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
therefore Sorrow for your selves and not for us But Earth is a place for Sorrow which we must tast in handling the first Doctrine and after we have pleased our selves with it from love to them we will endeavour and seek for Comfort as to them in the second CHAP. II. The First Doctrine proved by Scripture Instances and Reasons Doct. I. THE Actings and Workings of Sorrow in the Living for the Dead are allowed and lawful and ought to be For he saith not Do not sorrow at all this defect or want of sorrow is so far from becoming Christians that it is unworthy of a Man as a Man How incongruous is it for a Man to sorrow for a dead Beast that lays not to Heart the Death of a Child or of some nearer and greater Relation There are too many Stoicks in practice in this point that are not so in Opinion At the Losses of the World sorrow fills their Hearts you may see their Tears you may hear their Groans and bitter Complaints I am undone this Loss is my Ruine And the sense of this and sorrow for it shall last long mâ—y â—hey will not stick â—o tell you they shall never get over it but it will break their Hearts But these that melt like Wax for a Worldly Loss are as hard and sensless as a Stone not regarding the Dâ—â—th of a Wife of their Bosom of a Child of their Loins or a Brother from the same Parents but have a secret gladness in their Hearts when their Children die because they have the fewer to maintain or a weak and sickly Wife by Death is taken away because the burden of the charge is thereby eased Lord what kind of Christians are these that have not so much value for an Humane Body nor an Immortal Soul as for the more ignoble things of this World without Life or Sense or Reason This horrid and unnatural Sin against the Lives of their Parents is in too many Children who expecting the Possession of their Goods and Estates at their Death think they live too long long for their Decease and though they may cloath themselves in Mourning to follow them to their Graves yet secretly please themselves that they are gone and their Riches come to them Neither may any please themselves with Stoical Apathy or want of grief and sorrow for the Death of Relations because they were wicked and ungodly lived and died in Sin which should rather increase than diminish their mourning for them for must not that Man have an Heart of Stone that is neither moved for the Death of the Body nor for the Damnation of the Soul of any so near in relation to him Is it nothing to such a Man that the Body is consumed in the Grave and the Soul tormented in Hell Is it nothing that the Body is meat for Worms and the Soul a prey to Devils As there is no greater alleviation of our sorrow for the dead than well-grounded hope that the Soul is lodged with God above so there can be no greater aggravation of sorrow for the death of the Impenitent than the Thoughts that the Soul is Damned before the Body can be Buried Who or what manner of Man is he that can forbear to grieve and sorrow for the death of a Wife or a Son because she was a froward graceless or a wicked Wife or because he was a disobedient Son yet was not the one a Wife and the other a Son and both had Immortal Souls And if you had no ground to hope at death they were received into Heaven must not you conclude they were then cast down to Hell And take on and say Ah my Son my Son how miserable for ever miserable art thou my Son my Son Did I beget thee to be a prey for Devils to be Fuel for the Flames of Hell The Son of my Loins a part of my self is for ever lost because he died in his Sin He sinned and never repented he went on in Sin to his dying day and never turned to the Lord and when he died was condemned Oh my Bowels my Bowels for thee my departed Son thy Death I could have better born if Damnation after death by dying in thy Sin had not been thy Portion What! gone from me to Devils What! from my House to Hell While thou in Hell and I on Earth I cannot but sorrow on Earth when I think thou art tormented in Hell I have lost thee and that is bad and thou hast lost God and that is worse infinitely worse because the God that thou hast lost is infinitely good If you cannot sorrow for the death of a Relation because he was bad that will be no proof that you your self are good And if you justifie your self though you sorrow not at all do you not condemn the practice of David in mourning so much for an Incestuous Murderous and Rebellious Son because he died in his Sin and unprepared for Death and a better state in another World 2 Sam. 18.33 And the king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept and as he went thus he said O my son Absolom my son my son Absolom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my son my son This is the first thing in the Survivers Carriage for the dead sorrow is allowed The defect is both their Sin and Shame That we may and ought to give a lodging to sorrow in our Breasts even for those whose Souls are lodged with God above and whose Bodies being lodged in the Grave do there sleep in Jesus will be apparent and justified by these Arguments pleading for it First The approved Practice and commendable Examples of Holy Persons Recorded in Sacred Scripture mourning and sorrowing for their deceased Relations Instances we find in the several respective Relations in which they stood while they did live together that the Surviving did mourn for not only in habit but in heart when death had parted â—hâ—â—â—â—â—der 1. 