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dearest sins, thou hast no cause to murmur. God cures David of adultery, by killing his endeared child. There is some Delilah, Psal. xviii. 23. some darling, some beloved sin or other, Heb. xii. 1. that a Christian's calling, condition, constitution, or temptations lead him to play withal, and to hug in his own bosom, rather than some other. As in a ground that lieth untilled, amongst the great variety of weeds, there is usually some master-weed that is rifer and ranker than all the rest: and as it is in the body of man, that although in some degree or other, more or less, there be a mixture of all the four elements, not any of them wholly wanting, yet there is some one of them predominant, that gives the denomination; in which regard, some are said to be of a sanguine, some of a phlegmatic, some of a choleric, and some of a melancholic constitution: so it is also in the souls of men, though there be a general mixture and medley of all evil and corrupt qualities, yet there is some one usually that is paramount, which, like the prince of devils, is most powerful and prevalent, that swayeth and sheweth forth itself more eminently and evidently than any other of them do. And as in every man's body there is a seed and principle of death, yet in some there is a proneness to one kind of disease more than another, that may hasten death; so, though the root of sin and bitterness hath spread itself over all, yet every man hath his inclination to one kind of sin rather than another, and this may be

called a man's proper sin, his bosom-sin, his darling sin. Now, it is one of the hardest works in this world, to subdue and bring under this bosom-sin. Oh! the prayers, the tears, the sighs, the sobs, the groans that it will cost a Christian, before he brings under this darling sin!

Now, if the Lord, by smiting thee in some near and dear enjoyment, shall draw out thy heart, to oppose thy master-sin, and shall so sanctify the affliction, as to make it issue in the mortification of thy bosom-corruption; what eminent cause wilt thou have rather to bless him, than to sit down and murmur against him? And doubtless, if thou art dear to God, God, will by striking thy dearest mercy, put thee upon striking at thy darling sin; and therefore hold thy peace, even then when God touches the apple of thine eye.

9. Consider, that the Lord hath many ways to make up the loss of a near and dear mercy to thee, Mat. xix. 27.-ult. He can make up thy loss in something else that may be better for thee, and he will certainly make up thy loss, either in kind or in worth. He took from David an Absalom, and he gave him a Solomon; he took from him a Michael, and gave him a wise Abigail; He took from Job seven sons and three daughters, and afterwards he gives him seven sons and three daughters; he took from Job a fair estate, and at last doubled it to him; he removed the bodily presence of Christ from his disciples, but gave them more abundantly of his spiritual presence, John xvi.

7, 8. &c. Acts ii. which was by far the greater and the sweeter mercy. If Moses be taken away, Joshua shall be raised in his room; if David be gathered to his fathers, a Solomon shall succeed him in his throne; if John be cast into prison, rather than the pulpit shall stand empty, a greater than John, even Christ himself, will begin to preach. He that lives upon God in the loss of creature-comforts, shall find all made up in the God of comforts; he shall be able to say, Though my child is not, my friend is not, my yoke-fellow is not, yet my God liveth, and blessed be my rock, Ps. lxxxix. 46. Though this mercy is not, and that mercy is not, yet covenant-mercies, yet the sure mercies of David continue, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. these bed and board with me, these will to the grave, and to glory with me. I have read of a godly man, who living near a philosopher, did often persuade him to become a Christian: Oh! but, said the philosopher, I must, or may lose all for Christ: to which the good man replied, If you lose any thing for Christ, he will be sure to repay it an hundred-fold: Ay, but, said the philosopher, will you be bound for Christ, that if he doth not pay me, you will? Yes, that I will, said the good man! So the philosopher became a Christian, and the good man entered into bond for performance of covenants. Some time after it happened, that the philosopher fell sick on his death-bed, and holding the bond in his hand, sent for the party engaged; to whom he gave up the bond, and said, Christ

hath paid all, there is nothing for you to pays take your bond, and cancel it. Christ will suffer none of his children to go by the loss he hath all, and he will make up all to them; in the close, Christ will pay the reckoning. No man shall ever have cause to say, that he hath been a loser by Christ; and therefore thou hast much cause to be mute, thou hast no cause to murmur, though God hath snatched the fairest and the sweetest flower out of thy bosom.

10.

How canst thou tell, but that which thou callest a near and dear mercy, if it had been continued longer to thee, might have proved the greatest cross, the greatest calamity and misery that ever thou didst meet with in this world? Our mercies, like choice wines, many times turn into vinegar; our fairest hopes are often blasted; and that very mercy which we sometimes have said should be a staff to support us, hath proved a sword to pierce us. How often have our most flourishing mercies withered in our hands, and our bosom-contentments been turned into gall and wormood? If God had continued the life of David's child to him, 2 Sam. xii. 16. it would have been but a living monument of his sin and shame; and all that knew the child would have pointed at him. Yonder goes David's bastard, and so have kept David's wound still a-bleeding. Many parents who have sought the lives of their children with tears, have lived afterwards to see them take such courses, and come to such

dismal ends, as have brought their gray heads with sorrow to their graves +. It had been ten thousand times a greater mercy to many parents, to have buried their children as soon as ever they had been born, than to see them come to such unhappy ends as they often do. Well, Christian, it may be the Lord hath taken from thee such a hopeful son, or such a dear daughter, and thou sayest, How can I hold my peace? But hark, Christian, hark, canst thou tell me, how long thou must have travailed in birth with them again, before they had been born again, before they had been twice born? Would not every sin that they had committed against thy gracious God, caused a new throe in thy soul? would not every temptation that they had fallen before, been as a dagger at thy heart? would not e very affliction that should have befallen them, been as a knife at thy throat? What are those pains, and pangs, and throes of child-birth, to those after-pains, pangs, and throes that might have been brought upon thee by the sins and sufferings of thy children? Well, Christians, hold your peace, for you do not know what thorns in your eyes, what goads in your sides, nor what spears in your hearts, such near and dear mercies might have prov ed, had they been longer continued.

11. Thou canst not tell, how bad thy heart might have proved under the enjoyment of

*This age affords many sad instances of this nature. Who can think of Tyburn, and question it? and of kill ing and drowning, and say, How can this be?

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