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
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'
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
you kill another and so bring in Death upon Death into your Family and invite and call it in to make Freach upon Breach Do you complain of Deaths doings and will you do as Death hath done do you grieve and sorrow for the death of another and by your grief and sorrow will you be your own death and yet not yield your sorrow is too much do you sorrow because yours are lodged in the Grave and do you thus hasten to go to them though God hath put an end to their lives yet hath not he bound you by all lawful means to preserve your own and to avoid whatsoever hath so great a tendency to cut it short or do not you know that excessive grief often is the cause of death Did you never read in the Bills of Mortality that some that many have died with grief and killed themselves with sorrow or did you never mind the difference given by the Apostle betwixt godly sorrow and sorrow of the World for worldly Losses and is not your sorrow such in thâ—s case 2 Cor. 7.10 for godly sorrow worketh râ—pentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death That sorrow that is for worldly losses and crosses proceeding from the over-much love of these Creature-Comforts doth huâ—â— the Body and hasten death temporal and doth wrong the Soul because sinful and doth deserve death eternal for the wages of every sin is death temporal and eternal Rom. 6.23 and will you so sorrow for another dead body as thereby to deserve the damnation of your own Soul and yet not say it is too much When your Spirit is broken your heart is broken how can you live and what will break it Prov. 15.13 By sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken Prov. 17.22 A broken spirit drieth the bones Psal 6.7 My eye is consumed because of grief Immoderate sorrow drieth the Bones breaks the Heart preys upon the Spirits consumeth the Vital Parts and by all hastens death and therefore not to be cherished but avoided Q. 2. Is not that sorrow that must be sorrowed for excâ—ssive sorrow See the strait you bring your self into You sorrow too much and because you do so you must sorrow more and so add sorrow to sorrow ' when it is and because it is too much already you have more than you ought and yet you have not so much as you should you must have sorrow for your sorrow and yet you want sorrow for your sorrow Your eyes run down with tears for your dead more than they should and when you should weep for your excessive sorrow you haâ—e not a tear to shed Why do you waste your tears for what and more than you should and then want tears for what you ought to shed them for Excessive sorrow is a sin because it is excessive and sinful sorrow must be sorrowed for and repented of or how will you else get the pardon of that known Sin What do you mean then by sorrow to draw on sorrow and so to weep that you must weep over your weeping and to shed tears over again for the tears that you have shed if you cannot bear this sorrow that you are filled with already why by this sorrow do you make way for more and fo depth of sorrow calling for depth of sorrow you at last must swim in tears where you cannot wade through Q 3. Is not that sorrow too much that doth hurt and no good is sorrow good in it self as sorrow Then all sorrow would be good Whereas much sorrow is often evil and too much is always evil because as such it doth hurt and not good Whom doth your sorrow do good unto not to your dead be it never so much not to your Relations that live for you grieve them by over grieving and makes your company a burthen and unprofitable to them not to your self neither to Body oâ— to Soul for it is prejudicial unto both as before was made manifest Q. 4. Is not that sorrow too much for your dead which would be too much for your sin Many are defective in sorrowing for sin few sorrow too much for sin yet men may be and some are excessive in their sorrow for sin insomuch that their sorrow for sin is turned into sinful sorrow as when they are so overwhelmed with sorrow for sin as unsits them for other Gospel Duties and drives them from Christ and sinks them into despair which sorrow is excessive and God gives caution and charge against such sorrow sor our sin 2 Cor 2.7 So that cantrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with ovâ—rmuch sorrow When sorrow for sin doth more hurt than good it is over-much and so is our sorrow for our dead Q. 5. Is not that sorrow too much for your dead which is more than you have for your sin Is not sorrow upon the account of some present evil that is upon us as joy is for some present good and should not the degree of our sorrow bear some proportion to the greatness of the evil that is the cause and reason of our sorrow Is not sin against God a greater evil than any besides sin doth fall upon us Is not your own dead heart and cold affections towards God a greater evil than the dead Corps and cold Flesh in the Grave which is the cause of all this sorrow Now when your sorrow is more for the lesser evil than it is for the greater judge if your sorrow for the greater is not too small and your sorrow for the lesserâ— over-much and excessive Q. 6. Is not that sorrow over-much which carries our thoughts down into the Grave to think of their Dead Corps but hinders them from ascending into Heaven to meditate upon the the Eternal Ever-living God What a shame and reproach is it to us that a dead Wife or a dead Child or a dead Father or Mother should have more of our Thoughts than God and Christ and things above and that the Bodies of our departed Relations consuming in their Graves should have more of our thoughts than their Souls triumphing in Heaven have that it is so our excessive sorrow doth testifie to our faces for we cannot say nor do pretend to sorrow for the Soul in Heaven is it not then for the Body in the Grave And why should not the Joy the Immortal part is filled with abate our Sorrow for the Corruptible part though it be consuming if our thoughts were as much with the Soul in Heaven as they are with the Body in the Grave Let these Excessive Mourners ingenuously confess if they have not twenty thoughts of the Dead Body for one serious heart affecting Thought they have of God and Christ and the living triumphant Soul above for would not the one cause Joy as others do Sorrow and so our Joy mitigate be equal to or exceed our Sorrow if it be
Tho maâ—y things might be had out of the whole Word of God which would much enlarge this Discourse yet I shall that I may Contract pick up the Apostles Arguments in the Text and following Verses of this Chapter as Alleviations of sorrow in this Case because therein he treats designedly upon this Subject Concerning which it is as if he had said Those that are ignorant of or do not believe the Resurrection of the Dâ—ad and a better Life hereafter have ever sorrowful Thoughts of those that are taken away by Death and mourn for them to excess But I would not have you to cherish and maintain such immoderate sorrows by Ignorance of their Case at present and hereafter The Helps against Immoderate Sorrow for our dead given in this Chapter might be reduced to these Four General Heads of Argument 1. The consideration of the state of the Bodies of departed Believers They are fallen asleep and if they sleep in Jesus as they do v. 14. they shall do well 2. The Knowledge and Belief of the state of the separated Soul Their Souls are with Christ Triumphant in Heaven while their Bodies are sleeping in the Grave and these Souls he will bring back with him when he comes 3. The certainty of the Resurrection of the Dead by the Re-union of the same Souls with the same Bodies and so Christ will bring the entire Man with him at the day of Judgment Thus the Hope in the Text is the Hope of the Resurrection of the Dead and confirmed by the next words 4. The Antecedent Concomitant and consequent Circumstances of the Resurrection That is what shall go before what shall accompany and what shall follow after the raising of the dead and all these are laid down in the following part of this Chapter which is a Spring and Fountain of Living Lively Comfort against excessive sorrow for the dead And methinks I feel it already to begin to work It warms my Heart it doth begin to burn within my Breast My Affections move and it seems to me that my sorrow is turning into joy and my heaviness into rejoicing and am put to a stand whether now I shall call my Tears for my dead Tears of Sorrow or of Joy Have we been sorrowing because she is dead Methinks I cannot but joy that she sleeps in Jesus Have we been mourning because the Body is in the Grave Oh how delightful is it to me to think upon such good grounds that the Precious and Immortal Soul is above in yonder glorious Heaven in the presence of the Father and Redeemer and Comforter and in the innumerable company of Angels and saved Souls perfectly Holy and Happy for ever Have we been so much troubled because the Body did fall at the parting stroke of death methinks my trouble is allayed when I am considering and certainly sure that it shall rise and fall no more Is it an aggravating sorrow to look back upon the Circumstances of the Funeral The Bearers carrying the Corps upon their Shoulders the Mourning Relations following and many sorrowful sympathizing Friends coming after to see the dead Body lodged in its long Home Methinks another Affection is ready to take its turn and to act its part even Delight and Joy when I look forward and foresee the Lord a coming and all his Holy Angels with him calling the dead to rise they hear and come forth from their sleeping places and after Judgment go with their Lord into the highest Heavens in Body and Soul not only to their long but last yea Everlasting Home to Live and Love and Joy in God to all Eternity Oh what difference is there between believing Thoughts of these great and glorious certain things and those that have been daily running to the Grave looking upon a consuming Body What wrong have I done my self in hastening to this part no more and coming to it no sooner Why have we been looking so long in the Grave in which as such we can see nothing but death and cry out as the Men to Elisha concerning their deadly Pottage O thou Man of God there is death in the Pot 2 Kings 4.40 So we there is