mer Branch of my Discourse. Let us pray,
that through our Tears we may read our Duty, and that by the Heat of
the Furnace we may be so melted, that our Dross may be purged away,
and the Divine Image instamped on our Souls in brighter and fairer
Characters. To sum up all in one Word, let us endeavour to set our
Hearts more on that GOD, who is infinitely _better to us than ten
Children_[a], who hath _given us a Name better than that of Sons or of
Daughters_[b], and can abundantly supply the Place of all earthly
Enjoyments with the rich Communications of his Grace: Nay, perhaps, we
may add, who hath removed some Darling of our Hearts, lest to our
infinite Detriment it should fill his Place there, and, by alienating
us from his Love and Service, have a fatal Influence on our present
Peace, and our future Happiness.

ETERNAL Glory, my Friends, is so great a Thing, and the compleat Love
and Enjoyment of GOD so unutterably desirable, that it is well worth
our while to bear the sharpest Sorrows, by which we may be more
perfectly formed for it. We may even congratulate the Death of our
Children, if it bring us nearer to our heavenly Father; and teach us,
(instead of filling this Vacancy in our Heart with some new Vanity,
which may shortly renew our Sorrows,) to consecrate the whole of it to
him who alone deserves, and can alone answer the most intense
Affection. Let us try what of this kind may be done. We are now going
to the Table of the Lord[*], to that very Table where our Vows have
often been sealed, where our Comforts have often been reigned, where
our _Isaac's_ have been conditionally sacrificed, and where we
commemorate the real Sacrifice which GOD hath made even of his only
begotten Son for us. May our other Sorrows be suspended, while we
_mourn for him whom we have pierced, as for an only Son, and are in
Bitterness as for a First-born_[c]. From his Blood Consolations spring
up, which will flourish even on the Graves of our dear Children; and
the Sweetness of that Cup which he there gives us, will temper the
most distasteful Ingredients of the other. Our Houses _are not so with
GOD_, as they once were, as we once expected they would have been, but
_he hath made with us an everlasting Covenant_, and these are the
Tokens of it. Blessed be his Name, we hold not the Mercies of that
Covenant by so precarious a Tenure as the Life of any Creature. _It is
well ordered in all things and sure:_ May _it be all our Salvation,
and