thy holy Word that if Christ be raised then those that slâ—ep in Jesus shall also rise and if these shall not then Christ is not risen and if Christ be not risen we are all in our sins and all Preaching Praying Believing and all Religion is in vain which being absurd and false the other must be certain and sure And by the belief of this thanks be to my God I find I feel my Sorrow is turned into lively Hope earnest Desire and comforting Joy Besides this O my Soul be further satisfied and quieted within me forasmuch as thy Lord hath not only said that those that sleep in Jesus shall rise again but hath also foretold what Bodies they shall then be tho the same for substance yet their Properties Qualities and Endowments far more excellent than when they lived or died Dost thou sorrow because her Body was Mortal and did die why dost thou not rejoyce because it shall be raised Immortal and then shall die no more Art thou grieved at the remembrance of its weakness sickness and pains why art thou not comforted at the believing Foresight that it shall be raised a Powerful and Impassible Body and shall be sick and pained no more for ever Or art thou cast down because that Natural Body by Food and Physick could no longer be supported nor maintained in Life Why doth not this raise thy Comfort that it shall be raised a Spiritual Body and need Food and Physick and Sleep no more than the Angels in Heaven Is it matter of thy trouble to coâ—sider how vile and loathsom Death hath made it why doth it not delight thee to believe it shall be raised in such Glory that it shall shine as a glittering Star yea as the Sun in the Kingdom of God and that Beauty shall be its Cloathing all over Why doth soâ—row daily fill thy Heart because the Soul is gone and left the Body a lifeless piece of Earth a mass of breathless Mould and dost not rejoyce that the Soul already is made like to Christs Glorious Soul and the day is coming and it hastens when the Body shall be fashioned like to Christs glorious Body Like to Christs Glorious Body Lord who that doth believe these words of thine may not cease to sorrow in excess because now the Body is so like the dust in which it lodgeth and begin to joy that in thine appointed time it shall be like the Glorious Body of an exalted Jesus Holy Lord how great is the difference betwixt the same Man as if he were not the same when he looks upon his Dead with an Eye of Sense and Carnal Reason and when with an Eye of Faith according to thy Word For when I sit and muse and say Methinks I see how the Body of my dead lyeth in the Grave and how it mouldreth and consumeth I am a sad and sorrowful Man and my Heart is grieved within me but when I sit and consider and believe and say Methinks I see it Redeemed from the Grave methinks I see it raised an Immortal Powerful Spiritual Beautiful Glorious Body shining as the Sun and like to Christs Glorious Body I am a chearful joyful Man and Comfort flows abundantly into my Soul Moreover O my Soul thy Sorrow might be turned into Joy when thou dost believingly consider that rather than the Dead should always be captivated by Death and ever held by the bonds thereof the Lord HIMSELF will come down from Heaven and fetch them forth Rejoyce and be exceeding glad that when the appointed day is come the Lord Jesus will not stay nor rest in Heaven till he hath opened their Graves and delivered them from the Power of death Blessed Jesus Help me to rejoyce in thy Mighty Power and abundant Love in that because the raising of the Dead is a work too great for all the Angels in Heaven thou wilt come thy self and cause them to live again Methinks I hear thy Voice Ye Dead arise Methinks I hear the mighty Shout and the Trumpet sounding methinks I see the Lord in his Glory coming down from Heaven and calling to the Dead and methinks I see them in great numbers coming up out of their Graves He calls they tho dead do hear and tho dead at his Command do Live Lord at thy pleasure they fell into the Grave and at thy Voice they do come forth O powerful Voice Oh joyful glorious sight Oh the difference betwixt a Funeral and the Resurrection day the one was a sorrowful the other will be a joyful day Especially O my Soul when the day of Death was a parting day the day of the Resurrection will be a meeting day Thou and thine at Death did part and that did fill thy Heart with sorrow but then thou and thine shall meet again and never part Thou and thine that 's not all thou and thine shall meet the Lord in the Air. Wondâ—rful Bodiâ—s but now in the bottom of the Grave anon the same mounting up into the Air there to be owned acknowledged and openly acquitted and from thence to go along with their Lord Redeemer into the highest Heavens to be for ever with the Lord. Once in the Grave and after that with the Lord A long