newly come out of the House of Mâ—urning and he said Fear not I will nourish you and your little ones and he comforted them and spake kindly to them Gen. 50.15 21. Our mourning for the dead should end in the mending of our Carriage and the regulating of our Affections towards the Living When we are mouâ—ning for the loss of one we should be seeking the Temporal and Spirituâ—l good of the rest that yet are found with us When God hath made a Breach in our Family for whiâ—h we sorrow we must be mâ—king up the Breaches of our Duties by filling up what before was wanting Death hath made a brâ—ach in our Houses a wide bâ—each which cannot be repaired for our Dead shall never be restored to us and Sin hath made a breach in our Comforts by the breach it made in our Duties the mourning for the breach by death in those taken from us should issue in repairing the breaches in our Duties to those that are continued to us Do we sorrow much for them that are dead whom we loved too much while they did live Let the greatness of our sorrow for the one moderate our Love unto the other Do we sorrow for our dead because we did not Love them with as great a Love as we should while they were with us let this sorrow produce due greater Love to them that do remain If sorrow for our dead do not mend our faults towards the Living it is a dead and fruitless ineffectual sorrow The Living should find some advantage by our sorrow for the dead Were you froward in your Family before and shall not your sorrow meeken your Spirit for time to come Did not you take care for the Religious Education of a Child that is dead and shall not your sorrow for him and the neglect of your Duty to him move you to make up to the Living what was wanting to the Dead Did not Children obey their Father before he died If they mourn kindly for a dead Father will they not yield better Obedience to their Living Mother And say Dear and Sorrowful Mother we were wanting in our Duty to our Father when he was with us for which we are sâ—rry now he is taken from us but be not grieved over-much and we will supply the want of our Duty to him by making up the more to you as long as God shall lend yon unto us We were a grief to him but we will be a comfort unto you We will indeavour to be as good to you as we were bad to him On his Dying Bed he did complain of us for our stubborn Carriage towards him but Mother since you have lost a Loving Husband and we a tender Father for whom you and we do now sorrow we will carry our selves towards you with that reverence obedience and honour to you that you shall not complain of us on your Dying Bed as our Father did on his CHAP. VI. Resolves this Question When is 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 VSE III. A Caution to the Mourners for their Dead is necessary because sorrow as sorrow or sorrow as great sorrow is not all in this case to be minded but how it ought to be regulated not only as we are Men but also as we are Christians If we sorrow not at all we are unworthy of the name of men because without the workings of those natural Affections in the Principle common to all men If we sorrow with turbulent Passion vexatious fretting Grief we sorrow as sinful men we may sin in our sorrow as well as in the want of it Which is worst let the offending judge If we sorrow as the meer fruit of Natural Affection with a kindly sorrow and not turbulent we sorrow but as men because we do no more than the Human Nature prompts and puts us on to do But a greater Task lyeth upon us as Christians and to an higher step it becomes us to ascend in our sorrow as we have a Principle of Grace higher than all Principles of Nature and the Scripture a more perfect Rule to govern our sorrow by to purifie and refine it than the Light of Nature is In the first Vse we spake to such as for want of sorrow under the Loss of near Relations and of sense of God's Afflicting Hand that took them from us seem not to be men while we see them to be men but below the Rank of men in the shape of men In the second Vse we pointed at them that sorrowed as men with a kindly sorrow distinguishing them from those that sorrow as sinful men with a turbulent sorrow vitiated with the Actings of corrupt Nature In this third Vse we shall speak of sorrow in our present case not meerly as Humane but as Christian and distinguish the one from the other Do not think me over-tedious on this Sorrowful Subject for herein I do not only consult the helping of my self to bear the Hand of God upon me and the searching of my own sorrow of what kind it is but the common good of mortal men whose case in one House or other one House or other In many Houses in this great City wherein many Hundreds die every Week this must be the common case of many every day When I sit in my Study and hear the sound of that which you call the Passing-bell in the next Parish to us Cripplegate Lord think I how many art thou calling to mourn as well as me and mine And tho you speak of a Passing-bell in common course of Speech and have not your Hâ—arts affected with tâ—e hearing of your Ears yet to me it makes a doleful sound while I think it is a Passing-bell for whither are they passing their Bodies from their Houses to their Graves from the Company of their Friends and Relations to be Companions of Worms and their Souls into Eternity of Joy or Torment to God and Christ and Holy Angels or to the Devil and his Angels for ever and so pass from us as no more to return unto us out of one World into another and so pass from this to that as to find no passage from that to this any more for ever Those that have past from us to the World of Immortal Spirits out of Time into Eternity have left us behind as Mourners not for their Gain which is cause of Joy but for our own Loss which to us is cause of sorrow and our Duty is to enquire further into the Nature of it which because you must die may be useful to your sorrowful Relations or your Relations must die and leave you to mourn for them and many every day have cause of sorrow by the death of some or other the Case being a common Case but the Question not a common Question I shall propound it and endeavour to resolve it When is
