REFLECT farther, I beseech you, on your _secret Retirements_, and think, as surely some of you may, "How often have I there been on my Knees before GOD on account of this Child; and what was then my Language? Did I say, Lord, I absolutely insist on its Recovery; I cannot, on any Terms or any Considerations whatsoever, bear to think of losing it?" Sure we were none of us so indecently transported with the fondest Passion, as to be so _rash with our Mouths_ as _to utter_ such _Things before_ the Great GOD[q]. Such Presumption had deserv'd a much heavier Punishment than we are now bearing, and, if not retracted, may perhaps still have it.--Did not one or another of us rather say, "Lord, I would humbly intreat, with all due Submission to thy superior Wisdom and sovereign Pleasure, that my Child may live; but if it must be otherwise, _not my Will, but thine be done_[r]? I and mine are in thine Hand, _do with me_, and with them, _as seemeth good in thy Sight_[s]". And do we now blame ourselves for this? Would we unsay it again, and, if possible, take ourselves and our Children out of his Hands, whom we have so often owned as all-wise and all-gracious, and have chosen as our great Guardian and theirs? LET it farther be consider'd, it is done by that GOD who has _accepted of this Surrender_, so as to undertake the Administration of our Affairs: "He is become my Covenant GOD in Christ," may the Christian say; "and, in consequence of that Covenant, he hath engaged to manage the Concerns and Interests of his People so, that _all Things shall work together for good to them that love him_[t]: And do I not love him? Answer, Oh my Heart, dost thou not love thy GOD much better than all the Blessings which Earth can boast, or which the Grave hath swallowed up? Wouldst thou resign thine Interest in him to recover these precious Spoils, to receive this dear Child from the Dust, a thousand times fairer and sweeter than before? Rather let Death devour every remaining Comfort, and leave me alone with him; with whom when I indeed am, I miss not the Creatures, but rather rejoice in their Absence, as I am then more intire with _him whom my Soul loveth._ And if I do indeed love him, this Promise is mine, and _all Things_, and therefore this sad Event in particular, _shall work together for my good._ Shall I not then say, _It is well?_ What if it exceeded all the Stretch of my Thoughts, to conceive _how_ it could, in any Instance, be so? What are my narrow Conceptions, that they should pretend to circumscribe infinite Wisdom, Faithfulness, and Mercy? Let me rather, with _Abraham, give Glory to God, and in Hope believe against Hope_[u]".