We must have the Tongue of Christian Preachers tho some Hearers have not the Natural Affections of Heathen men 8. Whether the death of Relations be a Punishment to some or a Chastisement to others that remain alive a Penal Evil or a Correcting Trying since it is a Smarting Rod all should have such a sense of Gods Hand as to produce feeling sorrow in their Hearts want of sorrow under both is a Sin thus aggravated CHAP. IV. Ten Aggravations of Want of Sorrow for our Dead 1. WAnt of sorrow and sense of Gods Afflicting Hand is not Patience but Stupidity not Submission but Rebellion not Heroical Fortitude of Mind but a Sottishness of Spirit Is that Patience when you feel no smart or suffering Is that Submission to his Will when you have no feeling of his Rod Is it patient yielding to his Hand when you have no sense of the smart of the Rod that by his Hand is laid upon you Submission in this case hath these Requisites in it 1. A desire of the continuance of the Relation before it was taken from us 2. A thankfulness of Heart if God would have continued the Relation to us 3. A sense of the Loss that hath befallen us 4. A reckoning of all the Inconveniences and discomfort of our Lives by their removal by Death and yet 5. A quieting of our Hearts under God's dealings with us in taking them away from us because it was his Will in his Wisdom so to do unto us But if you did not desire their continuance but rather for Carnal Worldly Selfish Ends their removal could not have been thankful for their Life but secretly glad of their Death still for sinful selfish Ends have no sense of the Loss nor did esteem it a Loss but some Advantage and please your selves with reckoning the conveniences you have by their Death will you blind the World or your selves by calling your unsensibleness of Gods Hand in their Death a submitting to the Hand and Will of God However take heed that you go not about to impose upon God himself the Searcher of your Hearts with such a blind as this is When you have such love unto and care of and desire after the continuance of your Children â—s Job had and such a sense of their Death as he of his and yâ—t carry it as he did we will call yours a submission as his was Job 1 18 19 20 21 22. so 〈◊〉 sense and sorrow under God's Afflicting sâ—â—nd in this kind is hardness of Heart when such a lash can make no print nor impression of the Rod It is stiff-neckedness when such a burden will not make it bow It is stout-heartednesâ— against God when such a severe stroke doth not make you relent and melt and yield to him 2. It is accompanied with the Loss of that Spiritual good which yâ—u should have got by sâ—ch an Afflction so in it self tho by you not looked upon to be so When you are corrected should not you be reformed When you are scourged should you not be amended When iâ— the Furnace should not you be purified When in the School of Affliction should not you learn the Lessons there to be taught Is all this or any of this like to be when you make light of Gods heavy Hand in the death of your near relations And do not you make light of it when you have no sorrow for the stroke nor sense of the Wound inflicted by it The loss of a Relation is a great loss but the loss of a sanctified Improvement of it for your Spiritual and Eternal good is a greater loss because the one might be a Penal Evil the other is a Sinful Evil. The one an Affliction the other a Transgression the one is a stroke of God upon you the other is a Sin in you against God Jer. 5.3 Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou h st consumed them but they have refused to receive correction they have made their faces harder than a rock they have refused to return The death of your Child of your Father Mother Wife Husband should have been improved so as to have beâ—n the death of your Sins but behold they are dead and your Sins alive they are rotting in their Graves and your Sins are still raging and ruling in your Hearts 3. Want of Sorrow from the want of the sense of Gods â—fflicting Hand in this case argues want of the sense of Sin that did procure it of Gods displeasure that did inflict it and hinders your Repentance for those Sins and humbling your self under the Hand of a displeased God Tho the death of Relations might not always be for the Sins of those that do survive yet sometimes it is Tho God may not always take them away in displeasure to those that remain yet sometimes he doth and thus it may be with those that are in a state of Grace as with David 2 Sam. 12.14 Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die Should not you then search and enquire What is my Sin And what is my offence And wherein have I displeased God Have I sinned and shall I not sorrow for my Sin Is God displeased and shall I not seek to have him pacified Is my Relation broken by my Sin and shall not my Heart be broken for my Sin Or do I make light of the death of my Father or Mother Husband Wife or Child and of my Sin and God's displeasure too Or can I have any sorrow for the Cause when I have no sorrow for the Effect Tho many might have sorrow for the Effect when they have no sorrow for the Cause thereof Many might be full of sorrow for the death of Relations that have no sorrow for the Sin for which God by death did take them away from them that yet do livâ— but can a Man have sorrow for the Sin and for Gods displeasure for that Sin that hath no sorrow for the death of the Person caused by the Sin of the Living Can you grieve or repent of the Sin that caused the death and not be grieved nor sorrow for such of your dead Surely this should make you sorrow for your dead more than others that by their Sin did not hasten their death saying Oh what have I done What have I done Have I sinned my Child into his Grave Did I sin against God and hath God taken away my Child my Father my Mother my Wife my Husband from me for my Sin Have I shortned their days and provoked God to cut in two the Thread of their Lives And so sinned against a Living God that cannot die and against my Living Relations which for my Sin now are dead This would cause sorrow upon sorrow when many have cause to sorrow for both do yet sorrow for neither Indeed God was displeased with David for his Sin and for his
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