death in the Grave But when Elisha said Then bring Meal and he cast it into the Pot and he said pour out for the people that they may eat and there was no harm in the Pot. So we should have looked upon the Grave as a place where Christ before had been laid and as a Bed for the Bodies of Believers to sleep in till the Lord shall come and we should have seen no such great harm in the Grave to fill us with excessive sorrow Concerning this representation of death by sleeping four things may be premised as to this manner of Scripture expression 1. Tho Beasts do die yet their death in Scripture that I know of is never called a Sleep for they die to live no more Death puts an end to their Life without a Resurrection to it any more They are only in this World and not to have Life in that World that Men are hastening too They are not capable here of Moral Government of Sin or Grace and so shall not be raised to undergo Eternal Punishments or to receive Eternal Rewards hereafter Tho they do sleep while they live yet their death is not a sleep because they shall die but never wake 2. The death of ungodly Men is sometimes in Scripture called a sleep tho more seldom The worst as well as the best all Mankind in general shall be raised at the last day As death is common to all so shall the Resurrection of the dead also be Tho as there is a difference in their death so shall there also be in their Resurrection but because they shall awake therefore to them death also is a sleep Tho they had better to sleep on than to awake and rise to be tormented Dan. 12.2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake some to â—verlasting Life and some to Shame and Everlasting Contempt Expressed by Christ in these words John 5.28 All that are in their Graves shall hear his voice 29. And shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation 3. It is most frequently used concerning the death of holy and believing persons that they may familiarize it to themselâ—es and get as great a willingness to die as to go to Bed and sleep So God said to Moses he should sleep with his Fathers Deut. 31.16 So of David 2 Sam. 7.12 So Mat. 9.24 When Christ said our Friend Lazarus sleepeth the Disciples thought he spake of his taking natural rest in sleep but after explained his meaning saying he is dead John 11.11 12 13. So Acts 13.36 4. The Expression of sleeping in Jesus is to be understood peculiarly of the death of true Believers that shall be awaked to live with him in Eternal
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
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
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
and Heaven over against their Grâ—vâ—s and their being with the Lord hereafter over against their present being with the Dead and try if a firm and lively acting Faith will not bring to us greater Joy than Sense now fills us with disquieting Sorrow Or shall we walk by Sense and not by Faith Sense tells us they are in the Grave there our Eyes saw them laid and doth not God tell us they shall be with him and have not we Faith to believe him and if we have cannot we rejoyce in the Hope thereof but sorâ—ow on as if we had no such Hope Do we sit and ponder upon the loathsomness and darkness of the Grave and weep while we ponder that our Dead are there and cannot we sit and meditate upon the holiness happiness and the shining Glory of Heaven and rejoyce that our dead shall live and dwell in that glorious Place hereafter especially when we consider they then shall be with the Lord so as before they never were Admit their Souls are now with Christ yet their Bodies are not It is but one part of them that now is Glorified but the Day is coming and it hasteneth that all Believers and all of every one the Body as well as the Soul shall be with the Lord. Did Paul judge it far better to depart that his Soul may be with Christ tho he left his Body to the Grave and was it the matter of his Desire Phil. 1.23 And shall not we judge it to be best that we and ours shall be with Christ both in Body and Soul and since it shall be so make it matter of our Joy tho for the present it is not so for tho it be to come and so is the Object of Desire and Hope yet Faith should look upon it as sure as if it were present and so make it the ground of our Joy As sure as their Bodies are now in the Grave so sure they shall be with the Lord in Heaven What ails us we cannot rejoyce in the one as sorrow for the other especially when the one is a greater Good than the other is an Evil 3. The Eternity of their abode with the Lord in Body and Soul from the Second Coming of Christ should asswage our Sorrow for the short space of time their Bodies are to remain in the Grave While Children Live we think how long is it since they were born When Persons in a Conjugal Relation continue together sometimes they reckon how many years since they were Married and these are pleasant Thoughts But alas Death comes and makes a Change and snatcheth away the Children and breaks the bond of Marriage and then after a while the Enquiry is How long hath my Child or Husband or Wife been dead and these are sorrowful Thoughts But is there no Remedy no relief against them What if you ask when our Dead that sleep in Jesus shall be raised how long shall they be with the Lord How long inconceivably longer than they shall be in the Grave How long shall they be in the Grave not for ever Blessed be God they shall not be there for ever How long shall they be with the Lord for Ever Eternal thanks unto our God they shall be with him for ever But we sit and think it will be a long a long a very long time that they shall be in their Graves and no man knows how long and for this Sorrow fills our Hearts Doth it think again when they shall be raised How long shall they be with the Lord a long a long a very long not time but Eternity and no Man can conceive how long it will be And when you have thought of as many years as you may imagine they may be in their Graves all of them will not amount to so much as one hour if compared with that Eternity in which they shall be with the Lord. Concerning their being in the Grave you may see an end for an end of their being there will be Concerning their being with the Lord you can conceive no end for there is no end to be conceived for they are to be with him for ever in the Grave for a time and after that with the Lord of Glory in a State of Glory for ever For ever O blessed word shall they come forth of their Graves after a while and be with the Lord for ever O happy happy for ever happy are their saved Souls above that shall live in the presence of their Lord for ever Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord for when they shall live again which shâ—ll surely be in their Bodies united to their Souls they shall be with the Lord for ever This will be the Joy of their Joy that they shall enjoy their Lord for ever This will be the Life of their Life that with their Lord they shall have everlasting Life This shall be the Crown of their Crown that it shall be Incorruptible as they then shall be both in Body and Soul It will be the Hell of Hell that the Damned must be there for ever It will be the Heaven of Heaven that their being with the Lord therein shall be for ever without this their Joy would not be pure Joy but mixt with fears of losing of it without this their Joy would not be full for the Thoughts it would not always last would diminish their Joy and if diminished it could not be full without this their Joy would not be constant Joy but there would be stops and gaps and intermissions in their Joy and they would have their fits of Sorrow and turns of Grief Now they would rejoyce because they are with the Lord and anon they would grieve because they are not to be with him for ever and so they would be miserably happy and sorrowfully joyfull which is not the happiness and Joy of Heaven which for degrees is full for duration everlasting full because they are with the Lord everlasting because they shall be with the Lord for ever Methinks I hear their triumphant Songs their Holy Admirations O what is the difference betwixt these Bodies now and what once they were Behold the Glory of this Place how far different it is from those Graves where we did lye and are now delivered from We were in our Graves for a time that time is out its past and gone and we are with the Lord for ever we are with the Lord for ever O this is it that is she Crown of all we are with the Lord for ever In this Eternity there is no Nights and Days no Weeks and Months and Years here is no Death and Graves and end for we shall be with the Lord for ever VSE What is the Use of all what should it be but what the Apostle makes of it v. 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words What words Review them and Recollect what hath been said upon them 1. As sure as Jesus Christ is risen from the dead