time in the Grave and after that long time is out and over be with the Lord for ever which never will be out and over O blessed Day O desirable Day Lord when shall it be When shall it come Dear Jesus gather in the chosen of the Father effectually all the number that is ordained to be with thee for ever and then come yea come quickly that those of thine that are sleeping in their Graves may awake and meet thee and be with the Lord for ever Thus O my Soul hast thou followed thy Dead unto the Grave and dost know and believe that this Body shall rise again and be an happy and glorious Body prepare to follow cease excessively to sorrow rejoyce in Hope that the Lord will come when his shall be with him for ever Be with with him for ever Are they now dead amongst the Dead and shall live with him for ever that doth live for ever Is not this it that Christ did bleed and sweat and suffer and die for Is not this it that Christ did rise from the dead for that those that sleep in him might also rise Is not this it for which he ascended to Heaven to prepare a place for them Is not this it for which he intercedes that all those that the Father hath given him might be where he is that they may behold his Glory Is not this it for which he will come again and take the Quick and Dead in him all of them unto himself that where he is there they might be also Lord hast thou said it and shall I not believe it Lord I believe help thou my Unbelief And dost thou indeed believe these sayings of thy Lord O my Soul and yet sit sorrowing with excessive sorrow for thy
deeply how great it is Rule 5. A Wicked Husband that is a constant Curse and a daily Cross unto his whole Family whose Wife is in a worse condition for Body and Soul than if she were a Widow and whose Children by reason of his want of Affection to them and Care for them are more exposed to Ruine than if they were Fatherless leaves little reason behind him why they should grieve and sorrow for his Death upon their own accounts For who can sorrow for a deliverance from a daily Cross Who can grieve for being eased of a Burden under which they so long did groan Who can sorrow upon their own account that one is gone that did rather Hate than Love them and filled their Hearts with daily sorrow their Eyes with flowing Tears and their Mouths with Heart-piercing Complaints And why should any dissemble sorrow for such by whose Wickedness and Sin against God and the Family God was dishonoured and the Family ruined when by death he is taken off from doing so upon Earth any more Do you ask who ever taught this Doctrine before Job did Job 27.13 This is the portion of a wicked Man with God and the Heritage of Oppressors which they shall receive of the Almighty 15. Those that remain of him shall be buried in death and his Widows shall not weep Were there â—ver any such Widows Yes Psal 78.64 Their Priests fell by the Sword and their Widows made no Lamentation Rule 6. In mourning for such Relations that neither did their Duty to God nor to their Family but lived to God's dishonour and their daily grief and died without Repentance for both our sorrow must be for their sakes and not our own For the ungodly and unnatural as dying impenitently in their Sins and for the Loss of their Souls and Misery in the other World as David did for Absolom for tho our grief for them cannot mitigate their Torments nor our Tears quench their Fire yet it cannot but be a grief to us that our Relations should live and die in their Rebellion against God and neglect of their Duties towards us but did dishonour God whom they should have glorified and overthrew the Family by their Sin and Wicked Lives which they should have built up and maintained And as for their Sin while they lived so dying impenitent for their Misery after death The death of some puts an end to those Troubles and Disquiet and Crosses which they caused in their Families while they lived that for their own sakes the Living cannot find a reason why they should mourn because they are dead But when they consider their death was the beginning of their Intolerable and Eternal Misery for their sakes they cannot but give place to sorrow â—or while these Thoughts are working my Husband is dead and his Soul is Damned it will be hard to keep sorrow from the Heart And tho such sorrow doth not profit the Damned Soul yet unaccountable sorrow is not easily cast off Nor can we always cease to sorrow when we cannot give a reason of any good that is the fruit of our sorrow But yet a reason will be here suggested it was my Husband or Wife or Son or Daughter that lived wickedly and died impenitently and the Soul of one so near is lost is for ever lost And Religion teaching us that the Souls of such are miserable Nature will be working in us to lament their Misery and this is sorrow for