of this wiâ—â— be as much cause of Joy as their Death was of Sorrow and more abundant In the first of these three things give me full satisfaction 1. Taken from God 2. From Christ 3. The absurdities that must unavoidably follow the denial of the Resurrection of the Dead First in this Article of our Faith from whence I check my Sorrow for the Dead that it may be kept within bounds three things in God so considered by us tho one in him remove my Doubts confirm my Hopes in this Case 1. The Wisdom 2. The Power 3. The Will of God 1. God being Infinite in Wisdom and Knowledge I am fully satisfied that he knoweth the number of the dead and where their Bodies were buried or consumed and which are the bones and Skull and Dust of one and which of another for this is knowable in it self and therefore God knows these and all other circumstances of the Dead or else his Knowledge would be limited and finite Knowledge and not extended to every thing that may be known which is contrary to Natural Reason to Scripture and Religion and to the Infinite Perfection of the Divine Nature to deny this Knowledge in God is to Blaspheme him 2. God being Infinite in Power is able to raise all the Dead all which and every particle of all of them being thus known to him to raise the Dead is an Act of Power and not of weakness and is possible and not a contradiction Cannot the same Power that made all things out of nothing cause these dead-out of something to live again Cannot the same Power that at first formed Mans Body of the dust of the ground and caused it to live make these Bodies to live again thô they be turned into dust Cannot God do what he hath done Cannot he do all that is possible to be done Is not that which hath been done to some possible to be done to others Are there not many Examples in the Scripture that this hath been done Have not many Dead been raised to Life The Resurrection of the Dead being in the rank of things possible comes within the reach of Divine Almighty Power which to deny is to blaspheme these two being manifest to compleat the Argument add 3. God hath declared his Will and Purpose that the Dead shall live again We cannot argue from the Power of God that a thing shall be because he is able to do it because he doth not will to do all that he can do but we might argue from his Will that what he doth will to do shall be done because he hath Power to do whatsoever he will Men might have a will to do some things but they have not Power answerable to their Will and they often would but never can but tho' God be not Omnivolent to will every thing he can yet he is Omnipotent to do whatsoever he will Wherefore our reasoning issueth in this Whether it be the Will of God that the Dead shall be raised to life The fundamental Error of the Sadduces denying the Resurrection of the Dead Christ shews was in their Ignoronce of these two Principles the Power and the Will of God which is revealed in the Scripture Mat. 22.29 Jesus answered and said unto them Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God The Scriptures do abound in this fully assuring us that it is his Will that all the Dead shall be raised the Wicked to Damnation the Righteous to Life everlasting If you doubt read these Texts Job 19.25 I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth 26. And thô after my skin Worms destroy this body yet in my Flesh shall I see God 27. Whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another thô my reins be consumed within me Joh. 5.28 The hour is coming in the which all that are in the 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 Joh. 6.38 For I came down from Heaven not to do my own will but the Will of him that sent me What 's that 39. And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day These are comfortable words of Christ to us What a strict Charge is here of the Father given to Christ My Son I give you so many men and charge you with them that you lose not any one of them but that you raise every one of them at the last day and set them before me in Body and Soul in my heavenly Kingdom Do you fear lest among so many millions to be raised any one of yours should be left in the Grave and never raised Would not then such be lost and is not that contrary to the Charge given to Christ and contrary to the Fathers Will Are not you satisfied that Christ hath and will do his Father's Will in every Point Hear his words 40. And this is the will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day Are not you yet satisfied with these words of him that is able and can and faithful and will do what he saith reaching to every one without the losing of any one The Father that sent me hath declared his Will that I should and so I will raise every one of these at the last day Believe and sorrow for your Dead with no more degrees of Sorrow than becometh one that doth believe that Christ will raise them up at the last day John 11.24 Martha said to him I know that he shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last day 25. Jesus said unto her I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me thô he were dead yet shall he live John 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day 54. Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath Eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day 1 Cor. 15. throughout Rev. 20.12 And I saw the Dead small and great stand before God 13. And the Sea gave up the dead which were in it and Death and Hell or the Grave delivered up the dâ—ad which were in them Now the Grave and Death hold your Relations that are under their Power fast so fast that now there is no help and you therefore sorrow but the day will come when Death and the Grave shall deliver them up and hold them no longer here is matter of Hope therefore do not sorrow as those that have no Hope Secondly The indissoluble connexion betwixt the Resurrection of Christ and Believers that sleep in
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