am Alas Lord forgive your unprofitable Servant tho studious as I can of your Spiritual and Eternal Good Thomas Doolittle The CONTENTS THE Mourners Complaint his Warning to others the Explication of the Text. pag. 1. to 9. Doct. I. The actings and workings of Sonrow in the Living for their Dead are allowed and lawâ—ull and ought to be The want of the workings of natural Affections in many upon this occasion calls for the handling of this doctrine 10 11 12 Proved by approved Examples and by Reasons p. 13 to 29 Use I. Of Reproof Where Eight Conclusions concerning Sorrow for the dead p. 31 I. This question What are the aggravations of want of Sorrow and sense of Gods hand in this Case answered in 10 particulars p. 35 to 46 Use II. Of Examination of the Kind of our Sorrow II. Quest When is our Sorrow for our dead Kindly and pleasing to God and when a turbulent Passion a Vexation of Spirit and provoking to God Ten Answers p 46 to 66 Use III. Of Caution p. 66 67 III. Quest When is our Sorrow for our dead spiritually defective thô it be naturally abundant Or when is it too little as we are Christians be it never so much as we are Men Eight Answers p. 69 to 83 Doct. II. Christians ought so to bound their sorrow for their dead that it be not Excessive and Immoderate p. 84 Ten Rules concerning the Kinds and Degrees of sorrow for the dead p. 87 c. Eight Questions propounded to such as sorrow with distracting sorrow for the death of Impenitent Relations for the composing of their minds p 101 c. Q. When is our sorrow for our dead excessive and Immoderate Twelve Answers 116 to 137 4 Remedies against excessive sorrow for our dead p. 137 c. I. Rem The consideration of the state of the Bodies of departed Believers that they sleep in Jesus 4 Notes of this Scripture expression of death as a sleep 142 c. 10 Meditations of Death as a sleep moderating our sorrow for them that sleep in Jesus 145 to 152 II Rem The knowledge and Belief of the glorious state of their separated Souls while their Bodies sleep in the Grave 152 to 158. Proved and Improved for the asswaging of our Sorrow III. Rem The Resurrection of those dead we mourn for to glorious Eternal Life Proved as a ground of great Comfort in our sorrow 158 to 165 Seven Properties or Endowments of their Bodies when raised as so many alleviations of our Sorrow 166 c. IV. Rem The Antecedents Concomitants Consequents Of their Resurrection 174 1. The Lord HIMSELF will come from Heaven and call them out of their Graves Our sorrow abated by the Certainty Nearness Publickness Of Christs coming for them 175 to 183. 2. The Shout and sounding Trumpet what it will be The Ministration of Angels about the dead in Christ 183 c. 3. The Priviledge of those that sleep in Jesus or their Preheminence before those that shall then be found alive 190 4. Our dead shall then meet the Lord in the Air. 191 5. They shall be with the Lord for Ever 192 Opened With whom they shall be With the Lord. Who shall be with him The dead in Christ whom we now sorrow for all Believers sound alive How long To all Eternity 193 c. Use Of Comfort 200 201 24 Questions added to the former grounds of Comfort for the quieting of our Minds and moderating our sorrow for our dear Relations now dead 201 to 211. The Mourners Soliloquy or Reasoning with himself about hâ— sorrow for his Dead that it might be kept within the bound of Moderntion 215 c THE Mourners Directory 1 THESS IV. 13. But I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope CHAP. I. The Introduction and Explication of the Text. THe Survivor according to his Circumstances by sympathizing Persons will be allowed to unload his burthened heart by pouring out his Complaints in some such manner Hath God afflicted me Hath he chastised my Children both me and them with such a smarting Rod as Death bereaving me of the choicest outward Comfort of my Life and removing out of the World from them a tender Mother that brought them into it and thereby caused us all to drink deeply of the Waters of Marah and filled our Eyes with overflowing Tears and our Hearts with over-whelming Sorrow and is it not time to cast about what Remedy Scripture doth yield which Nature cannot afford Do I stand before you this day in such Circumstances as in Preaching for the space of almost forty years I never did and may I not borrow from you some hours in your hearing to speak to my self and them deprived of so great a Mercy Paul was in a great strait whether he should chuse to live or dye and I am in a strait how I should without sin Sorrow for my dead For if defect of Sense and Sorrow in this case be a Sin I will strive to Sorrow that through stupidity I might not Sin If regular Sorrow be my duty I will study and pray that it might be so regulated that whilest I Sorrow and not Sin I might please and delight my self in this Sorrow and take some comfort from my Sorrow If excess be my weakness without Divine Assistance I cannot remove it therefore bent my mind to muse upon these words I would not have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope But may not that which is my Sorrow to day be some of yours to morrow Or within a little time will it not must it not be done to you and yours which at the present is done to me and mine Are not your Relations mortal as well as ours was And if you have not sinned so much as we yet have not you so much Sin as might call Death into your Houses Will not Death shortly knock at your doors and enquire who lives here upon this design that there they may die Will it not break through your strongest Gates scale your highest Walls climbe up to your Windows enter into your Chambers come into your very Beds and take the Wife out of your Bosome and the sucking Child from the Mothers Brest Will it not in a few Days and Nights more tear and rend from you the desire of your Eyes tho you would hold them fast in your Arms Shall not the shriekings be heard in your Houses as lately were in mine and the doleful cry go round while one Child begins saying My Mother alas my dear Mother is dead and another shall eccho to the voice of the former with weeping Eyes with wringing of Hands and bitterness of Soul shall say What shall I do what shall I do My tender loving Mother is dead my Mother is dead I could never say so before and the first time it is said
my duty and I will obey Ans 4. In kiâ—dly Sorrow for the dead the heart is much quieted by returns of prayers made by God to the Requests that in our Sorrow we made to him When we prayed while they lived and we prayed that they might longer live if our Prayers were consistent with his purpose or that by his Grace and Spirit he would help them to dye prepared and to make an happy and comfortable end and give us grounds of hope that if they may not live with us on Earth they should live with him in Heaven That if God would take them from us he would take them to himself out of ours into Abraham 's Bosom The one he did deny which we thought would have been good for us that live the other he did grant which in sober Reason and in a composed Mind we cannot but judge to be better for them they did dye contrary to our prayers they did dye with peace and comfort and hope of Heaven according to our prayers in our kindly Sorrow for them when dead the Heart is much quieted the Mind composed we grive but are sedate we Mourn but the Spirit is calm within we Sorrow with bitter sorrow but our Sorrow is sweetned that when God did deny our prayers he did hear our prayers when he denied them in one kind he heard them in another which in his Wisdom he saw best for the Persons prayed for Thus David praying and fasting and mourning for his Child when Sick that it might live or be saved if it died when it was dead his heart was quiet in hopes that his Prayers were heard that tho the Body was for the Grave yet the Soul was for Heaven whither he also hoped he himself should go to it So after the Relation is dead we go and pray against the Workings of Corruption by reason of God's Dispensation that we might not murmur nor repine nor charge God foolishly for his dealings with us we find Sin stirring we cry to God and they are crushed we feel Temptations assaulting of us we call to Heaven sâ—t help to resist them and they are repelled we are sensible of our own weakness with Patience and due Submission to bear so great a Trial God by his Grace comes and makes it more easie than we thought it could have been our sorrow for our dead being kindly sorrow gives place to our minding of these returns of Prayer that in my sorrow I have so much leisure for consideration as to observe and say Tho God hath taken away my dear Relation for whom I prayed and therefore do sorrow yet he hath taken away my Sâ—n and taken â—own the power of it against which I prayed tâ—aâ— in my sorrow I might not sin and my sorrow shall not sâ— far blind me that I should not sâ—e what at my Prayers God hath done for me He hath taken my Relation from me but I have prayed he would not take away himself nor his quickning Spirit nor the sense of his Love and he hath not the Creature is gone from me but God continues with me the one I shall see no more in this World but God I often since have conversed with and he hath shewed his Love to me and such returns must quiet my Heart in the time of my grief and sorrow But turbulent sorrow not meerly natural but becoming Vitious and Exorbitant by the workings of Corrupt Nature stirred up by the grievousness of our Afflâ—ction hinders the exercise of Grace and blindâ— us that we cannot see nay makes us to deny that God doth hear our Prayers though he doth while our Affliction doâ—h remain Job 9.16 If I had called and he had answered me yet would I not believe that he had hearkened to my voice God takes a Mercy from you and yet he gives demonstrations of his Love unto you but in your turbulent sorrow you say You will not believe that God is reconciled to you you will not believe but his anger and displâ—asure is kindled and burns against you He heâ—rs your Prayers but you cannot see it and you will not believe it This is sorrow not of meer but of corrupt Nature Ans 5. In kindly sorrow for our dead there will be an hearkning to and a receiving of Alleviations of our sorrow propounded to us by men upon grounds of Reason and Religion Arguments for â—â—â—â—gating of our gâ—â—â—f from the Promises of God from the common case of all Men even most beloved of God that they have died as Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses Aaron and Samuel the Prophets Apostles and all believing Primitive Christians and more still must From the happy state of those that die in the Lord the Evils they are delivered from the Good they are possessed of the Joys they are filled with the Holy Heavenly Work they are imployed in will find Entertainment with you and will be hearkened to and considered by you But turbulent Passions of corrupt Nature will put by all that tends to the asswaging of it after all Arguments from Reason and all Topicks from Religion will refuse to be comforted Thus Jacob's sorrow for Joseph when he supposed he was dead was too Exorbitant when all his Sons and all his Daughters rose up to comfort him and he refused to be comsorted When if they had not spoken one word of Comfort to him the very sight of so many Sons and Daughters living might have asswaged his sorrow for one supposed to be dead Gen. 37.33 34 35. So Rachel Jer. 31.15 A voice was heard in Ramah lamentation and bitter weeping Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children because they were not Aâ—s 6. In kindly sorrow for our dead we shall be more ready to justifie God in his dealings with us and rather accuse our selves than him and say The Lord is righteous in his ways and holy in all his works I have sinned but he is just I am bad but he is good and though I think his Hand is heavy upon me yet he hath laid less upon me than mine Iâ—iquities have deserved Hath he laid my Relations in the Grave he might have lodged me in Hell Hath he denied longer Life to one I could have wished might have longer lived he might deny to me Eternal Life Hath he bereaved me of the Comforts of a Creature he might deny me all the Comforts of his Spirit Doth Natural Affection move me to mourn for my Loss so Natural Reason teacheth me that God herein hath done me no wrong because all is his own in that he is the Maker of all and the Light of Nature doth instruct me God might give or take away whatsoever is his own and I may not call him to an account saying to him What dost thou or why hast thou done so And whilst my sorrow is not yet risâ—n to be tuâ—bulent I have leisure to look what Scripture saith and to see what the light of Grace doth shew That