their sakes Rule 7. In mourning for those that lived holily towards God and Conscientiously in their Relative Duties towards us our sorrow is for our own sakes more than for theirs The common saying our Loss is their Gain teacheth that the sorrow is for the Loser and not for the Gainer And indeed if we search to the bottom of our sorrow to find the reason of our sorrow for those that lived to the Lord and died in the Lord and after death do live gloriously and happily with the Lord it will appear we are sorrowing more for our selves than for them We call it mourning for the dead when it is indeed mourning for our selves yet living for let us enquire 1. Do we mourn because their Souls are perfectly Holy and Happy with God and Christ above No this is matter of our Comfort Delight and Joy Did not we earnestly pray for them sick and well that when they left Earth they might be received up to Heaven And do we sorrow that God heard our Prayers and hath saved their Souls Do we thus take on for this Are our Tears shed because God hath Crowned their Grace with Glory Are we grieving on Earth because they are rejoicing in Heaven Are we groaning here because they are triumphing there For shame we cannot say this is the reason and ground of our sorrow and that in this respect it is plain we do not sorrow for their sakes 2. Do we mourn because they are fallen asleep in Jesus Because they are gone to rest in their Beds Because their Bodies in that state in which they are remain united to Christ Are these grounds of sorrow Should we weep and waste our Tears because these things are said of them Or is it not matter of Comfort and Joy unto us that it is so well with their very Bodies as these things declared by God himself do import unto us Is it not better to die in Christ than to live in Sin Is it not better to sleep in Jesus than to be naturally awake and spiritually asleep in Sin Is it not better for the Body to lye still and rest free from Actings of Sin than to be able to walk in a constant course of wickedness Is it not more matter of Comfort to have the Bodies of our Friends united to Christ in the Grave than to have our Relations above ground separated from Christ and not united to him If it be let us cease over-sorrowing for them with whom it is better tho in the Grave and begin to sorrow for those with whom it is worse tho they live with us Which is matter of greater sorrow a departed Saint or a living Sinner And shall we drop more Tears for one departed Saint than for twenty living wicked Relations Why so When all these wicked ones are in danger of Hell but the departed Saint is past that danger The ungodly that do live are in danger of Eternal Torments both as to Body and Soul The departed Saint is past the danger thereof both as to Body and Soul For when the Soul is once safe in Heaven the Body is for ever past all danger of Hell Is this it that we sorrow for No verily we do give thanks to God that the Body is in these Circumstances though in the Grave But you say you mourn because they are dead and taken from us Dead But are not we spâ—â—king to Believers that live concerning departâ—â—â—â—lievâ—rs And should not we beliâ—vâ— what God saith concerning them And think and
Sleep teacheth us that it is no trouble to them that are in their Graves that they do not know when they shall awake Is this any trouble to a living Man fast asleep in his Bed that he knows not when the day will dawn and the Morning-light appear and he awake he sleeps on and concerns himself with no such Thoughts We that are alive think when shall our Dead arise how long must they sleep there That which troubles us is no trouble unto them 8. Death it self as a Sleep châ—cks our Immoderate Sorrow for those that are fallen asleep They sleep and you take on as if you had no hope that they would ever wake What saith the Text they are fallen asleep do not ye sorrow as those that have no hope When did you mourn because your Relation in due season went to sleep If they have been Sick and could not sleep it grieve your Heart and so it also would if your nearest Friends lay sick and full of pain tormented day and night with sighs and groans piercing your Ears and Hearts should they long lie thus and could not recover nor yet dye it would grieve you that they could not dye insomuch that by such sights and hearings of the Sick and pained whom they loved with entire Love some have gone to their knees and begg'd of God to give them a release by Death and were better satisfied when they were fallen asleep and thereby delivered 9. Death as a Sleep thô it be a long sleep teacheth us that it seems not long to them that sleep A Mâ—n that is fast asleep and sleepeth long he doth not tell the Clock nor number the Hours nor thinks it long that he doth sleep and when he wakes he