Sleep teacheth us that it is no trouble to them that are in their Graves that they do not know when they shall awake Is this any trouble to a living Man fast asleep in his Bed that he knows not when the day will dawn and the Morning-light appear and he awake he sleeps on and concerns himself with no such Thoughts We that are alive think when shall our Dead arise how long must they sleep there That which troubles us is no trouble unto them 8. Death it self as a Sleep châ—cks our Immoderate Sorrow for those that are fallen asleep They sleep and you take on as if you had no hope that they would ever wake What saith the Text they are fallen asleep do not ye sorrow as those that have no hope When did you mourn because your Relation in due season went to sleep If they have been Sick and could not sleep it grieve your Heart and so it also would if your nearest Friends lay sick and full of pain tormented day and night with sighs and groans piercing your Ears and Hearts should they long lie thus and could not recover nor yet dye it would grieve you that they could not dye insomuch that by such sights and hearings of the Sick and pained whom they loved with entire Love some have gone to their knees and begg'd of God to give them a release by Death and were better satisfied when they were fallen asleep and thereby delivered 9. Death as a Sleep thô it be a long sleep teacheth us that it seems not long to them that sleep A Mâ—n that is fast asleep and sleepeth long he doth not tell the Clock nor number the Hours nor thinks it long that he doth sleep and when he wakes he thinks the time was not long but quickly gone when to one that watcheth while he sleepeth it seems to be a tedious time When they that live and wake while others in their Graves do sleep reckon the days then the weeks next the months at last the years that our Father or Mother Husband or Wife or Child hath been dead and say so long so many years they have been sleeping in their Graves It is long to you but not to them they know no Nights or Days no Weeks or Months or Years to reckon by a thousand years is no longer to them than an hour seems to you Adams Body hath been sleeping some thousands of years already and yet all those years and what are yet to come till he shall awake but like one hour unto him Why should we discompose our Minds with the thoughts of their long Sleep when they themselves are not concerned at it nor to them doth it seem long 10. Death as a Sleep because it is a sleep that is Death brings us these tydings of Comfort that they are sleeping their last Sleep and when they awake shall sleep no more For when they live again they shall dye no more therefore now let us moderate our Sorrow for those that are asleep in Jesus for they are at rest from pains and cares God can easily awaken them and he will after their Sleep they shall be refreshed tho it be a long Sleep it seems not so to them it is indeed their last but not an everlasting sleep they sleep quietly let not us sorrow excessively but every Night when we put off our Cloaths think we must put off this Body and lie down in our Graves as we do in our Beds and shall our selves sleep in the Dust with them that are gone to sleep before us CHAP. XIII The Second Remedy against excessive Sorrow is the Glorified State of the Soul immediately after its separation proved The Souls Triumph in its first entrance into Heaven The Meditation thereof The Survivors Comfort THE Second Remedy against Excessive Sorrow for the Death of those that dyed in the Lord is the knowledge and belief of the Glorious State of the separated Soul while the Body lies sleeping in the Grave The Body is the more ignoble part the Grave a more formidable place yet from thence there is something of Support when both are considered according to what is sâ—id of both in the Scripture as to such as were truly holy when they lived But if we call off our Thoughts from the Body and the Grave that they may ascend and follow the Soul the more precious part into the highest Heavens the most Glorious place what cause of Joy what matter of Rejoycing what reâ—son of changing our Mourning into Garments of Praise and our Spirit of heaviness into gladness and lively thankfulness to God that those that are gone from us are received by him That whom we have lost he hath found and those whom we must enjoy on Earth no more are enjoying God in yonder glorious highest Heavens for evermore Controversies are not profitable at this season nor suitable to the present temper of our Spirits in the Circumstances now we are under nor consistent with that brevity that I labour for therefore two things only I shall now endeavour First To select some Texts of Scripture that do assure us what state of Joy and Happiness the separated Soul of a Child of God doth pass into Secondly What ground of Comfort against our Sorrow this is to us that yet are left behind 1. What clearer Evidence what surer Arguments what better Proof what greater satisfaction can we have in this Point than what Scripture doth afford For cannot God that is the Father of Spirits and the Disposer of Souls after their Dissolution and being separated from the Body best tell what doth become of them And will he that is faithful and Essential Truth deceive us Or need he that is absolute Lord and Soveraign perfectly happy in himself to flatter us or to gain our Obedience to him by promises of Eternal Rewards and everlasting Joys and Glory if there were not such a Ssate prepared for us Where God speaketh let us believe and his Veracity is reason why we should Then let us hear Luke 16.22 It came to pass that the Beggar dyed and was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosom Luke 23.43 Verily I say unto thee This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Act. 7.29 And they stoned Stephen calling upâ—n God and saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit 2 Cor. 5.1 For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernâ—cle were dissolved we have a Building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2. For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven 4 For we in this Tabernacle do groan being burthened not for that we should be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life 6. Therefore we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. 8. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with