〈◊〉 Death had dissolved the Conjugal Vâ—â—â—â— be wixt â—usband and Wife the Surviving Husband that waâ— laâ—â—ly sâ—â— mourned for his deceased Wife So Abraham for Sarah Gen. 23.2 And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her Tears for a departed Wife are not unworthy of a Man nor unbecoming but he that hath not a Tear to shed upon such a sorrowful occasion was unworthy of a Wife Abraham wept for Sarah So Wives for their Husbands The Tidings that Vriah was dead were grievous to Bathsheba and caused her to mourn 2 Sam. 11.26 When the wife of Vriah heard that her husband Vriah was dead she mourned for her husband Powerful Death hath made many sorrowful Hearts because it hath power to do that which all the Created Powers in Heaven and Earth could not do that is to separate those that God by his Institution had joined together This Knot of unfeigned Lovers
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
turn the stream of thy Tears into another Channel abate thy Sorrow for the Dead and increase thy Sorrow for thy Sin If thou Sorrow never so much thy Dead shall live here with thee no more but if thou Sorrow not for thy Sin thou must be shut out from living with God for evermore Natural Sorrow had almost swallowed me up and for want of Spiritual Sorrow I am in danger of being cast down into Eternal Misery Therefore tho I will sorrow for my Dead I will sorrow more for my Sins The loss of God and Christ and Heaven by my Sin will be a greater loss than the loss of my dearest Relation by Death infinitely greater The one by my Natural sorrow cannot be recovered the other by Penitent-gospel-sorrow may be prevented therefore while I do the one I will take special care that the other be not left undone But if your Sorrow be only turbulent Passion you add sin to sin in your Sorrow And instead of sorrowing for former Sins you will be falling into new and sorrow neither for new nor old You will vent your Passion by the actings of Corruptions saying Oh that I had never been born Since my Relation is dead Oh that I might also dye God hath dealt with none so bitterly as he hath dealt with me My Husband dead Hâ—w shall I be maintained My Father and Mother dead and I not disposed of in the World who is there to take care of me My Wise dead My bosem Companion dead the comfort of my Life fallen into the Grave When I am sick and in danger of Death who have I to take care of me now my meetest help is gone How is this your sorrowing for your Dead Do you thus mingle your Sin with your Tears and your Corruption with your Lamentation If your Father or Mother or both be dead in your Passion and turbulent Sorrow do you forget that God doth live If your Husband be dead cannot God provide for you without him that did provide for you by him If Children dye is not God more to you than many Children If your Wife be taken from you cannot God help as much as such a Creature did or could to bear your Burdens and Afflictions cannot he provide or prevent Oh let us bridle our turbulent Sorrows and vexatious Passions lest they hurry us from God and cause us to yield to great Temptations Ans 3. Kindly Sorrow for our Dead will move us to seek for relief and support in a regular way dispose us to râ—ceive Divine Impressions by the Word and Spirit of God and belief of the great Articles of Faith beyond the reach of Reason Lazarus was dead Mary and Martha mourned their Hearts were filled with Sorrow their Eyes with Tears and their Mouths with Lamentations What did they do Sit still and feed their Sorrow Give place to Grief and yield unto dejection and despondency of Spirit Or seek out for Counsel and Direction in their sorrowful Circumstances It was told Martha Christ was coming Is Christ coming I shall have some help from him he will teach me and instruct me He will say and do something for my succour and support Wherefore as soon as she heard that Jâ—sus was coming she did not stay till he came but immediately went out meet to him If Christ be coming to her she will be going to Christ When she met with him with Tears declared her Sorrow and the Ground and Reason of it Lord my Brother is dead but if thou hadst been here he had not died What Christ said to her she believed and received and declares her Faith concerning the Resurrection of the Dead at the last day concerning the Power and Will of God to give to Christ whatsoever he should ask of him Concerning his Person that he was the Christ the Son of God that was to come into the World When she had thus discoursed with Christ she returns to her Mourning Sister Mary saying The Master is come and calleth for thee As soon as she heard that Christ was near she rose up hastily to go out of the Town to meet him also falls down at his feet makes known to him the Death of her Brother and her Faith in his Power That if he had been present he could and would have prevented his Death for she said If