God hath a right to mine because he had redeemed them with his Blood and sanctified them by his Grace and Spirit and thereby set the Mark and Character of his own upon them and what had I to do to desire to keep his own with me when he had a purpose to call them and take them home unto himself If I had forfâ—ited the Mercy of their staying with me God retained his right to dispose of them at his pleasure therefore tho I have much to say against my self I have nothing to say against God or his proceedings with me in what he hath done unto me or taken from me But when our sorrow comes to be turbulent Passion we muâ—mur and think we do well we â—epâ—â—e and justifie our evil Act and Sorrow and think we do well to sorrow on till it break over all Banks and Bounds of Modâ—ration like Jonah when God himself did ask him Dost thou well to be angry Answered yes I do well to be angry even to the death Jon. 4.9 In this case such a one being asked do you well to sorrow thus when you see God hath done his holy Will And all your sorrow is unprofitable to the dead and hurtful to your self in Excess of passionate sorrow doth reply Yes I do well to sorrow even unto death God hath afflicted me and I am afflicted and I am sorrowful and will be so Will you But pray you take heâ—d what thoughts you have of God the mean while for in turbulent sorrow its hard not to have hard and unworthy Thoughts of God and to justifie him in the midst of vexing sorrows Ans 7. In kindly sorrow for our dead our Eyes are more clear to see our Mercies in our Affliction and what God continueth to us as well as what he taketh away from us So when Children thus mourn for their dead Mother they can see Mercy in a Living Father or for a Father taken from them by death can read tho with Tears in their Eyes God's sparing Mercy in continuing their Mother Parents mourning for the death of one Child can take notice of the goodness of God in preserving the rest from the Jaws of Death and say Where God hath taken away one he might have taken two where two he might have taken all he hath taken away some and therefore we sorrow under his heavy hand but yet he hath pleased to leave more with us than he hath removed from us and therefore in our Affliction come upon us we can see God's Mercy to us or if he hath taken more than he hath left yet we have one still and in our sorrow for our dead we can see much Mercy in one Child that doth Live But when our sorrow for our dead comes to be turbulent and the Actings of corrupt Affections the sense of the Less of one Relation takes away all thankfulness for and content in all the râ—st Parents setting their Hearts upon one Child more than all the râ—st and the Love they had to that one did equal the Love to all the othâ—r they loving that most and too much God singles that out first for a Prisoner of Death and then the remaining can scarce be called Mâ—rcies if moved to mitigate their sorrow for the one that is dead by the sight of those that live say What tell you us of these when the other is gone What are these tho with us when the other is taken away from us Thus Jacob coulâ— tâ—ke no comfort from all his Sons and Daâ—ghters wheâ— he supposed his Son Joseph was dâ—ad Gen. 37.33 34 35. But correct your turbulent â—orroâ— which hinders the sigâ—t of â—â—â—d'â— Mercy in thâ—m thaâ— live lâ—st he by death remove them also and make you groan and sigh and sâ—b fâ—r them when dead which yoâ— could see no Mercy in because one did die before Ans 8. In kindly sorrow for our dead we can better sympathize with others exercised with the like dealings of God Many can sorrow for their own dead that are not affected with the death of the Relations of others especially such as are turbulently sorrowful for their own Vexing Passion in our selves is joined with least compassion to others as we narrow our Love too much to our selves and where Self-love is too much Love to others is the less or none so the sorrow for the Evils that befall our selves when vexatious and corroding is less or none for the Afflictions that come upon others Tâ—ey think their Tears are few enough to express their own sorrows or too precious to be wasted for the sorrows of others These are more hard-hearted than Jews who wept with Mary and Martha for their dâ—ceased Brother Ans 9. In kindly sorrow for our dead we shall be more mindful of our own Death and stirred up to greater Care to make Holy Preparations for it As soon as David did hear his Child was deâ—d hâ— said I must go down to it When you sorrow rightly following your dead to their Gâ—â—ve you will have serious thoughts of your own My Wife is gone and I shall shortly follow My Husband is dead and so must I be too Our Mother is loâ—ged in the Dust and after a while we must be carried to lye by her therefore we will so mourn that we may reserve some Tears of Repentance for our Sin that as our Bodies must go to her Body in the Grave so our Souls may go to her Soul in the highest Heaven But turbulent sorrow for the dead is as if they again should never live and hinders their thoughts of their own Mortality as if they should never die While they are thinking in how many days they shall Bury their dead they are hoping how many years yet they shall live What turbulent discomposing besotting sorrow is this that when these Mourners stand and see the Corps they mourn over let down into the Grave cannot see where e're long they themselves shall be lodged Ans 10. In kindly sorrow for our dead we shall be moved to perform our Relative Duties with more Tenderness and Kindness with more Care and Love to those Relations that yet are with us When the Mother is dead the Father must shew more Care than he did before or did need to do because their Mother did much ease him of it So when the Father is dead the more the Mother should take Care accordding to her Capacity When Father or Mother or both are dead the natural kindly sorrow for them will dispose their Children as Brothers and Sisters to discharge their Relative Duties and live in greater Love than ever When Jacob was dead Joseph mourned all his Brethren mourned all went up to Bury their Father and at his Burial mourned greatly After this Joseph and his Brethren returned into Egypt they remembâ—ing how cruel they had been to Joseph said Now our Father is dead our Brother will certainly requite us for all the Evil we did to him but Josâ—ph was but
speak of them in their Graves as the Scripture spâ—aketh See what the Living God saith concerning their Bodies and say if you sorrow for their sakes because the Bodies of your departed Relations are of that number that sleep in Jesus 1 Thes 4.14 And that rest in their Graves as in a Bed made easie by Christ's Body lodging there before theirs Isa 57.2 Look upon the Circumstances of their Bodies with a believing Eye through the Glass of Scripture and change the manner of speaking common to the bad into Scripture Language peculiar to the good they say He or she is dead do you say He or she sleeps in Jesus and do you indeed try if you can sorrow for that 3. If upon Scripture grounds believed and improved we have no reason to sorrow for the sakes of our holy Relation that are dead for what do we sorrow and for whom Is it because we have not the Comfort of their Company Is it because we are deprived of that good by their falling asleep in Jesus which we enjoyed while they lived with uâ— either in reference to our own good Temporal or Spiritual And is not this sorrowing for our selves more than for them For can we say we sorrow because they have not the Enjoyment of our Company when they were such that we are groundedly satiâ—fied that they have the Enjoyment of God in the Company of innumerable Angels and Saved Souls above And tho they loved our Company while they lived do we or can we think that they are not better pleased with that Society where now they are Or that tho we sorrow for want of them that they sorrow for want of us For want of us If we want them they want not us And if we sorrow that they continued no longer with us they rejoice at what we do sorrow And shall we sorrow at that for which they do rejoice Upon a due debate with our selves in a composed frame of Mind when the hurry of passionate sorrow is over we see we might change the form of speaking of mourning for such of our dead and more rationally call it a mourning for our selves because of the loss we sustain while we live by their falling asleep in Jesus Rule 8. Our sorrow for the dead that died in final Impenitency after they had lived wickedly all their days should not be such as doth deprive us of all our spiritual Delight and Joy in God and make us unfit and uncapable for the performance of those great Duties we stand engaged unto to God and Man It is indeed an Heart-piercing consideration to sit in our Mourning Chamber and think my Husband Wife Son or Daughter is Dead and Buried and Damned too To think the Body is meat for Worms and the Soul a prey to Devils That the parts of one so near us being separated are so disposed of as that one is lodged in a dark Grave and the other cast into outer Darkness and Eternal Torments which wounds some so deeply as brings them near unto distraction and sit and aggravate their sorrow saying The death of my Relation I could bear but the Thoughts of his Damnation do press me down that I have lost him is a loss under which I could find some Comfort to support me but that his Soul is irrecoverably lost and that it is under the loss of God and Christ and all the Happiness of Heaven and is fallen into the