thinks the time was not long but quickly gone when to one that watcheth while he sleepeth it seems to be a tedious time When they that live and wake while others in their Graves do sleep reckon the days then the weeks next the months at last the years that our Father or Mother Husband or Wife or Child hath been dead and say so long so many years they have been sleeping in their Graves It is long to you but not to them they know no Nights or Days no Weeks or Months or Years to reckon by a thousand years is no longer to them than an hour seems to you Adams Body hath been sleeping some thousands of years already and yet all those years and what are yet to come till he shall awake but like one hour unto him Why should we discompose our Minds with the thoughts of their long Sleep when they themselves are not concerned at it nor to them doth it seem long 10. Death as a Sleep because it is a sleep that is Death brings us these tydings of Comfort that they are sleeping their last Sleep and when they awake shall sleep no more For when they live again they shall dye no more therefore now let us moderate our Sorrow for those that are asleep in Jesus for they are at rest from pains and cares God can easily awaken them and he will after their Sleep they shall be refreshed tho it be a long Sleep it seems not so to them it is indeed their last but not an everlasting sleep they sleep quietly let not us sorrow excessively but every Night when we put off our Cloaths think we must put off this Body and lie down in our Graves as we do in our Beds and shall our selves sleep in the Dust with them that are gone to sleep before us CHAP. XIII The Second Remedy against excessive Sorrow is the Glorified State of the Soul immediately after its separation proved The Souls Triumph in its first entrance into Heaven The Meditation thereof The Survivors Comfort THE Second Remedy against Excessive Sorrow for the Death of those that dyed in the Lord is the knowledge and belief of the Glorious State of the separated Soul while the Body lies sleeping in the Grave The Body is the more ignoble part the Grave a more formidable place yet from thence there is something of Support when both are considered according to what is sâ—id of both in the Scripture as to such as were truly holy when they lived But if we call off our Thoughts from the Body and the Grave that they may ascend and follow the Soul the more precious part into the highest Heavens the most Glorious place what cause of Joy what matter of Rejoycing what reâ—son of changing our Mourning into Garments of Praise and our Spirit of heaviness into gladness and lively thankfulness to God that those that are gone from us are received by him That whom we have lost he hath found and those whom we must enjoy on Earth no more are enjoying God in yonder glorious highest Heavens for evermore Controversies are not profitable at this season nor suitable to the present temper of our Spirits in the Circumstances now we are under nor consistent with that brevity that I labour for therefore two things only I shall now endeavour First To select some Texts of Scripture that do assure us what state of Joy and Happiness the separated Soul of a Child of God doth pass into Secondly What ground of Comfort against our Sorrow this is to us that yet are left behind 1. What clearer Evidence what surer Arguments what better Proof what greater satisfaction can we have in this Point than what Scripture doth afford For cannot God that is the Father of Spirits and the Disposer of Souls after their Dissolution and being separated from the Body best tell what doth become of them And will he that is faithful and Essential Truth deceive us Or need he that is absolute Lord and Soveraign perfectly happy in himself to flatter us or to gain our Obedience to him by promises of Eternal Rewards and everlasting Joys and Glory if there were not such a Ssate prepared for us Where God speaketh let us believe and his Veracity is reason why we should Then let us hear Luke 16.22 It came to pass that the Beggar dyed and was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosom Luke 23.43 Verily I say unto thee This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Act. 7.29 And they stoned Stephen calling upâ—n God and saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit 2 Cor. 5.1 For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernâ—cle were dissolved we have a Building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2. For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven 4 For we in this Tabernacle do groan being burthened not for that we should be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life 6. Therefore we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. 8. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with
