are exempt from it; some of the most pious and
excellent have lost amiable Children, with Circumstances perhaps of
peculiar Aggravation. 'Tis a Trial which GOD hath chosen for the
Exercise of some who have been eminently dear to him, as we may learn
from a Variety of Instances both ancient and modern. Let us recollect
our many Offences against our heavenly Father, those Sins which such a
Dispensation may properly _bring to our Remembrance_[r]; and let that
silence us, and teach us to own, that _'tis of the Lord's Mercies we
are not consumed_[s], and that we are _punished less than our
Iniquities deserve_[t]. Let us look round on our surviving Comforts;
let us look forward to our future, our eternal Hopes; and we shall
surely see, that there is still Room for Praise, still a Call for it.
Let us review the Particulars mentioned above, and then let Conscience
determine whether it doth not become us, in this particular Instance,
to say it steadily, and chearfully too, Even _this is well._ And may
the GOD of all Grace and Comfort apply these Considerations to our
Mind, that we may not only own them, but feel them, as a reviving
Cordial when our Heart is overwhelmed within us! In the mean Time, let
me beseech you whose _tabernacles are in Peace_[u], and whose
_Children are yet about you_[w], that you would not be severe in
censuring our Tears, till you have experimentally known our Sorrows,
and yourselves tasted _the Wormwood and the Gall_, which we, with all
our Comforts, must have in a long and a bitter _Remembrance_[x].

4. LET those of us who are under the Rod, be very solicitous to
improve it aright, that in the End it may indeed be _well_.

HEAR, my Brethren, my Friends and Fellow-Sufferers, hear and _suffer
the word of Exhortation_[y]. Let us be much concerned, that we may not
bear all the Smart of such an Affliction, and, through our own Folly,
lose all that Benefit which might, otherwise, be a rich Equivalent. In
Proportion to the Grievousness of the Stroke, should be our Care to
attend to the Design of it. Let us, now GOD is calling us to Mourning
and Lamentation, be _searching and trying our Ways, that we may turn
again unto the Lord_[z]. Let us review the Conduct of our Lives, and
the State and Tenour of our Affections, that we may observe what hath
been deficient, and what irregular; that proper Remedies may be
applied, and those important Lessons more thoroughly learnt, which I
was mentioning under the for