Company of Devils and all the Miseries of Hell the more I think of it the more my Soul refuseth to be comforted the deeper is the Wound and the greater is my sorrow But yet in this sorrowful case take heed of sinning in your sorrow for by Sin you deserve to follow him both to Grave and Hell Take heed of Sin which doth expose your own Soul to be cast into the lamented condition of your Dead and Damned Relation I say the third time take heed of sinning in your sorrow for such sinful sorrow must be sorrowed for and when you have by sinful excessive turbulent sorrow contracted guilt upon your own Soul you must bitterly bewail such Sin and sorrow for your own Sin added to the sorrow for his damnation will make you a Man a Woman of such sorrow that will be indeed an heavy load and a burden that will bow you down Because it is a Case too common for godly Parents to have wicked Children and so other Relations to have such as live and die impenitent upon whose account they are filled with distracting sorrow I shall propound these following Questions to their serious Thoughts and by that time they have given a sober considerate Answer to them upon due deliberation may see cause of taking heed thaâ— they do not go beyond the due Bounds of sorrow in this case or if they have to go and sorrow for their sorrow and so restrain it that their unquestionable duties might not by reason of it be neglected CHAP. IX Eight Questions propounded to such who pierce themselves through with almost-distracting sorrow for those that lived wickedly and died impenitent Q. 1. DID you sorrow for their Sin while they lived as you do for their Damnation dying impenitently now they are dead Did you shed as many Tears for the one as you do for the other Did the one cause as deep abiding sorrow in your Heart as the other doth If it were so your sorrow for their Sin might asswage your sorrow for their Damnation because you sorrowed for the cause as well as for the effect For that whereby they did dishonour God as well as for their Misery that hath befallen them If it were not so what kind of sorrow is this that you sorrow for the hurt of a Câ—eature and did not sorrow for that dishonour which that Creature did to God What kind of sorrow do you call that wherein the Misery of a Creature lyeth nearer to your Heart than his Eclipsing and Clouding the Glory of God by his Sins and Impenitency under them ever did in the time of his Life Examine by this sorrow for the Creatures Misery and not for God's dishonour by his Sin which was in your Eyes and esteem the greatest evil sin against God or the Creatures suffering for his Sin Q. 2. Did you do your Duty while they lived to recover them from a state of Sin that they might have prevented this Damnation you are now so sorrowful that by final impenitence and unbelief they are fallen into Did you seriously admonish them of their Duty reprove them for their Sin Warn them of the Wrath to come Tell them of their danger the Extremity and Eternity of those positive Torments and the greatness of the Loss of God and all the happiness of Heaven their wilful sinning did expose them to Did you call them to Repentance and shew them the necessity of forsaking Sin and turning unto God and of Faith in Christ and sincere Holiness that they might escape the Damnation of
Hell and be partakers of Eternal Glory in Heaven And when you did not prevail with them did you go to your Knees and pray to God Lord change my Husbands Heart convert and sanctifie his Soul that when he dies he might not be Damned Lord shew my Son his Sin and Danger convince him melt and break his Heart for Sin awaken his Conscience make him feel the burden of his Sin now that he might not bear the heavy Load of thy powerful Wrath for ever Tho he should be Poor yet let him not be wicked if thou wilt not give him Riches yet give him thy Grace or if thou hast given him the one good Lord deny him not the other Afflict him in this World rather than Damn him in the next Deal as thou pleasest with him in Temporals but deny not my Prayer for him for Special Spiritual Grace and for the Eternal Salvation of his Soul If you did your Duty you may have peace on Earth tho he hath no rest in Hell And the remembrance of this may be your Comfort in your sorrow If you did not it is safer for you to sorrow that you sinned than that he is Damned while you neglect to sorrow for the neglect of your Duty in endeavouring to prevent his damnation Sorrow for his Misery will never help him out but penitent sorrow for your own Sin is one appointed means to escape that Misery you lament that he is in Q. 3. Which is most fitting in your Reason and Judgment That God should be just in the Damnation of an impenitent Sinner tho he were your Relation or that he should deal with his separated Soul in a way of Mercy contrary to his Truth because he was your Relation Is it not more sitting that God should punish him for ever for his sinalâ— unbelief and impenitent hardness of Heart tho he were your Husband or your Son than that God should violâ—â—e his own word in saving him in an unconverted state because he was your Husband or your Son Do not you know that God is no respecter of Persons Rom. 2.11 And would not this be a respect oâ— a Person to save him in his Sin when he died in his Sin meerly because he was while he liâ—ed so related unto you Think of this to quiet your Heart and make your sorrow less Passionate but more Rational and so more moderate For is not his damnation more grievous to you because he was yours than the damnation of another never related to you tho the Soul of the one is equally Immortal and Miserable as the other And why should you have harder Thoughts of God in your sorrow for punishing yours because yours than of punishing of others when yours were equally sinful in Life and equally impenitent at death as others were Q. 4. Is not God and Christ the only Saviour of Souls infinitely more merciful than you And yet if the Father of Mercies and the Saviour of Sinners do approve of the Damnation of your impenitent Husband or Wise Father or Mother Son or Daughter why should you be filled with turbulent disquieting sorrow Should you appoint to him the measures of his Mercy or the Persons he should shew it to Doth he owe it to you or them or any other Is it not free so that he may have Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and Compassion on whom he will have Compassion Rom. 9.15 May not God act as a just God but you will sorrow as if he were not a Merciful God If the most Merciful God and Compassionate Saviour approve of the Everlasting Punishment of your Impenitent Relations as an Act of Justice and therefore good and therefore amiable Why should you so excessively grieve as if your Mercy was beyond the Mercy of the Father and the Son Q. 5. Have not you more cause to Joy and Rejoice at to give Thanks and Praise to God for your well-grounded Hopes of Heaven than to discâ—mpose your self for this Wâ—rk by your vexing sorrow because others are lost without hopes of finding Mercy What if the nearest to you in Relation shall for their wilful final refusing of Remedying Grace perish for ever should not you admire and magnifie praise and celebrate the free distinguishing Grace and differencing Mercy of God to you that you shall be for ever saved And say Will God shew Eternal Mercy to me when he will pour out his Eternal Wrath upon my Father or Mother Brother or Sister Husband or Wife or Child What was I more than they that they should be Damned and I should be saved after Death Was not I equally involved in the Guilt of Adam 's Sin as they were Was not I born a Child of Wrath as well as they Was not my Heart as bad my Sin as great my Nature as corrupt as theirs was Was not I as backward to good as prone to evil as they were and it may be more too Should not I with others cry out and say Eph. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us and me amongst them with spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Should not I give thanks and praise to God for blessing me with such blessings which tend to Eternal Glory which Christ hath purchased promised prepared and possessed for me tho others near to me are Cursed with an Everlasting Curse in Hellish Places justly inflicted on them for their Sin and continuing finally Impenitent under the same And can you be lifted up in such high praises of your God for his Mercy to you when you are so cast down into depths of sorrow at the Thoughts of God's punishing Justice with others Q. 6. Do not the Holy Angels and Blessed Saints above know as much of the Torments of Hell and of the Misery of the Damned as you do and yet are they filled with such sorrow because of any being there as you are Do saved Souls above sorrow there because they do not find the Souls of others there whom they knew on Earth and were Related to that died before them As they do rejoice to see others there whom they were here acquainted with and Related to And will you pretend to be more Compassionate and Merciful than Angels and Saints in a perfect state of Bliss and Glory Q. 7. Shall not you your self being a Penitent Believer approve the Righteous Sentence of Damnation upon those that were your nearest Relations in this World but died impenitently in their Sins Do not you know the Saints shall judge the World final-unbelieving Men and Apostate Angels 1 Cor. 6.2 3. And shall you sorrow then or rejoice at the Condemning Sentence of Jesus Christ upon all the ungodly tho many of your Relations should be amongst them And if you are to come as near to pleasing of God and being pleased in what he doth now as what you shall hereafter be why should you have so much vexing sorrow at that now for which you shall