interruptions nor intermissions in our praising of God in our Loving of him and delighting in him Our Natural Bodies now require time to be fed in sitting at our Tables when they are empty we are pained with hunger when they are full we are indisposed for Holy Work and Heavenly Praises but a whole Eternity shall be filled with constant Hallelujahs and Spiritual Rejoycings when our Bodies shall be raised Spiritual Bodies and such they shall be 1 Cor. 15.44 It is sown a natural Body it is raised a spiritual Body There is a Natural Body and there is a Spiritual Body 4. They shall be raised glorious Bodies Now our bodies are vile Bodies Phil. 3.21 How full of ill Humours and loathsome Corruption Why should any be proud of a comely Face when he might think what he is within Now they are Cottages of Clay Tabernacles of Earth a Mass of breathing walking Mould God did mend the Matter else our Bodies are as vile as the Earth we tread upon for out of it they were taken and into it they are returning but this is wonderderful that Bodies so vile while they live and more loathsome when dead and rotting in the Grave should at last be raised as glorious as so many glittering Stars Dan. 12.3 Did I say as glittering Stars Christ saith as so many shining Suns Mat. 13.43 Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Who can express the difference betwixt a dead Body in the Grave and the Sun shining in the Heavens Yet so much shall be the difference between the same Body in the Grave and raised at the last day 1 Cor. 15.43 It is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory 5. They shall be raised perfect and beautiful Bodiâ—s If they were maimed here they shall be entire then if blind now they shall have Sight to see the Lord Redeemer and the Glory of the Place above and of the Company in that Palace of the King of Glory if they were any way deformed here any part redundant any part exorbitant oâ— defective this deformity shall be removed and Beauty shall be their Cloathing all over for whatsoever came in by sin and is the Punishment and Effects of Sin in such respects upon the Body when the Cause is removed such Evils shall â—ot remain 6. They shall be raised holy and without the least spot or stain of Sin or inclinatiâ—n to it Now the Body is defiled with sin and the parts of it are too often the Instruments of Sin Eyes beholding Vanity and Windows to let in wickedness into the Heart and Thoughts our Tongues too often speak to Gods dishonour our Feet too often run into the wayes of Sin our Appetite too often over-rules our Reason and we have cause to cry out Who shall deliver us from this Body of Sin and Death Who shall God when he delivers our Bodies from Death and raiseth them out of their Graves will deliver them from all filthiness of the Flesh and Christ shall present them pure and spotless without wrinkle or any such thing â—ph 5.27 7. If I cannot say all let me say that which comprehends all they shall be raisâ—d like to Christs glorified Body Say our Souls in Heaven shall be like Christs Soul and our Bodies raised and taken thither shall be like Christs glorious Body If we cannot utter the Excellency of the heavenly Qualities and Endowments of the Bodies of those that sleep in Jesus when they shall be awaked say they shall be like to Christs glorious Body If you cannot conceive it in your Minds think they shall be like Christs glorious Body and if you cannot think how great that is do not mourn that your holy Friends are gone before in their Souls to see that glorious Jesus whose Glory is so great that it doth transcend all your thoughts and spend your time in holy preparing and earnest Looking for his coming than in excessive sinful Mourning for their dead Bodies that shall be made like his at his coming Phil. 3.20 For our conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ 21. Who sball change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body Lord how can this be that such Clods of Earth and lumps of Clay when turned into Dust in the Grave should be made like to the Body of the glorious exalted Jesus How according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself There must be great ability and power to make this change a body so vile to be so glorious this Power must be Almighty Power even such as can do any thing as can subdue all things and this Power so mighty must be working Power to make such a Body that all the Power of all the Angels in Heaven is too weak to do Now let those that overmuch sorrow for their Dead that sleep in Jesus consider if they have any cause or reason so to do You look upon their dead Bodies in the Coffin before they are nailed up and your Eye is filled with tears and your Heart with sorrow You think of them as they are mouldring and rotting in the grave and