thou hadst been here my brother had not died Christ asked Where have you laid him they and the Jews that mourned with them entreated him to go unto his Grave saying Lord come and see Jesus cometh to the Grave commands the Stone that lay upon it to be taken away Martha objâ—cts His Body is corrupted for he hath been dead four days Christ replies Did not I tell thee if thou wouldst beliâ—ve thou shouldst see the pâ—wer of God They that wept and mourned obeyed and did as Câ—rist commanded His words made an Impression upon them and they yiâ—ld Obedience to him and had Faith in him even to and for the raising of the Dead John 11.19 to 45. Kindly Sorrow leaves room for Faith and Obedience Faith and Obedience keeps Sorrow from degenerating into a turbulenc Passion which is nourished by Unbelief and Disobedience and in this Sorrow men can deride what they should believe Luke 8.49 Jairus his Daughter was dead 52. They wept and bewailed her Christ said Weep not she is not dead but sleepeth 53. They laughed him to scorn knowing that she was dead But Christ by his call and command to arise brought her Soul into her again to the astonishment of the Father and the Mother of the Maiden 54 55 56. who in their kindly Sorrow did believe what others in their turbulent Passion did deride Tho we have not Christ visibly corporally present with us in our Sorrow to go unto yet we have his Word to go unto and his Ministers to go unto and to hear the words of Christ opened and applied to us by his Servants and under such an Affliction what Impressions might be made under a Sermon when you hear of Sin the evil of it the aggravations of it the bitter effects of it how will you when Sorrow is already working be inclined and disposed to sorrow for your Sin The word of God doth tell me Sin is bitter and I do find it so That Sin brought in Death and I am mourning for such doings of Death by reason of Sin That the Life of man is short a vapour a shadow and quickly gone and I do find iâ— so what else mean these Tears that I do shed for my departed Friend What else doth mean this Sorrow in my Breast for my deceased Relation that t'other day was in my Bosom but now in the Bowels of the Earth When you are pressed to prepare for your own Death by the Necessity and Advantage of such holy Preparations you heart will more readily yield now than at another time when this will be the Language of your Heart Speak Lord and I will hear make known
What do you call it Natural Sorrow Sorrow of Men as Men But where is your Christian Sorrow And the Sorrow you should have as renewed sanctified Men Or should tend by the spiritual Improvement of the Death of your Relation to make you such Should you not say Is my Child dead and my Soul not mended by its Death My Heart as hard and as worldly as before Hath God been smiting me and cannot I feel Hath God been correcting me for my Sin and cannot I yet grieve and groan weep and sorrow for my Sin Hath Death separated me and my Relation and do I sorrow for that And hath not Sin separated God and me and do not I sorrow for this Do I sit and sorrow because I shall enjoy the company of this Relation no more and have I no grief and sorrow that by my Sin I have forfeited the enjoyment of God for ever Is not God better than the Creature and the Enjoyment of God better sweeter than the Enjoyment of the Creature and the lose of God a greater and more bitter loss than the loss of my Relation And yet have I so many Tears for the loss of the lesser and not one for the loss of the greater Good Did I take the Creature for my God that I sorrow more for the loss of it than I do for the real loss of him that is indeed the only True Living and Eternal God Hath God been laying Gall and Wormwood on the Creatures Breast to wean me from the Love of this present World and do not I improve his stroke to call off my Affections from it When my Children did live I then pretended that my worldly Cares was to make Provisions for them hath God taken them away and do my worldly care still remain as much as when I had them to provide for May I not see the deceitfulness of my heart and turn my sorrow from mourning for my Dead to mourning for making no better Improvement of their Death Did I give that Love to them which was due to God and now I have not them to lâ—ve should not God have my love and more of it Did I place so much comfort in their Life and should not I seek my comforts now from God when I find my Creature-comforts thus do fail me Did I take delight in conversing with them and now that delight is ceased and gone should not I improve this disappointment in seeking and endeavouring after and labouring for more Communion with God And if I cannot find this Affliction sanctified to me should not I sorrow less for the loss of my Relation and cease mourning so much as I am a Man and turn my mourning into sorrowing far want of an holy Improvement of my loss and at lost begin to sorrow as a Christian man in this case should sorrow 5. When you sorrow more for their Death than that you are yet so much unprepared for your own And that you have improved your time and means of Grace no more to get ready for Death and Judgment after Death and Heaven after