not so it is easy to judge your sorrow is over-much Q. 7. Is not your sorrow over-much when it hinders you and keeps you from rejoycing in God from praising of him and giving thanks unto him for the mercies you have mixed with your affliction Have not you more Mercies left than you have lost have not you greaeter Mercies continued than are removed is your Earthly Father dead but have not you still a Father in Heaven is your Wife dead but is not your Soul married to Christ and though the Conjugal Union be broken by Death yet doth not the Mystical Union betwixt Christ and you still remain have not you the pardon of Sin the favour of God the sense of his Love and Hopes of Heaven seriously set these over against your Dead and say if you have not more cause to rejoice in God and give him thanks for these than you have to mourn for your Dead and whether God doth not command you more and give you a stricter charge sor these to rejoice in him than to mourn for your Dead and consequently is the grand constant Duty you owe to God all the days of your Life and are you so much indebted to your dead as you are to the Living God Was their Life of so much worth to you as your Relation to God is and your Receivings from him see your Duty and cease from that which hinders your performance of it Phil. 3.1 Finally my Brethren rejoice in the Lord. Whatsoever state you are in serve God with joyful hearts Phil. 4.4 Rejoice in the Lord alway and again I say rejoice Always rejoice in the Lord What whâ—n my Father or Mother or Child Wife or Husband lieth dead in my House or is newly lodged in the Grave Is it not alway you are commanded to rejoice is there this Exception when you have any Relation dead that then this should be no Duty Have not Christians always greater cause of rejoycing in the Lord than they have of sorrow for Worldly Losses is not holy joy in the Lord and a thankful praising of God the very Flower of Religion and makes us most like the Angels and Saints above but can you thus rejoice and praise and magnifie God and triumph in his Love and Grace when you are overwhelmed with sorrow for the loss of Worldly Comforts and is not that sorrow too much that unfits you for this constant standing Duty 1 Thes 5.16 Rejoice evermore 17. Pray without ceasing 18. In every thing give thanks for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ concerning you Whatever a true Believer doth lose he should rejoice because the Grounds and Reasons and Causes of Joy do still remain and in every Case and Condition of life should give thanks to God for as much as the Good that continueth to him doth exceed the Evils that do befal him This is God's revealed Will making it our Duty for the great Blessings we receive from him by Christ Job's sorrow for the loss of ten Children in one day by a strange unusual death added to all his former Losses making his Case more sorrowful than yours was kept within such Bounds as that he was able even then to bless and praise the Lord. Job 1.19 They are dead 21. He said naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. In your sorrow try if you can do so if not judge whether it be not over-much Q. 8. Is not that sorrow for your dead over-much which doth deaden your Heart towards God in all Holy Duties You were wont to pray with a lively Heart and to hear the Word of God with warm Affections but now you pray with a dead Heart and hear with dull Affections Your Love and Desires and Delights are become as cold in your Duties as your Relations Corps are in the Grave What have you done in your sorrow taken away a lively Heart towards God and laid a dead Child a dead Father or Wife in the room of it Like the Woman in Solomon's Reign whose Child did die in the Night and there being another Woman in the House that had a living Child rose and while the living Child's Mother did slâ—ep took her living Child out of her Bosom and laid her dead Child in her Bosom in the room of the living Child But these two Women contended before Solomon one saying The living Child is mine but the dead Child is thine the other also said The dead Child is thine but the living Child is mine 1 Kings 3.16 to 24. Solomon commanded a Sword to be brought to divide the living Child and to give half to the one and half to the other The true Mothers Bowels yearning towards her Child said O my Lord give her the living Child and by no means slay it the other said Let it be neither mine nor thine but divide it whereby the King discerned the Natural Mother and commanded the living Child to be given to her ver 24 25 26 27. Love filled your Heart to your living Child Sorrow fills your Heart for your dead Child You had a lively frame of Heart when your Child was living but now it is dead through over-much sorrow you have laid your dead Child in your Bosom in the room of that Activity of Soul that before you had towards God and you lay claim to the dead Child this dead Child is my Child Alas this Child that is dead is mine But whose is your Hâ—art and Love God's or your Child's Take heed this be not the true answer during this fit of excessive sorrow it is not all God's â—or all the Child's but you have divided it between both and given half to the Living God and half to the Dead Child That sorrow that causeth you to make this division is excessive sorrow Q. 9. Is not that sorrow for your dead over-much when it all runs out to them that you are not sensible of nor concerned for the Calamities of the Church nor Afflictions and Sufferings of the People of God All your sorrow is contracted and all your Tears run in this one Channel for your dead Father or Mother Husband Wife or Children are not the Concerns of the Church of God greater than your selfish Matters Are not the Sufferings and Calamities Martyrdom by Burning and Wracking and Torturing of many dear to God greater Evils than the Natural death of your Relations Did Christ shed his Blood for his Church and amongst all your Tears for your dead cannot you drop one for the Suffering Church of God Are Men shedding their Blood and for this cannot you shed a Tear when you have so many for one dead Child or Husband or Wife Should not the Concerns of the Glory of God in Publick Affairs lye nearer your Heart than a dead Relation and wound deeper and make you sorrow more You are ready to die with
him may assuredly satisfie us that such shall also be raised Firmly believe the one and you cannot or need not doubt of the other 1 Cor. 15.12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no Resurrection of the dead 13. But if there be no Resurrection of the dead then Christ is not risen 15. Whom he raised not up if so be the dead rise not 16. For if the dead rise not then is not Christ raised 1 Thes 4.14 For if we believe that Jesus dyed and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Thirdly The gross Absurdities that unavoidably follow the denial of the Deads being raised may confirm us that they shall be raised They are such as these 1. Then Christ is not risen 1 Cor. 15.13 2. If Christ be not risen and so the Dead shall not be raised then Ministers preaching and Peoples believing is all in vain v. 14. 3. Then the Apostles were Liars and false for they affirmed both 1 Cor. 15.15 and in other Texts 4. Then those that are Dead in Christ are perished v. 18. 5. Then the best men are the most miserable v. 19. 6. Then a floodgate is opened to all wickedness v. 32. 7. Gods People then are weakened for doing or suffering v. 58. 8. Then Gods Covenant with his People is broke Mat. 22.39 c. Secondly Besides the certainty of the Resurrection of the Dead the consideration of the Properties Qualities and Endowments of their Bodies which shall arise administers more Comfort to us and consequently will be a further mitigation of our Sorrow God hath not only assured us that these dry Bones consumed Bodies shall live but also hath foretold us what manner of Bodies they then shall be far more noble and excellent than when they lived or died 1. They shall be raised Immortal and Incorruptible Bodies While they lived with us they were always mortal and did admiâ—ister matter of feâ—r unto us while we ofâ—en said 〈◊〉 thought What if my Husband should die or what iâ— my Father or Mother should die These were fretting fears and caused many distrâ—cting Cares or troubled us sitting at our Table or lying in our Beds because we knew they were always subject to Death and liâ—ble to its stroke and we knâ—w not how soon tho in Health they might be taken from us and so the feâ—rs of their dying abated our Comfort in th m while they were living because we looked upon thâ—m as dying Comforts and going from us whilst they were with us But when theâ— live again they shall die no more Death shâ—ll have no more dominion over them Then thâ—y shall be above the stroke of death and the fears thereof and it shall be no more a King of Terrors unto them But as Christ their Heâ—d hath said Rev. 1.18 I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen so all these his Members shall say We are they that live and were dead and behold we are alive for evermore Amen This is truth so it is When Death came in by Sin all mankind became subject unto Death When Sin was turned out by death and these Bodies shall be raised no more polluted with it they shall be as free from Death as they shall from Sin before they did die they were to die When they were dead and shall live again Death hath done its worst hath done its all and hath no more that it can do Death did conquer them and laid and kept them Prisoners in the Grave but when they shall be raised to Life and redeemed from the Grave they shâ—ll conquer Death and then this last Enemy shall be destroyed and in the morning of the Resurrection these revived Bodies united to their Souls shall sing that triumphant Song O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory Death and Grave did swallow us up but now the Destroyers are destroyed the Spoilers are spoiled and both are swallowed up in victory Thus the Bodies that were sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption 1 Cor. 15.42.54 55. then Mortality shall be swallowed up of Life 2 Cor. 5.4 2. They shall be raised powerful and impassible Bodies While they lived here they were weak and suffering Bodies enduring hunger and cold and thirst crying out of Pains and Sickness or torments by Chollick Gout and Stone and Rheumatisms shaken by Agues and scorched by Feavors and swelling with Dropsie torn with Coughs overflowed with Catarrhs and liable to hundreds of Diseases insomuch that they died daily yea died many Deaths before they died and many Sicknesses put them to more and greater pains in time of Life than Death it self did put some of them to in the point of Death but when they shall live again as they shall die no mâ—re so they shall suffer no more nor be sick any more feel hunger and thirst no more and so shall grieve nor groan weep or sigh or sob no more for ever no more aking Heâ—ds no more pained Bowels no more Griefs of any sort whatsoever Indeed the