy duty towards them in inſtructing them, in making them acquainted with the holy Scriptures; in admoniſhing them to keep the Lords Sabbaths, and ſeeing to their external Sanctification of them. This is undoubtedly a ſecond piece of thy duty upon ſuch a diſpenſation, and to be humbled before God for thoſe ſins which thy conſcience ſmiteth thee for, and ſuggeſteth to thee as probable cauſes of this rod of God upon thee.
3. It is doubtleſs thy duty, whatſoever thou findeſt, to be ſatisfied with Gods good pleaſure. Rachel mourned ſinfully while ſhe ſo mourned as that ſhe refuſed to be comforted. If thou findeſt that probably God hath puniſhed thy ſin, in the ſickneſs, pain, and death of thy Child, it is indeed matter of humiliation to thee; it offers thee a juſt opportunity to reſolve for the time to come, to amend thy errors as to any ſurvivors which God ſhall lend thee: but yeſterday cannot be called back again, God hath done what pleaſed him. It may be in mercy to thy Child, though it be in judgment unto thee, thou haſt no reaſon to quarrel or murmure at God for any of his diſpenſations. If it be for thy Childs Original ſin, ſtill thou haſt no reaſon to blame God, he is juſt and righteous in what he hath done. But if God hath done it to give thy Child a quicker paſſage to Heaven, to bring it ſooner to a ſtate of perfection, to deliver it from an evil to come, here thou haſt reaſon to admire, and adore the Divine goodneſs rather than to quarrel at Divine Juſtice. There are a great many things that may conduce to the relief of a godly man or woman diſturbed at this diſpenſation of Divine Providence. It is a very ordinary diſpenſation of God; though therefore it may look like a digreſſion from the principal argument of my diſcourſe, yet it may poſſibly be not ſo judged by ſome of you, whoſe caſe it either at preſent is, or may be to inſtance in ſome heads of arguments, which occaſionally you may make uſe of, for the quieting of your Spirits.
1. Conſider, what-ever was the moving cauſe on Gods part, yet the will of God is revealed. The will of God is ſuch a thing to ſatisfy a Chriſtian with, as nothing can be more, nothing greater. We have our Heaven by the will of God fear not little flock, it is your Fathers will to give you a Kingdom. We have all our grace, all our glory from the will of God, and ſhall we not thankfully accept a croſs, when it is the will of our Father to lay it upon our necks? We pray thy will be done, and ſhall we murmure againſt it when we ſee it done. This ſilenced Aaron, David, Heli, Hezekiah, it leaves no room for a good Chriſtians reply to it, it is our Fathers will, that is enough. It is our Fathers will revealed by an Act of his Providence. The Lord hath given (ſaith Job) and the Lord hath taken, bleſſed be the name of the Lord.
2. Conſider how many ſadder caſes than thine there have been. Thou haſt loſt a Child, an infant; Job loſt all his Children when they were grown up, feaſting at their elder Brothers houſe. Aarons was a ſad cauſe, he loſt his two Sons grown up, in an act of ſinning, yet he held his peace. Helies caſe was ſad, to loſe two ſuch wicked Sons in a Battel. Davids caſe was ſad, God had expreſly told him the Child ſhould dye, becauſe of his ſin; and that by it, he had made the enemies of God to blaſpheme. What doth David do? He faſteth, he prayeth, he humbleth himſelf before God ſo long as the Child lived, and while he had any hope; but when the will of God was revealed, when the Child was dead, he ariſeth, and eateth bread as he was wont to do, he ſaith, that he ſhould go to it, it ſhould not return to him.
3. Conſider, Let the caſe be as ſad as it will, yet if thou lookeſt round about it, there is mercy in it; either mercy to thy Child, or mercy to thee, or mercy to both: if thy Child be gone to Heaven, there is mercy in that; if it be delivered from evil to come upon the World, or that part of the world where it ſhould have had its portion, there is mercy in that. David's caſe was as ſad as one can well think of any of this nature; yet there was this mercy in it, the living monument and remembrance of David's ſin and ſhame was taken away.
4. Suppoſe that God hath for thy ſin taken it away, and thou canſt not ſatisfie thy ſelf but it is ſo; yet conſider, God eternally puniſheth none for the ſins of their correlates. God may puniſh perſons with bodily and temporal puniſhments for the ſins of their Parents, but not eternally; as to thoſe puniſhments, every ſoul ſhall bear no more than its own iniquity. Arminius I remember telleth us, that he can ſee no reaſon, but that Children may be equally puniſhed eternally for the ſins of their Parents, as well as the whole poſterity of Adam for his ſin: but certainly there is a vaſt difference; the firſt Adam was a publick perſon, with whom God made a Covenant for life or death for himſelf, and for his poſterity; and he had a power as well to have conveyed life as death to all his poſterity: but ſurely none will aſſert this, as to any Parent ſince his time.
5. Conſider how much comfort there is laid for parents mourning, in that ſpeech of our Saviour, for of ſuch is the kingdom of God. Men that have large Gardens and Orchards, have places for ſlips and Inlays, as well as for old Stocks; Nurſeries for Plants, as well as places for full-grown fruit-trees. God hath his garden of Grace (that is, his Church) and he hath his garden of Glory, to both belong Nurſeries. The Children of believers are (though imperfect members) yet members of his Church; and they may be heirs of Glory, though they go out of this world under age, as to any earthly inheritance: Yet they may be of full age for the inheritance that is immortal, incorruptible, and which fadeth not away; they will be of age in that Country where is no infant of days, nor old man of years. The poſſibility of little Childrens entering into the Kingdom of God, yea the probability that the ſeed of ſuch as fear God, dying in infancy are ſo entred, ought to be a wonderful relief to Godly parents mourning upon this account. Some Mothers only people the earth with ſinners; God puts an honour upon thee if thou ſtockeſt Heaven with Saints, and bringeſt forth to the kingdom of Glory.