and Heaven over against their Grâ—vâ—s and their being with the Lord hereafter over against their present being with the Dead and try if a firm and lively acting Faith will not bring to us greater Joy than Sense now fills us with disquieting Sorrow Or shall we walk by Sense and not by Faith Sense tells us they are in the Grave there our Eyes saw them laid and doth not God tell us they shall be with him and have not we Faith to believe him and if we have cannot we rejoyce in the Hope thereof but sorâ—ow on as if we had no such Hope Do we sit and ponder upon the loathsomness and darkness of the Grave and weep while we ponder that our Dead are there and cannot we sit and meditate upon the holiness happiness and the shining Glory of Heaven and rejoyce that our dead shall live and dwell in that glorious Place hereafter especially when we consider they then shall be with the Lord so as before they never were Admit their Souls are now with Christ yet their Bodies are not It is but one part of them that now is Glorified but the Day is coming and it hasteneth that all Believers and all of every one the Body as well as the Soul shall be with the Lord. Did Paul judge it far better to depart that his Soul may be with Christ tho he left his Body to the Grave and was it the matter of his Desire Phil. 1.23 And shall not we judge it to be best that we and ours shall be with Christ both in Body and Soul and since it shall be so make it matter of our Joy tho for the present it is not so for tho it be to come and so is the Object of Desire and Hope yet Faith should look upon it as sure as if it were present and so make it the ground of our Joy As sure as their Bodies are now in the Grave so sure they shall be with the Lord in Heaven What ails us we cannot rejoyce in the one as sorrow for the other especially when the one is a greater Good than the other is an Evil 3. The Eternity of their abode with the Lord in Body and Soul from the Second Coming of Christ should asswage our Sorrow for the short space of time their Bodies are to remain in the Grave While Children Live we think how long is it since they were born When Persons in a Conjugal Relation continue together sometimes they reckon how many years since they were Married and these are pleasant Thoughts But alas Death comes and makes a Change and snatcheth away the Children and breaks the bond of Marriage and then after a while the Enquiry is How long hath my Child or Husband or Wife been dead and these are sorrowful Thoughts But is there no Remedy no relief against them What if you ask when our Dead that sleep in Jesus shall be raised how long shall they be with the Lord How long inconceivably longer than they shall be in the Grave How long shall they be in the Grave not for ever Blessed be God they shall not be there for ever How long shall they be with the Lord for Ever Eternal thanks unto our God they shall be with him for ever But we sit and think it will be a long a long a very long time that they shall be in their Graves and no man knows how long and for this Sorrow fills our Hearts Doth it think again when they shall be raised How long shall they be with the Lord a long a long a very long not time but Eternity and no Man can conceive how long it will be And when you have thought of as many years as you may imagine they may be in their Graves all of them will not amount to so much as one hour if compared with that Eternity in which they shall be with the Lord. Concerning their being in the Grave you may see an end for an end of their being there will be Concerning their being with the Lord you can conceive no end for there is no end to be conceived for they are to be with him for ever in the Grave for a time and after that with the Lord of Glory in a State of Glory for ever For ever O blessed word shall they come forth of their Graves after a while and be with the Lord for ever O happy happy for ever happy are their saved Souls above that shall live in the presence of their Lord for ever Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord for when they shall live again which shâ—ll surely be in their Bodies united to their Souls they shall be with the Lord for ever This will be the Joy of their Joy that they shall enjoy their Lord for ever This will be the Life of their Life that with their Lord they shall have everlasting Life This shall be the Crown of their Crown that it shall be Incorruptible as they then shall be both in Body and Soul It will be the Hell of Hell that the Damned must be there for ever It will be the Heaven of Heaven that their being with the Lord therein shall be for ever without this their Joy would not be pure Joy but mixt with fears of losing of it without this their Joy would not be full for the Thoughts it would not always last would diminish their Joy and if diminished it could not be full without this their Joy would not be constant Joy but there would be stops and gaps and intermissions in their Joy and they would have their fits of Sorrow and turns of Grief Now they would rejoyce because they are with the Lord and anon they would grieve because they are not to be with him for ever and so they would be miserably happy and sorrowfully joyfull which is not the happiness and Joy of Heaven which for degrees is full for duration everlasting full because they are with the Lord everlasting because they shall be with the Lord for ever Methinks I hear their triumphant Songs their Holy Admirations O what is the difference betwixt these Bodies now and what once they were Behold the Glory of this Place how far different it is from those Graves where we did lye and are now delivered from We were in our Graves for a time that time is out its past and gone and we are with the Lord for ever we are with the Lord for ever O this is it that is she Crown of all we are with the Lord for ever In this Eternity there is no Nights and Days no Weeks and Months and Years here is no Death and Graves and end for we shall be with the Lord for ever VSE What is the Use of all what should it be but what the Apostle makes of it v. 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words What words Review them and Recollect what hath been said upon them 1. As sure as Jesus Christ is risen from the dead