our Sorrow for our Dead Spiritually defective tho it be naturally abundant Or when is it too little as we are Christians be it never so much as we are Men Ans 1. When we sorrow for the breach of the Relation made by death we sorrow as men tho in great abundance for so an Heathen may do but do not sorrow for Sin as Sin committed against God in the neglect of our Relative Duties while the Relation was continued for so only Christians can do Tho our Natural Sorrow doth abound in the first respect it is spiritually defective in the latter respect Two things taken for granted 1. Here it is taken for granted That the most Loving Relations may Sin and fail in their Relative Duties one to another for as much as we cannot yield perfect Obedience to any one of the Ten Commandments among which the Fifth contains Relative Duties And who can say tho I have transgressed all the rest yet this I have perfectly fulfilled I have heard that some have asserted that they have lived Twenty or Forty years in a Conjugal Relation without an angry word or unkind act betwixt them if so might not we say O peaceable Spirits that were in these O rare Example and seldom found But be it so is there no other Sin in these Relations but anger and angry words What! Did they pray also daily together or as much one for another as they ought and as fervently as they should Did they by all ways and means appointed by God help each other in their Spiritual Concerns as Duty did require Were there never no sinful Thoughts in their Minds one against another there is one can tell you his sinful Thoughts against some Related to him hath filled his Heart with more sorrow his Eyes with Tears and his Mouth with secret Confessions to God and cost him more Sighs and Sobs and Groans in pleading for Pardon for the Sin of his Thoughts tho resisted than any angry Words or unkind Actions ever did For the one might be more easily prevented than the other because we have a more absolute government over our Tongues and Hands than over our Thoughts What! Can any Persons in any Relation suppose Husband and Wife Parents and Children say they did never Love too much or at no time too little never did take too much care or never too little for their Relations but had that just proportion and measure of Love to them and Care for them as the perfect Rule requires So much as God commanded and no more than God allowed For my part my Prayer shall be Lord forgive my Relative Sins whilst others boast and bless themselves and say O God I thank thee I am not in this as other Men be nor as this Man And Lord let not me be as Blind as that Man that can see no Relative Sins to confess to thee or to be humbled for at thy Throne of Grace when thou wilt find some to judge him for at the Bar of thy Justice 2. The reigning Sins or Sins of Infirmities what they were or are in their kinds degrees frequency and all Aggravations committed in our respective Relations must be left to the scrutiny of every man's Conscience or to God that was an Eye-witness if Conscience was fallen asleep and will be an Impartial Judge if Conscience for the present perform not its Office of Witness Accuser and Judge These being granted that your Father or Mother Husband or Wife or Child is dead you sorrow and grieve you weep and wall you lament and mourn there is your Humanity and Natural Passion because your Relation is broke but where is your Christianity in this sorrow when you had not one Tear amongst so many for the Sins against God and them while you stood in that Relation And yet do not you see while your natural sorrow is abundant your Spiritual sorrow is defective or none at all in this respect Where are your Tears for your disobedience to your Father or Mother when alive Where is the Husband's sorrow for undue and unjust grieving of his Wife sadning her Heart and sending her by his unkindness to her Knees in secret to open her Case and pour out her Tears and Soul before God in Prayer Did you without cause make her weep when alive and shall not this in all your sorrow for her when dead make you sorrow for sinning against God and her before she died According as your Relative Sins were more or less greater or smaller when the Relation held it 's time it 's high time to sorrow for them when by death it is broke and so shew your self a Christian as well as a Man in sorrowing for your dead And do this now if you have not hitherto tho your Father or Mother Husband or Wife or Child be long since dead and turned into dust their rotted Flesh and dry Bones and bare Skull in the Grave do cry to God against you Therefore while you sorrow for their dead Bodies sorrow also for your own sinful Souls because you sinned so much against them in their Life-time 2. When you mourn for the loss of that comfort and delight that you had in loving of them and in being beloved by them be your Sorrow never so much you sorrow only as Men for so an Heathen might do but you sorrow not for the Displeasure of God by reason of those Sins which Conscience doth justly and truly charge you with committed in that Relation your Sorrow is defective as you are Christians You sinned as you were an Husband and for your sin God was displeased you sinned as you were a Father or a Mother and God was displeased for your Sin you sinned as you were a Son or a Daughter and for your Sin God was displeased and God hath by Death taken away your Wife your Child your Father or Mother you Sorrow because they are dead with great Sorrow and herein you do no more than a Man or Woman as such might do but you do not Sorrow that God is displeased which is not so much as a Christian should do You Sorrow because you are afflicted but where is your Sorrow because God is displeased You have many Tears for the loss of your Creature-comforts but have you dropped one for the loss of that Comfort that should arise from the sense of the Love of God unto your Soul You mourn for the smarting Rod that lies upon you Nature Flesh and Blood will make you feel the smart and cry out because of it but you do not grieve that by the Sin in your Relation you grieved the Spirit of God that Grace must inable you to do Are not you herein like unto a Child that is scourged by his Father he cries aloud he weeps and sobs he groans but what is it for Not because his Father is displeased this he is not troubled at but because of the smart and pain that the Rod doth make him so sensible of Do