Judgment Your Father or Mother Husband or Wife died with well-grounded hopes of Heaven on their Dying-bed conquered the Fears of Death and rejoyced in the hope of the Glory of God expressed their thankfulness to God that they had had that Communion with God the experience whereof did so much then delight them that they would not have been without for all the Riches of the World And you are yet under doubts and fears afraid to think of Death because you do not know whether then you shall be damned or saved because you cannot tell whether you have believed or repented and yet you sorrow for them as men go sorrow because of your own Fears and Dangers you are in 6. When you sorrow more for your own loss than you do for your discontent and impatient murmuring at the Hand of God because of your loss and do not sorrow for your excessive Sorrow Natural Sorrow when it is vitiated with the acting of corrupt Nature will soon work up to discontent and impatience to repining and harbouring of hard thoughts and sometimes blasphemous Thoughts against the blessed glorious God If God did love me why hath he dealt thus with me If he had a kindness for me why hath he taken his kindness from me If God govern the World by his Wisdom why doth he take away those that are a comfort to their Relations and continue those that are a cross and a curse and a plague unto them Forbear say no more think no more these Thoughts but if in your Sorrow you have such things unworthy of God arising in your mind cease sorrowing for your Dead and speedily begin and hold on to lament and bitterly bewail such abominable Motions in your hearts and spare your Tears to mourn for this great Wickedness and pray That these Thoughts of your heart may be forgiven you For should God's afflicting hand lay you down at his Foot and doth your corrupt heart let fly such sinful Actings in his Face Or will you mourn for your Affliction by the Instigation of natural Affection as a Man and not at all grieve and groan sigh and sob lament and bewail the Exorbitancy of your Passion tho it work to so great a Provocation of a Just and Powerful God and by such discontent risen to such an height shew your self a corrupt Man and by not sorrowing for these sinful workings of heart shew your self to be no Religious Man 7. When you sorrow more for your outward worldly loss by the Death of your Relation than you do for your distrust in the Promises and Providence of God to provide for you A Wife had a dependency upon her Husband and Children on their Father under God He dies and their trust in God dieth with him What shall we do now for a maintenance For supply of our wants Who shall give us Bread to eat and Raiment to put on Is not this to mourn more like an Heathen than a Christian Can God provide for you no way but one By no other means than by him that was an Husband or a Father to you You are short in your Christian Sorrow while you are excessive in your Turbulent Sorrow 8. When you sorrow more for the dead Body of your Relation than you do for the want of greater Faith and Hope and quieting thoughts of a joyful Resurrection which should be the Fruit of that Faith and Hope You see the dead Corps in the Coffin laid in the Grave thither your Thoughts run daily when you do not to mourn over them in the Grave fixing your thoughts how they putrify and rot how they consume and moulder away and this pierceth your heart But you do not meditate as one that believes they shall live again and be glorious Bodies and in this your sorrow is defective as you are a Christian CHAP. VII The Second Doctrine and the general Method propounded
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
have none in that day tho others be condemned Do you think this Self-tormenting sorrow for the Damned proceeds from such Mercy in you to them in your imperfect state on Earth when you shall have no Mercy to them nor sorrow foâ— them in your perfect state in Heaven Q. 8. Should not your Zeal for Love to Desire after Delight in the Glory of God over-power and overcome all your passionate sorrow at the concernment of the Creature Is your own Salvation to be sought in subordination to the Gloâ—y of God And would you have the salvâ—tion of yours stand in competition with it or be prâ—ferred before it Would you have God lose his Glory in giving â—â—ing to your Relations If they did not anâ— indeed would not glorifie him by pâ—â—â—â—ent confâ—ssing of their Sin by serious tuâ—ning to him by thankful consenting to a Sâ—viour freeâ—y and frâ—quently offered to them but went on in Sin despised his Grace and slighted his Mercy and abused his Patience and finally refused the only Saviour and all this to his Dishonour in this World while they lived would you have God also to lose the Glory of his Justice Holiness Power and Truth in not punishing them for their Sin thus persistâ—d in when they died in the other World Should you so sorrow beyond all bounds when you mourn for their Death to mourn so much for their Damnation when God most righteously glorifieth himself in most just punishing them for their Sin who by their Sin did so wickedly dishonour him As for the Eternal state of Infants whom the sorrowful Religious Parents