none but Death could untye This Vnion none but Death could dissolve God that hath given a charge that no Man should part asunder such as he had joined together hath given a Commission Alas he hath given a Commission to Death to part them as to that relation for ever In one instant I could say this Woman is my VVife in the next thou even thou O powerful Death didst both stop her Breath and tye my Tongue that I could no longer call her mine Mine and not mine in that instant and not in this that was joined to the former Lord give me leave to sorrow that that which was most mine is no longer mine 2. VVhen Death snatcheth away Children out of their Parents Arms and Bosoms which before were in their Loins the Parents have sorrowed and lamented Deaths doings Jacob when he did but suppose his Son Josâ—ph was dead did grieve and sorrow as though his Heart would break and refused to be comforted Comfort me Is Joseph dead and do ye speak of Comfort My Son dead and I admit of comfort no I will give place to sorrow My Son is dead and my sorrow shall live as long as I live and I will go sorrowing to my Grave to him Gen. 37.32 And they sent the coat of many colours and they brought it to their father and said This have we found know now whether it be thy sons coat or no. 33. And he knew it and said It is my sons coat an evil beast hath devoured him Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces 34. And Jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many days 35. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him and he refused to be comforted and he said for I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning thus his father wept for him David grieved for the death of his Son Amnon 2 Sam. 13.37 David mourned for his son every day and for his son Absalom 2 Sam. 18.33 and 19. 1. It was told Joab Behold the king weepeth and mourneth for Absolom 2. The people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son 4. The king covered his face and the king cried with a loud voice O my son Absalom O Absalom my son my son 1. This sorrow is used to express degrees of sorrow for the afflicted Church Should not we mourn for the Miseries of the Church for the Calamities of the best Men Should we not grieve and sorrow when the Sword of an Enemy and fear is round about us When the Spoiler comes upon us And should not the degree of our sorrow be equal to the degrees of the evil that befalls us What are those degrees Such as are equal to the degrees of sorrow of Parents for the death of an only Son When the Spirit of God chuseth out such sorrow for a pattern of sorrow for the Church in great distress doth it not import that such sorrow for Children removed by death is great sorrow Jer. 6.25 The sword of the enemy and fear is on every side 26. O daughter of my people gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thy self in ashes make thee mourning as for an only son most bitter lamentation for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon thee Let Parents that are little affected with the death of a Child inquire where are their natural affections their sense and feeling of the Hand of God in so severe a blow when God himself ranks girding with sackcloth wallowing in ashes bitter lamentations and mourning for an only Son as equalizing each other in degrees of sorrow 2. To set forth the degrees of sorrow under sore and heavy Judgments When God threatneth to bring such sore and heavy Judgments that shall cause Mens Mirth to cease their Joy to be banished their Sorrow to be multiplied he compares it to the mourning for an only Son as what useth to be in highest degree Amos 8.10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins and baldness upon every head and I will make it as the mourning of an only son and the end thereof as a bitter day 3. The degrees of sorrow of convinced repenting Sinners This manner of mourning is used to set forth the great degrees of sorrow that the repenting Jews should have when they should be convinced of their Barbarous and Bloody Fact in Murdering of the Son of God Zech. 12.10 And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him How much As one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born All these shew not only what sorrow is allowed but what degree also is required and hath been in Parents for the death of Children that have had a due sense of God's afflicting Hand in taking their Children from them by death Even sorrow setting forth 1. The sorrow for the Calamities of the Church 2. The greatness of the sorrow Men are filled with when God's heavy Judgments are upon them 3. The sorrow of true Penitents for their sinful carriage to God's own Son Though the parallel will not hold in all respects yet the greatness of the sorrow of the one is made use of to declare the greatness of the others which is sufficient evidence that such sorrow is great in it self Though Love doth descend from Parents to Children more than it doth ascend from Children to Parents yet Children the more dutiful they were to their Living Parents the more they mourned for them when removed from them by Death 1. For their Father So Joseph with the rest of his Brethren for Jacob. Gen. 49.33 When Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons he gathered up his feet into the bed and yielded up the ghost and was gathered to his people Gen. 50.1 And Joseph fell upon his father's face and wept upon him and kissed him 7. Joseph went up to bury his father 8. And all the house of Joseph and his brethren and his fathers house 10. And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad which is beyond Jordan and there they mourned with a very great and very sore lamentation and he made a mourning for his father seven days 11. The inhabitants of the place when they saw the mourning said this is a very grievous mourning 2. The Death of Mothers hath been no less lamented by their Children Isaac mourned for his Mother Gen. 24.67 When David would express the greatness of his sorrow for others he aggravates it by this I was bowed down as one that mourneth for his mother Psal 35.14 3. When breaches have been made by Death betwixt Brethren and Sisters the Surviving have greatly sorrowed for those that were
removed from them Mary and Martha lamented the death of their Brother Lazarus John 11.19 Many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother 31. The Jews which were with her in the house and comforted her when they saw Mary that she rose up hastily and went out followed her saying she goeth to the Grave to weep there 32. When Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him she fell down at his feet saying unto him Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died 33. Jesus saw her weeping Can Brethren and Sisters that descended from the same Parents that were bred in the same Womb sucked the same Breasts brought up together in the same Family see any of them carried to the Grave before them and not follow with weeping Eyes and sorrowful Hearts 4. Ministers heretofore have not died unlamented nor followed to their Graves without Weeping and Sorrow They that watched over the People while they lived were bewailed by the People when they fell asleep When Death did tye their Tongues