you can scarce bear these thoughts Have you not another Eye Can you have no other thoughts Have not you an Eye of Faith to look beyond the Coffin and the Grave to a joyful glorious Resurrection and see what Bodies they shall be when they shall be raised They are in their Graves and you can see them no more but you can say Tho their Grave is filled up and I cannot set mine Eyes upon them yet methinks I see how there they lie and how they do consume and if you had an Eye of Faith which makes things to come as if they were present you might say Methinks I see their Bodies raised methinks I see how beautiful how powerful how glorious they be methinks I see them shining as the Sun if you did would not this delight your thoughts stop your excessive Tears and remove your immoderate sorrow but if you are purblind and cannot see afar off your sorrow will be nearer CHAP. XV. The Fourth Remedy against excessive Sorrow the Antecedents Concomitants and Consequâ—nts of the Resurrection of those that sleep in Jesus The First Christ Himsâ—lf will come for their Redemption from the Grave THE Fourth Argument for the mitigating of our Sorrow for our Deceased that sleep in Jesus brought by the Apostle is the Antecedents Concomitants and Consequents that is the things that shall go before accompany â—â—d follow after their being awaked out of their sleep and Resurrection from their Graves All of them exceeding wonderful and glorious and when known and believed firmly will be exceeding comfortable unto us as they are in themselves greatly desirable Oh that God would give us that Faith that might enable us to look upon them as sure and near at hand yea that may
the Lord Phil. 1.23 For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Heb. 12.23 To the spirits of just men made perfect 2. Then why do we Mourn on Earth for those that are Rejoycing in Heaven Do we weep for their Joy Is that our Love unto them to have such Sorrow for them What if there be one or two or ten fewer in our Family on Earth if there be so many the more in Heaven What mean these bleared Eyes this pale and macerated Face what means this washing of your Cheeks with Tears these sighs and sobs and groans Are they got safe into the place they prayed hoped longed for and do we grieve they have their Prayers answered their Hope 's obtained and their Longing Souls are fully and for ever saâ—isfied What if as they went to Heaven they took Death in their way could they have gotten thither without dying Is dying a greater Evil than all the Joys and Happiness they are possessed of is good Would they leave that State above to choose to be here below as they were before Conceive if it be not beyond all your Conceptions what Joy and Praise and heavenly Delight and holy Triumph the separated Soul of your dear holy Relation was filled with at its first beholding the Lord Jesus Christ in his Majesty and Glory in the other World Who can tell its ravishing Pleasures its transporting Delights its fullness of Joy at the first view of its blessed Lord and Saviour Is this the Jesus that was bufâ—eted and scourged and spit upon that is thus Beautiful as now I behold him Is this that Blessed Lord that was falsly Accused unjustly Condemned and cruelly Crucified that I now do see sat down upon his Glorious Throne Is this he that was vilified more than any Man that I see thus exalted above all these Glorious Angels round about I heard of his Majesty and Beauty and Glory from Ministers in their Sermons but what they said was not equal to what I see O the Love the Love the Love that I do feel to him that dyed for me that Redeemed me by his Blood to bring me to this glorious â—lace this glorious place I never before was in I never saw such a glorious place such Glorious Company I heard of it but before I never saw the like the like there is not to be seen Christ in Heaven and I with him all these Angels in Heaven and I with them all these Prophets Apostles Martyrs and happy holy Souls in Heaven and I with them I see such things I never saw I hear such things I never heard I feel I feel such Love and Joy that doth transcend all the thoughts I had of Heaven before I came into it O happy day that I came hither O joyful hour I left my Body till it be raised and partake with me in what I do enjoy I am but newly come into this Glorious State I am but now entred into this triumphant Society and what praises are these What Songs and Hallelujahs what divine and heavenly melody do I hear And what is my delight and Love and Joy it is great it is great I never knew the like it is so exceeding great Love and never doubt whether I do love Be loved and never question whether I am beloved Question and Doubt here is no room for such doubtings Do I enjoy what I enjoy and can I doubt whether I do enjoy it it is so full I