follow to the Grave and lodge them in the Dust I shall not now discourse it but think they are to hope well concerning them and tho they be their Parents not to take upon them to be their Judges and when they have passed a Sentence upon them according to their ungrounded fears next torment themselves and pierce themselves through with self-wracking Sorrows CHAP. X. The Ninth and Tenth Rule Five Reasons for great Sorrow for the Death of Ministers Rule 9. OVR sorrow for such as die full of Days and full of Grace and Hopes of Glory should not be so deep as for such that are holy but taken from us in the midst of their Days When an Holy Person Converted when Young hath led an Holy Conversation filled up his Duties in his General and Particular Calling been useful and serviceable in his respective Circumstances hath fought a good Fight hath kept the Faith and finished his Course when the Lease of Man's Life Seventy years is almost out is ripe for Heaven and Nature is worn parts of the Body decayed with Age and with such a Constitution in a Course of Nature could not live much longer but with grief and pains with aches and groans like ripe and mellow Fruit without violent shaking fall to the ground we have more cause to give thanks to God they lived so long served him so much were useful so many years and such a long-standing Comfort to Relations than to be bowed down with sorrow to be filled straitned and loaded with grief that they died at last Wherefore the Survivors of such should reckon up their Mercies take an account of their many Comforts and remember Blessings old and new had and received in the long Enjoyment of such a Relation in Life and then let thankfulness and sorrow joy and grief contend for Victory and strive which should exceed the other and when all is laid together and duly weighed by a Soul that is desirous that God should have the praise of his manifold Mercies in a Relative state almost for Forty years as well as himself have a sense of his loss if Nature prompt him to be sorrowful Grace would provoke him to be thankful but yet if the Contest remain as his Condition is mixt with Mercy and Affliction so let his frame of Heart be mixt with a Tincture of both and let them take their turns that one while he may be sorrowful for his loss another while be thankful for so many Mercies before that loss did befall him Rule 10. Our sorrow for the Death of Godly and Zealous Men that were in a Publick Station and Capacity admits of greater degrees than sorrow for our own Relations as private Persons Tho our sorrow for these may be more sensitive and passionate yet the sorrow for the other may exceed in degrees as more Judicious and Rational Sorrow for Godly Religious Zealous Magistrates for Able Holy and Laborious Ministers when taken away by Death should be more extensive and intensive than for others that did only live a private Life that is there should be more Mourners in number and all these should mourn with greater degrees at least of Rational sorrow for publick Persons than for private Thus all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah with a very great mourning 2 Chron. 35.24 25. When Samuel died all the Israelites were gathered together and lamented him 1 Sam. 25.1 The hearing that a Minister is Sick should fill many Hearts with much sorrow The hearing that he is recovered is matter of Joy Phil. 2.26 27 28. But the hearing that he is dead should multiply the sorrow of many And there are great Reasons of great sorrow for the death of such 1. The Death of such publick Persons is a publick loss And the more general the loss is the more general the sorrow should be When a private Person dieth that was godly as he was a Praying Christian many are losers by his death for he prayed for many while he lived yea for all Mankind in common and for the Church of God in special and therefore such a Man's death should be lamented by many but when a Publick Preacher dieth many do lose his Preaching Labours as well as the benefit of his fervent Prayers and all that are losers should be Mourners 2. The death of such is a Spiritual Loss Can we sorrow for the Temporal Losses that befall us by the death of private Persons and shall we not sorrow for our loss in Spirituals by the death of such that in their Life were helpers of our Souls in our way to Heaven Was he a Spiritual Father to many and might have been to more Is a Spiritual Birth a greater Mercy than our Natural Birth And shall our Natural Parents be lamented when they die and no sorrow for the other when they can Preach to us and Pray with us and for us no more How many Persons may one Minister instruct What a number might such a one at once and from day to day teach and direct in the way to Eternal Salvation And when such a one dieth what a loss would it be if God in Mâ—rcy did not raise up others when he falleth into his Grave 3. By the Life and Labours of such the Kingdom of Sin and Satan is battered and shaken and the Kingdom of Christ is encreased and carried on therefore all that are
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
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
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