and silence them when the Seers eyes have been closed and the feet of them that brought the glad tidings of Salvation to lost Sinners are fettered by the bands of Death that they can come and bring no more When they that brake the Bread of Life became meat for Worms and could pray with them and for them and preach to them no more when they had done their work then the Peoples sorrows did begin The children of Israel wept for Moses thirty days Deut. 34.8 And for Aaron Numb 20.29 When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead they mourned for Aaron thirty days even all the house of Israel When Samuel died all the Israelites were gathered together and lamented him 1 Sam. 25.1 Stephen was not buried without much sorrow Acts 8.2 Devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him But now Ministers Widows and Children might mourn when many others are not concerned for them living or dying 5. Tho now in our Iron Age some can scarce sorrow for departed Relations yet in former times they have greatly mourned for servants that have died out of their Families Deborah that was Rebecca's Nurse belonging to Isaac's house had her Funeral attended with Tears Gen. 53.8 Deborah Rebecca's nurse died and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak and the name of it was called Allon Buchuth that is the oak of weeping because of the many Tears that were shed at her burial 6. The compassionate Bowels the troubled Heart the weeping Eyes of our Lord Jesus for a departed Believer are significant Indications of the Sorrow there should be upon such Dispensations of Divine Providence When Lazarus was dead Mary and Martha wept the Jews wept and when Jesus came after he was buried he wept also he was troubled with them that were troubled and wept with them that wept for their dead on which occasion he was troubled he groaned he wept John 11.33 35. If all these did thus sorrow fo their dead may not we for ours Dear Jesus when thou didst not rebuke Martha and Mary weeping for their deceased Brother but didst weep with them didst not shew thine Anger but thy Pity to them in their Sorrow for the removal of a Brother from them keep us that are concerned because afflicted from sinful Sorrow and shew thy Compassion to us whilest we do case our burthened Hearts by venting of our Sorrow and weeping out our Grief Since we have so many approved Examples of Holy Men and Women that in the like case have sorrowed in the like manner Secondly Defect of Sorrow where there is true cause of Sorrow is a falling short of the exercise of those Affections which God himself hath implanted in our Hearts Why hath God given us the Affection of Love but that it may be set upon objâ—cts of Love And the Affection of Delight and Joy but that we may rejoyce when God affords us matter of Joy And why the Affection of Grief and Sorrow but that we should duly grieve when his dealings with us call aloud and provoke us to it And if Losses are causes of and calls to Sorrow what greater loss in things below than the loss of such as should be dearer to us than all things here below Religion doth not destroy Nature but rectify it Grace doth not abolish natural Affections but directs them to their Objects and keeps them in their due Proportion that as they should not be excessive so not defective in their measure Thirdly Love to and delight in Relations while they live must needs constrain our Sorrow when by death removed from us What is that which you truly and duly love and delight in the enjoyment of that you can forbear to sorrow for the loss of Nay if it be unduly loved as a worldly Man doth his Riches when lost can sorrow be concealed And shall not we be allowed to love near Relations more than worldly Riches and so to sorrow more for the loss of the one than of the other I do know what it is to meet with losses of the World but I do not know that they did break my Sleep but I cannot deny but my late loss of one so near hath kept mine Eyes waking in the deep silence of the Nights How any should have due due degrees of Love to Husband Wife Parents or Children while they live and not have equal Sorrow for them when they dye is not easy for me to give a rational Account of For if the Goodness of the Object beget love to it the Absence of it excites desires after it the loss of it must fill us with Sorrow for it Want of Sorrow when they are taken from us doth argue want of Love while they were continued with us If you groan not at their Death there is room for this question Were not you burdened with their Life Did you look upon that Relation when alive as one of your Enjoyments when you do not look upon the Death of such a one as one of your Afflictions When Husband and Wife are known not to live in love every one hath a Tongue to say Such will not mourn for her Death How should he afflict his heart with Grief when separated by Death when it was empty of Love when joyned in Life David's different Carriage at the death of his Son Absalom and of his young Child doth not shew that when he had so much Sorrow for the one he had no Sorrow for the other but that he had something to moderate his sorrow for the one which he had not for the other when he had hopes that the one was saved and fears that the other was damned Fourthly The want of lamentation and mourning is a punishment that God inflicts upon Sinners at their Death Job 27.13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God and the heritage of oppressors which they shall receive of
grief for one Child I will tell you of one that lost two Sons in a Battel at once when also the Ark of God was taken and when he heard of the death of his two Sons he bore up but as soon as mention was made of the taking of the Ark of God he fell down and died This was Eli 1 Sam. 4.17 18. And his Daughter in Law that was with Child near to be Delivered hearing that the Ark of God was taken fell into Travail the Women about her comforted her saying Thou hast born a Son but she made them no answer and regarded it not She called the Childs Name Ichabod that is Where is the Glory For the Glory is departed from Israel because the Ark of the Lord is taken She sorrowed indeed for her Husband that was dead and for her Father-in-law that was dead but more for the Ark of the Lord that was taken by the Enemies for she mentioneth this over and over and gives up the Ghost and dies 1 Sam. 4.19 to the end David when his Child was dead leaves sorrowing for him and prayeth for the Church Psal 51.18 But you cannot mitigate