Bodies of the Wicked shall be raised Immortal but subject to suffering they shall feel more pains and torments after they are raised than ever they did before they died and their Immortality shall be the aggravation of their misery for die again they would but cannot return to their Grave again where they felt nothing they would but must not because they must live for ever they must be tormented for ever Immortality of Bodies at the Resurrection to the Wicked is a Curse and Plague to the Godly it is a Blessing and a Favour conferred upon them for tho' they were sown in weakness they shall be raised in power 1 Cor. 15.43 3. They shall be raised Spiritual Bodies not turned into Spirits for then they would not be Bodies Spirits have not material Eyes with which Job said he should see his Redeemer at the last day with those he then had and not with others if it were not the same Bodies in substance it would not be a Resurrection but a new product on They shall then be Spiritual Bodies in this respect that their manner of Life shall be like the Life of Spirits having no need of Meat or Drink or Sleep or any such things whereby our Natural Bodies in this Life are supported and maintained In which respect Christ asserts that they shall be as the Angels Mat. 22.30 In the Resurrection they neither marry nor are given in Marriage but are as the Angels of God in Heaven This will be a great priviledge of Bodies raised from the dead at the last day for nâ—â— we spend a great part of our Life in Sleep for the refreshing of our Natural Bodies arâ— in that time we are not nor cannot be taken up with Admirations of God nor Contemplations of Divine things but after the Resurrection there shall be no
so surâ—ly our dead shall rise Comfort your selves and one anoth r with these words 2. Those that shall be found alive shall not prevâ—nt them that are asleep but the Dead shall be raised before the Living shall be changed they in their Graves shall have the precedency and preheminence before the Living and tho the one are dead and the other living yet the Dead shall be made Immortal and Incorruptible before the Living Comfort your selves and one another with these words 3. Rather than the Dead shall lye in their Graves for ever Christ as soon as the appointed time is come will Himself in his own Person come and with a shout with the Voice of the Archangel and sounding Trumpet call them out of their Graves and they shall hear and shall come forth Comfort your selves and one another with these words 4. When the Dead in Christ shall be raised and the Living changed they shall all be caught up together in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and shall there be acquitted and absolved and adjudged to everlasting Life therefore comfort your selves and one another with these words 5. After this they shall go into the highest Heavens in Body and Soul to be with the Lord for ever wherefore comfort your selves and one another with these words Now upon the survey of the whole matter what have you most cause for your Sorrow or your Joy What if yours do not live with you is it not better that they died in the Lord than to live as such with you what if they are in the Grave for a while and after that shall be with the Lord for ever Cease Excessive Sorrowing and encourage and comfort your selves and one another as the Death of any requires with the lively Belief the joyful Hopes and often mention of this most Blessed Time and State CHAP. XVIII Additional Questions propounded to Mourners for the Moderating of Excessive Sorrow BUT if your Sorrow be Excessive after all these Remedies alleadged made known to us by Divine Revelation doth it not argue Want or Weakness of Faith and slowness of Heart to Believe If you do not believe will you reason the Case with your self that we may bring it to this Issue that your Immoderate Sorrow is irrational contrary both to Faith and Reason Which will appear by that time you consider the Matter well and give in a deliberate Answer to these following Questions briefly offered to you 1 Quest If a particular Resurrection now could be as formerly hath been would you desire that your Relations that died in the Lord might now be raised from the dead to live and dwell with you in your House upon Earth again If it were possible would you have your holy Father or Mother Husband or Wife raised as Jairus his Daughter Lazarus Tabitha and others were and come and sit at your Table and live with you in the same Circumstances as they did before If you would not how unreasonable is all your excessive Sorrow because they are dead and yet would not have them live with you again thô you may What! will nothing content you Is their restoration to Life now no matter of your desire and yet is their death such matter of so great abundant Sorrow Will you be pleased neither way concerning them dead or alive again If you would desire this do you consider what it is you do desire and how injurious you would be to them that you may have your will and as you say the comfort that before you had in them Tell me 1. Would you indeed have them from the glorious presence of God and Christ and the eternal Spirit to live with you Could they have that Delight and Joy in your Company as now they are filled with in the presence of their glorious God and Redeemer 2. Would you have them leave the Society of Angels and saved Souls above to come and dwell among sinfull men again 3. Would you indeed have them return from Rest to Trouble from Joy to Sorrow from Praising to Mourning 4. Now they have got out of the reach of Satans Temptations would you have them live here again to be buffeted again and tempted and assaulted by that roaring Lion And after they have got the Victory and won and wore the Crown would you have them to come into the Field again and conflict with the Powers of Darkness again 5. Were you grieved for them on their dying Beds to see what they endured and what cold Sweats the Pangs of Death did put them to and yet would you have them live again that they may die again Do you sorrow that they have died once and will you sorrow on except you could have them live again that they may die twice would you have them have two deaths for one Is this your Love to them 6. Is once mourning for them so grievous and would you have them live again and so die again and you Mourn again for their Second dying if you should out live them or leave them behind you for them to Mourn for you whereas where they are now they have done Mourning and are strangers to it 7. Would not you be more Kind to your self and them to prepare and desire to go to them than to have them return to you if such a thing could be Do not you know which to choose and yet sorrow in this manner 2 Q. If you would have them Live again can your sorrow multiplyed ten times more help you to your Will May you not by this sorrow bring your self to the Grave sooner than fetch them out Say what good this excessive sorrow doth or else moderate it 3 Q. Who hath done this that you mourn so much for Was it not by the Providence of God And will you quarrel with him or call him to an account why he hath done so Or should not his Hand quiet your Heart Read Job 33.13 1 Sam. 3.18 Psal 39.9 4 Q. Do not you hereby contradict your Prayers Do not you pray his Will might be done and submitted to when it 's done Do not you see it was his Will to have your Relation from you and is this your submission to it Is it so done in Heaven as you do it upon Earth 5 Q. Hath God herein taken any from you but what he first gave unto you Who gave you your Children or Husband or Wife were they not the Gifts of God Did not this quiet Job Chap. 1.21 6 Q. Whose was He or She that is dead that you so Immoderately do Mourn for Do you say it was my Child my Father or my Mother my Husband or my Wife If it had not been mine I should not thus have mourned But were they not Gods own more than your own When God gave them you did he give away his own right Might not God do what he will with his own but you must take on as if he had taken something he had no right unto What
had you to do to keep his Own from him when he would have them with him 7 Q. Is not God Soveraign Lord and absolute Disposer of all in the World Are not Kingdoms and Nations Princes Lords and Nobles at his disposal And what are you above all others in the World that you and yours should be exempted from the disposing Hand of God 8 Q. Did your Happiness lie in the Enjoyment of the Creatures you have lost In them or in God If in them you are miserable if in God tho they are dead yet he doth Live Why then do you thus mourn so long as your Happiness remains 9 Q. Tho your Relations are cut down and withered like Grass yet doth not the Word of the Lord stand and continue for your Support Isa 40.6 7 8. And cannot you find as much Comfort in all the standing Promises of God as you did in a withering Creature Go and try by reading believing applying of them as your Case requires and by turning Promises into Prayers 10 Q. Did not your Relation live out the Time appointed by God Job 14.5 Or did he not die when God did foreknow he would die And do you thus take on because Gods Purpose is performed Would you have a Child tarry in the Womb beyond its appointed time or in the World beyond what God intended it should 11 Q. Did not you know your Relations were mortal or do you sorrow because they were so Is not that to sorrow because they were Men or Women or Children Would you have had them to have been here Immortal that they might not have been subject to Death Did you ever see any Men Women or Children that were not mortal 12 Q. If so did not you know a parting time would come Was there not some Intimation and mention of Deaths separating you in your conjugal Covenant And do you now mourn as if something had befallen you that you never knew or heard of Is it so intolerable to you to see a dying Creature dead 13 Q. When would you have been willing to have parted with them If God had continued your Child ten years longer would not you have been more unwilling and so more sorrowful than now you are After Forty years would you be willing 14 Q. Hath any thing befallen you that hath not been the common Case of all the Generations before you will shortly be of all this Age and of following except those that shall be found alive at the Coming of Christ And would you have