desirous that the Devil's Kingdom should be destroyed and the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus should be promoted and propagated must be mourners in Heart tho not in Habit at the death of those that God did please to use for the one and for the other 4. Such sorrow argueth our selves to be of a publick Spirit and not to have such little narrow Souls as to be only concerned for our Carnal Self-interest You are afflicted in your own Person or in your own Family and you sorrow and mourn who will thank you for it What Grace or good Nature is manifested in your selfish sorrow Or who will call this good Nature in you when you are so selfish to sorrow only for Self-concerns 5. The Labours of Godly Ministers in their Life have immediate reference to your holy Living to your happy Dying and to your Well-being to all Eternity Is there any thing in this World concerns you more than to lead an holy Life to die an happy death and to be saved when you die Do they die that should direct you in all these And is there no cause of sorrow for the death of such which puts an end to all their Labours CHAP. IX Resolves this Question When is our Sorrow for our Dead excessive and immoderate THe Second Part of the propounded Method in treating of this sorrowful Subject is to shew When our Sorrow for our Dead is excessive and immoderate That in some it is Defective especially in Spiritual Respects hath been already shewed and wherein it doth come short of what it ought to be that it is excessive and immoderate in others the Practice of many deprived of their Relations by Death is a visible Proof and the Caution and Charge given in the Text doth suppose that some do exceed the bounds and that their Tears do overflow the Banks of Moderation and make a Land-stood in their Families So far as it hath already been discovered to be turbulent it is excessive which here should be reviewed to which some more might be added The Apostle's Golden Rule should be our Christian Directory for the moderating of our Joy and Sorrow in having or losing the outward Enjoyments of this Life 1 Cor. 7.29 But this I say Brethren the timt is short it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none 33. And those that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoice as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away In which Rule we might note these things 1. Some have their Wives Husbands Parents Children yet continuing with them Others have none because by death taken from them 2. Those that have them are apt to â—ver-joy in them those that have lost them are prone to over-sorrow for them 3. Those that have them shall shortly be in the same circumstances as those that are by death deprived of them Ours are dead and yours shortly will be so Life is so short and the end of all so near and sure that there is little and no long difference betwixt the state of one and of the other 4. Those that have Wives and other Relations should sometimes suppose themselves to be in the Circumstances of those that have none that the thoughts that shortly they shall have none might correct their excessive joy while they have them for though you have them you should he as though you had them not looking upon Relations that shortly will not be as if now already they were not is a point of prudence for the moderating of our joy in them Those that have them not should suppose this will be the case of those that have for the allaying of their sorrow that now this is their present state 5. The reasons of this indifferency of our Spirits in these different Circumstances of our Life 1. The time is short those that have Fathers and Mothers Wife Husband or Children shall have them but for a short time Why then are your hearts transported with so much joy when you might stand and see the end of them those that are deprived of them have themselves but a little time to live Why then are you so much cast down for so short a want of them 2. All these things are but as a shadow or an appearance of good rather than that good wherein our happiness doth lie and the solid spiritual abiding comfort of our life doth consist it is but the fashion of this world an accidental and External Figure without substance the surface and outside What is all that is in this world that is of the world but a meer surface and vain outside why then do we joy so much or sorrow so much whether we have them or be without them 3. They are in continual change like Water in the River is continually every moment passing away What! are these things neither substantial nor continual and shall we be over-affected with the having or the losing of them Christians should do as to Temporals as Worldings do in Spirituals these pray as if they prayed not they can confess sin and neithâ—r weep without nor sorrow within they are under the loss of the favour of God and yet are as contented as if they were not they can ask for an interest in Christ pardon of sin and eternal Salvation and yet not be much troubled for the present though they go without them for ever they can sit and hear the threatnings of God and never fear nor grieve can sit and hear the glad tidings of the Gospel and never rejoice hear all as if they heard them not or if they have some movings of Affections they are not deep they reach not the heart they do not break their hearts for sin against God nor for the loss of God so much as some do for the loss of a Creature Let such as are immoderately weeping for their dead stop their Tears that they may read compose tâ—eir minds for a while at first that they may consider what is said and command their Sorrow to give place to Reason and Religion or if they have not such command over it should earnestly pray to God that hath that they might at last not sorrow with such excess of sorrow as if they had no hope of the blessed present and future state of those they thus do sorrow for Let me propound some Questions to you and let Reason and Conscience in your Sorrow give in their Answer if it be not sorrow in excess Q. 1. Is your sorrow for your Dead so much as in the degrees of it tends to the shortning of your own Life and is it not then too much Is your Relation dead and will you therefore kill your self hath death broken the Relation you had in the Fifth Commandment and will you go on to transgress the Sixth hath Death killed one and will
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
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
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