your sorrow for your dead so much as to sorrow for the Evils that befall to the Church nor pray to God to help her to bear them or that he would remove them and while it is so your sorrow for your dead is excessive and immoderate sorrow Q 10. Is not that sorrow for your dead excessive and immoderate whereby you do discredit Religion become a stumbling-block to those that are already too much prejudiced against the Holy Ways of God While they see you thus all in constant Tears how are they ready to reflect upon and reproach your Profession and say Is this their Hope and Confidence in God whereof they spake when all was well with them Is this their living by Faith when Creature-Comforts fail them Is this their boasting of God as their All-sufficient Portion and that they could find satisfying Comfort in one God when all outward Enjoyments are taken away Where is their trusting in the Promises of God and their relying upon his Word Where is their profiting by so much hearing And where is the return to all their praying They said All things work together for their good if they find it so why do they weep and mourn as if all things did work together for their hurt They said There were such props and stays in their Religion as to bâ—ar up their Hearts in the sorest Afflâ—ction why then are they thus disquieted above other Men And why do their Hearts sink and their Spirits fail them more than other Mens They could speak comfortable words to others in Affliction but now it is come upon them they find no comfort in their own words were they any more than words vain and empty talk Are they not ready to retort upâ—n you as Job's Friends upon him Job 4.3 Behold thou hast instructed many and thou hast strengthened the weak hands 4. Thy words have upholden him that was falling and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees 5. But now it is come upon thee and thou faintest â—t toucheth thee and thou art troubled 6. Is not this thy fear thy confidence thy hope and the uprightness of thy ways Do you harden Mens Hearts by your exâ—essive sorrow and is not that too much by which you render Religion less Amiable in the Eyes of Men Q. 11. Is not that sorrow for your Dead ever-much whereby your submission to the Will of God is caused to be suspected if you submit why are you not quieted If you acquiesce in God's Dealings why do you carry your self as if you were discontented at his doings Do not so many and so long-continued Tears look like the Tears of a murmuring repining discontented Mourner Is not your Carriage more like a Disputer with God than a patient Bearer of his Hand You might have a sense and feeling of his Rod and yet submit but what soâ—row is inconsistent with submission is too much Q. 12. Is not that sorrow for your dead whereby you lose much of your little time to be allowed you excessive and immoderate Are not your days few your Life short and hasting away and have you nothing else to do with your time but to waste it in such mourning for those that are removed out of time into Eternity Have not you much greater and more necessary work to do for your own Soul Have not you the Pardon of Sin to get which every day you do commit Have not you many Corruptions further to subdue Have not you many Duties to perform for your self and towards your Relations that yet do live Have not you Children to instruct in the Principles of Religion Have not you many Temptations to resist and many vain and sinful Thoughts to pray against and beg that they might not lodge in your Mind nor find any quiet Entertainment there Have not you many Doubt s to be resolved and many Fears to be expelled Have not you Assurance yet to seek and your own Death to be prepared for if all this Work stand still while your time is passing away in mourning for your dead your sorrow is immoderate CHAP. XII The Remedies against Excessive Sorrow for our Dead The First That their Death is a sleeping in Jesus Four Notes about it Ten Meditations upon it THE third Work we have to do is to enquire after an effectual Remedy against excessive sorrow for our dead What is easie unto others might be hard to me in the practical part of this Inquiry It is less Labour to prescribe the Cure than to feel the powerful working of it It is hard to have a due sense of God's smarting Rod and yet a patient submission to his Will Man's Heart is either stony and stupid under Gods Afflicting Hand and doth not feel it or in the sense of it doth murmur and repine Either when God smites we do not grieve at all or if we are sensible of the Wound do mourn too much Both these Extreams have been already considered now Lord direct me to the Golden Mean and guide me to the middle way which lies betwixt these two Extreams that I might grieve because of thine Hand and yet might not over-grieve because it is so heavy The Cure of excessive sorrow for our dead will be the better found by finding out the cause thereof The cause of it God by his Apostle acquaints us is Ignorance concerning the state of Believers after the separation of the Body and the Soul Or if we are not wholly ignorant yet do not well consider what we know or if we do consider yet do not firmly believe what we do consider of In opposition to these as the cause of exâ—essive sorrowing as those do that have no hopâ— knowledge due consideration and an unshaken belief of the state of departed Believers will come in as a Cure Help anâ— R medy of such immoderate grief
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
they be dead yet they shall live Christ will not stay abide nor rest in Heaven when the appointed Day is come till he hath opened their Graves and brought them forth To the moderating of our Sorrow these things concerning his Coming when the Dead shall be raised are the Ingredients whereof this Cordial is compounded 1. The Certainty of his Coming Do you say if we were sure Christ would come for this amongst other ends it would be some allay unto our Sorrow why do you doubt Is this any new Doctrine was it not prophesied by Enoch the seventh from Adam Jude v. 14. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints Have not the best of Men believed it why else do the Generation of the Righteous look for it Phil. 3.20 21. Tit. 2.13 and wait for it 1 Cor. 1.7 and pray for it Rev. 22.20 and is made the Character of a Christian to Love and Long for it 2 Tim. 4.8 Will you believe the Testimony of Angels from Heaven you have it Act. 1.11 Will you believe it if it were spoken with his own Mouth then read Joh. 14.2 I do go to prepare a place for you 3. And if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and take you to my self that where I am there ye might be also The Souls of Believers being with Christ immediately after their separation from the Body this Promise of Christs coming and then taking them to himself must be understood of the Consummation of the Happiness both of Body and Soul and in the Consummation of the whole Church in one Body that when he comes again all his shall be with him and all of every one both Body and Soul Why then do you sorrow so much as if you had no Hope when it is so sure and certain ground of good Hope 2. The Nearness of his Coming You say and therefore sorrow on he will come but who knows when How long must the Dead lie there before the day of his Coming and their Rising Small Comfort to tell us of their living after so many years and how many is unknown to Angels or Men as we find Mark 13.32 Say you so when it may be sooner than you or any Man or Angels might think of However tho it may not be in our days and we are like to be among the Dead aâ—d not the Living at his Coming yet he will quickly come and will not tarry long before he comes Heb. 10.37 For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Tho' to Unbelief and Impatience it might seem long yet it is but a very little time till Christ will come and raise the Dead and fulfill our Hopes and he will not delay nor tarry at all not one day nor hour beyond the due appointed time We must not measure God's time by the measures of Men as days months and years for one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day 2 Pet. 3.8 and it is not tediously long to the Soul in Heaven nor to the Body in the Grave only it seems so to us but is not really so to God nor estimatively so to them It is the last Promise in all the Scripture and turned into a Prayer Rev. 22.20 He that testifieth these things faith surely I come quickly Amen Even so come Lord Jesus Believe then in Gods Account that Christ will quickly come and the Dead in Christ shall be quickly made to Live again and do not sorrow as if you had no hope that this quickly will be done and all our sorrow quickly will be over 3. The Publickness of his Coming When his Coming shall he seen by all it shall be denied by none Is the Lord come then shall be no Questiâ—n no Doubt for all the World shall be Spectators of it Rev. 1.7 He was seen by some upon the Tree but he shall be seen by all upon his Throne Mat. 26.64 If Faith were now in the stead of that sight then as that sight will fill us with Joy so this Faith would moderate our Sorrow CHAP. XVI The Shout the Voice of the Arch-angel the sounding of the Trumpet The ministration of Angels The Dead shall be raised before the then Living shall be changed Both shall meet the Lord in the Air. IS it nothing to asswage our Sorrow believingly to consider the Shout the Summons and Call that shall be given to the Dead to awake arise and come forth of their Graves and the Attendance and Ministration of the Glorious Angels in reference to the Dead then raised 1 Thes 4.16 The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a Shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God 1 Cor. 15.52 In a moment in the twinkling of an Eye at the last Trump for the Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible What a potent Call what a mighty Sound what Almighty Power shall that be which shall quicken all the Dead in a moment in the twinkling of an Eye What is shorter than a moment what is sooner done than the twinkling of the Eye and yet with such quick dispatch the Dead shall be made to live they are sleeping in their Graves as before Christ comes the Trumpet sounds the Lord calls the Dead arise they all start up they all come forth and look up and see the Lord is come and who it was that made them Live Concerning this Trumpet of God this hath been said of old Tuba â—irum spargens sonum Pâ—r Sepulchra Râ—gionum Coget omnes ante Thronum At the last Trumpets sound The Dead tho' under ground Shall rise his Throne surround What this Shout this Voice of the Archangel and Trumpet of God shall be is diversly interpreted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifieth such Voices and Cries that Mariners use one to another as a sign when all should put sorth their Oars to row together or of men heaving at some weighty burden do use as a sign when all should heave together and joyn their strength together to lift it up And then it is spoken after the manner of Men for tho' the raising of all the Dead be a great Work yet God will do it easily and needs not the help and assistance of Angels thereunto or else to express the Joy that the Dead in Christ shall rise and to increase the Terrour of the Ungodly at that Day The Trumpet at the Last Day that shall be sounded in order to the raising of the dead is three ways judged of 1. Some apprehend it shall be a proper real and material Trumpet sounded by Angels Mat. 24.31 And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet As when God came down to give the Law there was Thunderings and Lightnings and the Trumpet sounding Exod. 19.16 18 19. So when the Lord shall come down to raise the Dead and to
judge the impenitent Transgressors of his Law 2. Some understand it figuratively alluding to the manner of Men who sound a Trumpet to gather Assemblies together Num. 10.2 God spake to Moses saying make thee two Trumpets of Silver that thou mayest use them for the calling of the Assembly and for the journeying of the Camp So when the year of Jubilee came the Trumpet of the Jubilee was to sound throughout all the Land Levit. 