cannot doubt it is so sweet I cannot Question it O blessed Day in which I was made thus blessed O blessed be this God that chose me to this blessed place O Blessed Saviour that by thy Blood didst Redeem me and purchase this Glory for me O Blessed Eternal Spirit that didst fit me and prepare me for it and didst guide me to it and being here I shall be here for ever I am where I would be and do not desire to be but where I am And this I know that where I am I shall for ever be and this God I shall ever love with perfect love and the more is my love the more is my joy and because my Love shall be perfect for ever my Joy shall be compleat for ever Is this the Soul we are Mourning for because it is separated from its Body Is this the State and infinitely beyond this that the Souls of our departed Friends are gone unto and do we sit and sob as if we were undone Do we weep and wail and lay their absence from us to Heart so much that makes us look more like their Enemies than their Friends and more like Strangers to that State above than Expectants of it or as if we were rather Unbelievers than Believers of Christ his Word and of the happiness of Heaven Think O think but alas it is more than you can think what departed holy Souls enjoy from that moment or day that you saw them draw their last breath and rather desire to be with them than Mourn that they are gone from you CHAP. XIV The Resurrection of the Dead great ground of Comfort in our Sorrow for them As also the Qualities and Endowments of their Bodies when raised THE Third Remedy against Excessive Sorrow for the Dead is sure knowledge and firm belief of the Resurrection unto Life Death is opposed to Life as being the privation of it the Resurrection is opposed to Death as being a restoration to Life The one is the cause of our Sorrow the other is a solid ground of Christian Comfort It is a Doctrine unknown by the Light of Nature it is undeniably proved by the Holy Scripture The Heathens hearing Paul preach the Resurrection of the Dead did deride and mock Act 17.32 for they did judge it a thing incredible that the dead should be raised Act 26.8 This was the reason they sorrowed for their deâ—d so immoderately because they had no hope that they should live again and the Resurrection and Christian Hope are conjoyned the one being the Foundation of the other Act. 23.6 Of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called into question Act. 24.14 And have hope towards God which they themselves also allow that there shall be a Resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust If the Resurrection be granted hope must be allowed and the more hope of this the more mitigation of sorrow for the Dead because they shall live again In this copious Subject I must omit many things and content my self with so much as is sufficient for my present design which may be done in these two things 1. That there is sufficient foundation for our Faith that the Dead shall surely live again 2. That their Bodies for which we mourn because dâ—ad and buried shall not only be the same for substance but in respect of Qualities shall far exceed what they were while they lived or when they dyed And the Faith
presentiate them unto us tho yet they are future that it may be the substance or subsistence or as it were the ready presence of such things hoped for and the evidence or convincing demonstration of things not yet seen as if we did now behold them with our Eyes which is the nature power and working of a lively Faith Heb. 11.1 then should we now wipe tears from our Eyes in the fore-believing views thereof as God will do then when we shall actually behold them then our Sorrow would now be turned into Joy and our Heaviness into Rejoycing now we know and say they are dead and therefore Sorrow filleth our Hearts but let us believe what is revealed concerning them that they shall be raised and what great and glorious things shall then be done to them and for them and let the Faith of the one make us as joyfull as the Knowledge of the other at present makes us sorrowfull These Remedies for the asswaging of our sorrow may be reduced to these five general Heads But remember it is not the bare Notion of them nor cursory talking of them nor superficial thinking of them but our serious pondering and powerful practical Believing of them and the Spirits effectual applying and laying them warm to our Hearts that must he the Cure to those that are deeply sorrowfull for their Dead 1. The Lord Himself will descend from Heaven to fetch them out of their Graves v. 16. 2. The Solemnity of his Coming and his Attendants waiting upon him and the Call that shall then be given to them to awake arise and come forth out of their Graves For he shall come with a shout with the Voice of the Archangel and of others and with the Trump of God v. 16. 