your State to be singular Or if it be not will you be sullen 15 Q. Could your Relations Souls have gone to Heaven if their Bodies had not died Or would you have had them never lodged there except as Enoch and Elias without seeing Death If the Soul could not have been happy above except the Body dyed and took the Grave in its way to Glory are you excessively troubled for a dead Body which must be for the greater advantage of the Immortal Soul 16 Q. Would not you have been as loth to leave them behind you as now you are sorrowful they are gone before you And will you be pleased neither way Would you have died all together You are sorrowing now for Wise and Children because removed by Death and if God had laid you upon a dying Bed then your trouble would be for them if alive because you are like to be taken from them and say What will my small Children do if I die And what will their Mother dâ— when their Father leaves the one â— Widow and the other Fatherless I could have been glad if God would have spared my Life to have seen them well brought up It is hard for you to say which would be less trouble to you to leave them behind you or have them go before you But if you have that which you had rather have why do you so sorrow when you have that which is best for the rest of your Family 17 Q. Do not you know that all your Family have sinned and that therefore they have all deserved to die Why then do you sorrow so much for one captivated by Death when you should be admiring the Patience of God and praising him for his Mercy that so many are continued in Life 18 Q. Is not this Ingratitude to God that the loss of one should make you unsensible of the many Mercies of your own Life Is all gone in one Look about you and you will see the abundant goodness of God to you in your outward Accommodations in this World many spiritual Blessings as Pledges of Eternal Glory and will you bury your Thankfulness for these in the Grave of your dead 19 Q. Do not you provoke God hy your sinful excessive Sorrow to go on to make more Breaches by Death that you might have something more to sorrow for Do you sorrow thus for one Might not God say There is another Child Death lay it dead and bring it out and lodge it by the other There is an Husband or a Father yet left Death go and seize him and have him away and if they are delighted in such discontented Sorrow let them havâ— more to sorrow for 20 Q. Have not they lived a long life before they die they enter into Eternal glorious life when they die Do you sit and sorrow and say if he had not died so soon if he had not died so young How soon if he lived to be Converted to be sanctified and prepared for Heaven did he not live longer than a Man at Sixty and then dies in Sin and is Damned at last Do you reckon length of Life by multitude of years or ripeness and fitness for Heaven When you Sorrow he died so soon Bless God he lived so long as to be saved when he died 21 Q. Will you compare with God in point of Wisdom in governing and disposing of his Creatures with all the circumstances of Life and Death Are you wiser than he dare you entertain such a Thought would you not resist it with abhorrence why then do you think it would have been better for you that your Relation should have lived longer Is not this to set your Folly against Gods Wisdom Doth not he best know what is the most fitting time for any to be born how long to live and when to die If so why do you oversorrow for that which is done with highest Wisdom 22 Q. Why hath God implanted such Graces in your Heart as are suitable for a time of Affliction but that you should exercise them in their season As Faith and Patience and Submissiveness of will to his holy Will and Pleasure Are not Habits given for Act and when will you act your Patience and Submission but when Tryals are upon you but doth your excessive Sorrow look like Patience under or fretting against the hand of God 23 Q. Do you say you did exceedingly desire their Eternal Good in Gods accepted time and excessively
sorrow for their Death and can you reconcile those Desires with this Sorrow If you did desire it when God should please to bestow it why do you so sorrow now by death the way of all Believers to it they have obtained what you did desire when without the one they were not to have the other 24 Q. Are not you your self being made men for Heaven near unto that Place and State where you shall sorrow no more neither for any thing concerning your self nor any other while you mourn and say This Husband or Wife Father or Mother that was mine now is no longer mine Seriously meditate and deeply consider and say Yet God is mine and Christ is mine and the Spirit is mine the Promises and Priviledges are mine and Heaven is mine and there I shall shortly be with God and Christ and the Eternal Spirit with Angels and saved Souls above where I shall love God with perfect Love and praise him and my Redeemer and Sanctifier with Eternal Praises and see and know and delight in the Company of those that are gone before for whom I am mourning upon Earth and joy and joyn with them in holy Hallelujahs and triumphant Songs of Praise where all sorrow shall be taken from my Heart and all tears wiped from mine Eyes and I and they shall know sorrow and grief and groans and sighs no no more I stand at the door of Eternity every day waiting looking hoping for Eternal Joys Therefore blessed Lord to all these reasonings of thy Ministers add the effectual working of thy Spirit that I might not sorrow as those that have no Hope Amen THE MOURNERS SOLILOQUY Concerning his Moderating His Sorrow For His DEAD THE Mourners Soliloquy CHAP. XIX Containing the Mourners Soliloquy or Reasoning with himself concerning his Sorrow for his Dead for the moderating of it DEad Alas wo is me my Father Mother dead my Wife or Husband or Child dead can I with Comfort live are not my comfortable days past and gone when he or she is dead and gone Gone no more to return to live with me on Earth Let me look upon the Body in the Coffin before it be lodged in the Grave for after that I shall look upon it no more mine Eyes shall see it no more Look behold it s pale Face its closed Eyes its Jaws tyed and muffled up these Eyes did see me but now Death bath shut them that they cannot This Tongue did use to talk with me to my great delight but now Death hath tied it and my Ears shall hear the sound thereof no more These Feet did often walk with me yea we went to the Ordinances of God together but now Death hath fettered them that they can move no more and must I follow it to the Grave and see it covered with Earth and there leave it and when returned home look for it at my Table but it is not there or in my Chamber but it is not there The Cloaths the Body was often dressed with are there but the Body is not there Now it is so many Weeks since it was buried she is gone but my Sorrow doth remain Remain it comes more and more and doth increase My Soul is grieved my Heart is loaded and my Spirit fails within me the more I muse the more I Mourn the more I think of mine thus captivated by Death and buried out of my sight the more my Sorrow is renewed Alas I can contradict that Old Proverb Out of Sight out of Mind for he or she hath been so long out of my sight but hath not been a a Day or Night out of my mind and the more and longer I remember the more and longer I do sorrow Sayest thou thus O my Soul is it God or a Creature the loss of whom thou mournest for If of God weep on and Sorrow and seek him till thou findest him for he is a living and Gracious God and may be found But if of a Creature forbear thy Tears and moderate thy Sorrow for if thou shouldest weep thy self blind and break thine heart with grief being dead and gone cannot be any more found wherever upon Earth thou seekest for it Wilt thou then examine thy Sorrow whether it be pleasing unto God or whether it be turbulent Passion and meer fruitless Self-vexation whether thou Mournest like a Christian or an Heathen whether thy sorrow be not sinful and excessive and therefore sinful because excessive Dost not thou know hast not thou read and learned that thou shouldst not sorrow as those do that have no Hope are thy tears more boundless than the Ocean for that hath bounds and shall thy Tears have none The Waves thereof go so far and then are stay'd and shall thy Tears continually drop and have no limits set unto them or wilt thou suffer them to run waste and shed enough to wash thy Dead when thou shouldst keep them to pour out before God upon thy bended Knees that by the Blood of Christ thy Sins might be wash'd away Have thy Tears so blear'd thine Eyes or thy Sorrow so disturb'd thy Reason that thou canst not see thy Sorrow to be Excessive Sorrow and thy Grief to pass all bounds of Christian Moderation Measure it by Reason and Religion And then tell me O my Soul if that Sorrow be not Excessive for thy Dead whereby thou hastenest the death of thy own Body and invitest Death to lay it dead Tho God by Death hath taken away the Life of thy Relation yet hath he not commanded thee to use all means lawful and to abstain from all those things amongst which Immoderate grief is one that doth endanger thine own Life and wilt thou thereby become guilty of thy own Death Besides is not that Sorrow too much that must be sorrowed for and those Tears too many that must be wept for and more follow them because they are so many Hast thou Sorrow too much already and must thou still have more because thou hast too much Dost thou not see what straits thou bringest thy self into that while thou dost abound in Sorrow thou wantest Sorrow because as yet thou hast not sorrowed for this too much abundant Sorrow For give me an answer O my Soul if that be not too much abundant Sorrow that doth more hurt than good and would be too much if it were for thy Sin which for Sin tho the greatest Evil would be too much when it doth more hurt than good and doth it not do so when it driveth to despair keeps off the Soul from Christ and from hoping in his Merits or God's Mercy and is it not too much when it is more for thy Dead than for thy Sin for when thy Sorrow should bear its proportion to the Evil thou sorrowest for and Sin is a greater Evil than the Death of thy nearest Relation be thou thy self the Judge if sorrow for the lesser evil be not too much when it is more than that which thou hast for the greatest Evil