6. Conſider, Thou canſt never loſe a Child with more hope than in its infancy. Some have thought that the death of Chriſt hath as to all expiated the guilt of Adams ſin; both the Socinians and Arminians ſeem ſo to judge. Others think, that by vertue of the New Covenant, the water of Baptiſm waſheth away original ſin. Auguſtine was called Durus pater infantum, an hard Father to Infants, becauſe he thought all unbaptized Infants were damned; by which it ſeems, he deferred much to Baptiſm: but I do not remember that I ever read in him, or heard from him, that he held, that all baptized Infants ſhould be ſaved, if dying in infancy. I durſt not fix the comfort of mourning Parents upon theſe foundations: But yet this is certain, the Infant within the pale of the Church, the Child of the believing, the true believing Parent eſpecially, is in Covenant with God: It hath not yet been defiled with wilfull preſumptuous ſinning; we cannot ſay ſo of our Children when they are grown up to years. A godly Parent can never loſe a Child with more hopes of its eternal Salvation, than in its infancy.
7. Again, Poſſibly what God hath done, he hath done in mercy to thee, to thy ſoul, that thy affections may be more entirely upon him. God knew thy heart better than thy ſelf; it may be, by ſuch a ſtroke he hath ſecured thy heart more unto himſelf, it may be in mercy as to the comforts of thy life. Zedekiah could better have followed his Children in their infancy to their grave, than have ſeen them ſlain by a barbarous enemy before his face. Thou knoweſt not what evil is coming upon the world.
8. Laſtly conſider, That for thoſe that keep the Lords Sabbaths, and chuſe the things that pleaſe him, and take hold of the Lords Covenant, God hath, Iſa. 56.45, promiſed a better name than that of ſons, and daughters, even an everlaſting name which ſhall never be cut off. But I ſhall digreſs no further on this Argument.
4. Laſtly, Having ſtilled thy impatience, what haſt thou to do, but to fulfil the Lords will and ends under ſuch a diſpenſation? Let thoſe do it that are patients under ſuch providences. Let us all do it, who are ſpectators of them.
Are any of us patients under ſuch Providences, let us fulfil the Lords ends in them. You will ſay, what are they? I Anſwer.
1. Submiſſion to his good will, is doubtleſs one thing. God by all afflictions of his people, deſigneth to humble, and to prove his people, that he may do them good in the latter end. Such diſpenſations are the rod of God upon us, and his rod hath a voice, and we are bound to hear his rod. God is now trying thy obedience; Abraham's trial, was a greater trial: he had but one Child, him a Son, the Child of the promiſe, God required him to kill him with his own hand, he ſubmitted, and the Lord accepted his will for the deed. Thy hearing the voice of one rod, may prevent the Lords taking of another to ſcourge thee with.
2. Humiliation for thoſe ſins which thou ſuſpecteſt to have been the provoking cauſe of ſuch a diſpenſation; that's another end which thou maiſt probably think that God aimeth at. Afflictions are to humble us, and to prove us.
3. God calleth aloud to thee to take thy heart off thy creature-comforts. Thou ſeeſt what gourds, what bloſſoms they are, what ſhadows they are which thou huggeſt, what lyes thou haſt in thy right hand; he calls now to thee to fix thy heart and thine eyes upon him alone, and to make him alone thy portion, to fix all thy delight upon him.
For us that are ſpectators of ſuch Providences, let us alſo by them learn wiſdom.
1. By taking heed of ſuch ſins, as may provoke God to ſuch diſpenſations: we ſtand concerned if we love our children, to love God, and to fear him, to walk cloſely with him; the wicked life of a Parent may ſhorten the life of a Child, for that God in judgment may write him childleſs, a man who ſhall not proſper, nor his name out-live a preſent generation. Take heed of thoſe particular ſins, which may provoke God to ſuch a ſtroke. Take heed of murmuring at the bleſſing of a numerous off ſpring, and diſtruſting the Providence of God, as to a providing for them. Take heed if Children be given you, that you do not ſet your heart upon them. Look upon them as fading flowers, and ſuch flowers as never fade ſooner, than while they are worn too near your heart. Take heed of ſins by which the enemies of God ſhall be made to blaſpheme. David for ſuch ſins loſt his new born Child from his beloved Bathſheba.
2. More eſpecially, take heed of neglecting your children. Neglect not the ordinance of Baptiſm as to them. I do not think that is damnable; but I do think it is provocative of God. I remember God met Moſes in the Inn, and was about to kill him for his omiſſion of Circumciſion. Circumciſion was in it ſelf a pitiful thing, but it was Gods ordinance, it was his Covenant in the fleſh with the ſeed of Abraham. We are not upon a Divine inſtitution, to ſay, To what purpoſe is it? or what good can it do? If the Jewiſh Child had dyed before the 8th day, its want of circumciſion doubtleſs did not endanger its ſalvation; but the deferring it beyond that time, might for ought I know, endanger the wrath of God upon the Parent, and that wrath might be executed in cutting off the Child. I take the caſe to be much the ſame under the Goſpel, I am ſure the Covenant is the ſame; take heed of neglecting to inſtruct your Children betimes, or to reprove and admoniſh them; God may cut them off betimes, and then your neglects will be a grief of heart to you.
Finally, This calleth to all young ones, not to neglect the remembrance of their creator in the days of their youth. O let your tender years be no temptation to you, to put off your duty towards God, and your own ſouls; in the morning of your life, be plowing up the fallow ground of your hearts, and ſowing the ſeed of righteouſneſs; indeed, in the evening our hands ſhould not be ſlack; but who knoweth whether he ſhall ſee an evening, yea or no?