3. The Prerogative of those that sleep in Jesus above those that then shall be found alive the Dead shall have the precedency of the Living that the Dead shall be raised before the then Living shall be changed V. 15. For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the Coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep V. 16. the Dead in Christ shall rise first 4. The Dead in Christ being raised first and after that the Living changed both shall be caught up together in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air. v. 17. Are our Hearts almost dead with sorrow Where is our Faith Here is the Word of the liâ—ing faithful God declaring Wonders that shall be done for the Dead in Christ but where is our Faith Here is our sorrow but where is our Faith Behold the Lord comes down from Heaven behold the Dead come up out of their Graves behold they that long lodged and slept under ground are caught up and carried from off this Earth into the Air where their Lord and they do meet O happy joyful meeting not only Bodies and Souls do now meet after so long a parting but which is more their Lord and they do meet after so long sleeping Lord here is our Faith and our sorrow is abated 5. The eternal Enjoyment of God and Christ in the highest Heavens V. 17. and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Now we see where they that are Lodged in the Grave sleeping in Jesus shall at last be Lodged rejoycing in Jesus and therefore now let us be the less sorrowfull And that our Faith concerning these may be encreased and thereby our sorrow may be diminished let us take them up and view them again I. Is it nothing for the asswaging of our sorrow that our Lord will come himself from Heaven to raise them up out of their Graves If you say Who can cause these dry Bones to live and cloath them with flesh and cover them both with skin and bring them out of these deep and dark sleeping places the Answer is ready the Lord can He can but the Question is whether he will he hath declared and promised that he will He will While he was on Earth he raised some but now he is gone to Heaven and there he doth abide and except he come from Heaven the Dead must abide in their Graves Say you so weep not for he HIMSELF will come and he will surely have them forth Did he at his first coming die for their Bodies as well as for their Souls and will he be content to have their Souls only with him in the Heavens and their Bodies to lie always in the Grave Did he purchase their Bodies as well as their Souls with the price of his own most precious Blood and will he for ever lose such a part of his purchase Are not the Bodies as well as the Souls of Believers Christs own by right of Redemption 1 Cor. 6.20 and will he lose his own so dearly bought for want of looking after them Hath he redeemed them from Sin and Hell and will not he redeem them from the Grave And is not the deliverance out of the Grave called the Redemption of the Body and do his People and Redeemed ones while they live wait believe and hope and like a Woman in Travel groan for Deliverance and long for the Blessed Inheritance and full possession of the Blessed State above both in Body and Soul at the Resurrection and will he suffer them to be disappointed Are they Adopted hereunto as well in their Bodies as in their Souls and did they here receive the Spirit of God as the Pledge and Earnest and First-fruits of Glory and shall he let them be for ever without it Rom. 8.23 Were they Sanctified in their Bodies as well as in their Souls and Spirits 1 Thes 5.23 and shall not their sanctified Bodies be glorified Bodies at the coming of Christ Did their Bodies partake with their Souls in the serving of their God in Hearing Praying and Religious Fasting and shall not they partake with the Souls in the heavenly and Eternal Reward thro' the Riches of his Grace Did they present their Bodies when alive a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God giving up their Bodies wholly to him to do and suffer what he did call them to tho' it were to Death Rom. 12.1 and will he suffer them to remain for ever as Prisoners of Death and not call them from thence to be partakers of Eternal Life Did both parts serve and yield Obedience to him and shall one only be saved and rewarded by him He was the Redeemer and Sanctifier of both and he will be the Saviour of both And if Angels sent from Heaven cannot deliver them out of their Graves he will come HIMSELF and bring them out When he would redeem Israel from the Bondage of Egypt he sent Moses but to Ransom Redeem and set the Bodies of those that died in him from the bonds of Death with which they are tyed hand and foot it being a Work too great for any meer Creature he will come himself and break these bonds that tho'