25.9 The Day of the coming of Christ and of the raising of them that sleep in Jesus will be to all Believers their Jubilee and the Trumpet shall sound throughout all the World 3. Some conceive this last Trumpet shall be Christs own audible Voice Calling and Commanding the Dead to arise and come forth of their Graves And they give these Reasons 1. The express Letter of the Word Joh. 5.28 The Hour is coming when all that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth The Lord Jesus shall utter his Voice and the Dead shall hear it and come at his Call 2. In raising of particular dead ones he usually used his Voice Luk. 7.14 And he said Young Man I say unto thee arise Joh. 11.43 And he cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth At the last day when Christ shall say Arise all ye dead arise come forth they shall all hear and come out of their Graves But others say what the Sound of the Trumpet shall be no man can tell and so do not determine whether it shall be the one or the other but say The Lord himself coming down in his visible Humanity from Heaven shall call the World together as men call Assemblies by shout by Voice or by a Trumpet so shall Christ by his unknown way called the Voice of the Archangel and the Trumpet of God But when the Trumpet is sounded and the dead are raised the holy Angels of God shall be employed concerning them For they do not only come along with Christ as his Attendants to set forth the Greatness of his Majesty as Lords and Dukes and Earls waiting upon an Earthly King but also to execute Christs Commands concerning those that shall be raised for as they did attend them at their Death and were the Convoy of their separated Souls into the place of Rest and Joy so they shall also be serviceable to them at their Restoration unto Life I. In gathering the Elect of God together They died and were buried in distant places far remote each from other some in one part of the World and some in another and lie scattered far and near but God shall use the Ministration of Angels to gather them together Mat. 24.31 And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the four Winds from one end of the World to the other If you have one godly Relation dieth in England and another in the East and another in the West-Indies trouble not your thoughts hereat how shall they be brought together at last if some die at one end of the World and some at another God by his Angels will find out where they were buried and bring them together Mar. 13.27 And then shall he send his Angels and shall gather his Elect together from the four Winds from the uttermost part of the Earth to the uttermost part of Heaven None shall be lost or left behind this might be a stay and support to some that are mourning for their dead Relations with this Aggravation We know not where they died nor where they were buried Thô you do not God will find them tho they died in the uttermost parts of the Earth II. In separating those that died in the Lord from those that died in their sins Wâ—â—◠〈◊〉 buried promiscuously in common Bâ—â—â—-â—â—ces where the Bodies of the Worst aâ—â— Bâ—â— are laid together sometimes in one comâ—â— Grave and in succession of time a Wiâ—â— mans body laid in the same Grave where 〈◊〉 body of a Believer before was buried 〈◊〉 these are raised together shall not thâ— one be mistaken for the other No grouâ—d of such Fears for the Angels shall 〈…〉 â—he one from the other Mat. 13.49 So sâ—â—â— it be at the end of the World the Angels shaâ—â—â—â—â—e forth and sever the wicked from among thâ—â—ast But if thoughts arise in your Hearts tho Angels be perfect in Knowledge yet it is finite they are not the Knowers and the Searchers of Hearts and how can they distinguish an Hypocrite from one that was sincere You may be fully answered That God hath wayes that we know not of to direct them in making this separation However to remove all doubting thoughts we are assured that Christ himself that is God as well as Man and knows what every Man was as surely and as easily as a Shepherd knows a Sheep from a Goat doth he know an Hypocrite from one sincere he shall see and will take care that there be not one Impenitent person among all the Company of the holy Ones and that there shall not be one sanctified Person left among the great multitudes of Impenitent sinners that stand trembling to hear the Sentence of Condemnation to be past upon them Mat. 25.31 When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory 32. And before him shall be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth his Sheep from his Goats Weigh all this and try what Comfort it will yield you When you hear the Sound of the Passing Bell and what others may ring on the Funeral Day the hearing of your Ear fills your Heart with Sorrow think then that the Sound of the Trumpet shall be heard for the raising of those that are lodging in the Dust and let that moderate your Grief especially when you consider your Dead heareth not the one and is not grieved at the sound thereof but He or She shall hear the other and hearing rejoyce When you see the common Bearers letting down their Corpses in a common Burial-place remember tho the Wicked were laid on every side yet when they shall be raised they shall be severed and those that slept in Jesus shall all be set at his right Hand without the mixture of one ungodly Person amongst them all And is it no Comfort to you that yours shall be amongst them III. May not the Priviledge that those that sleep in Jesus shall have above those that shall be found alive at the Coming of Christ be some alleviation of our Sorrow Why else doth the Apostle alledge it as a ground and Reason against excessive Sorrow when he designedly treats upon this Subject and doth Preface so solemnly before he delivers this Doctrine as ground of Comfort Ver. 15. For I say unto you by the Word of the Lord that which I am to say are not my words but
the Lords if I had not had it from him I could have told no such thing that we that are alive and remain unto the Coming of the Lord shall not prevent them that are asleep V. 16. The dead in Christ shall rise first The like Order and precedency he affirms 1 Cor. 15.52 The dead shall be raised Incorruptible and we those that shall be alive shall be changed We think that those that shall be found alive will have an advantage above those that are dead But they shall have this advantage above the then Living that they shall be first raised and be made immortal glorious and incorruptible Bodies sooner and before those that shall be alive As they put off the mortal and corruptible Body before them so they shall put on the Immortal and Incorruptibble Body sooner than they These died a Temporal Death which the other shall not but they shall live an Immortal Life sooner than those that are not to die a Temporal death The Living must wait for their Change till those that were changed from Life to Death shall be again changed from Death to Life Do you mourn because your holy Relations are dead and do not Live Rejoyce also that they shall Live and have the preeminence before those that shall not die but only be changed because God hath told you how mindfull and careful he will be of those that sleep in Jesus Forgotten by Men remembred by God IV. Is it nothing to moderate your sorrow that Christ and yours shall surely meet Death was a parting you and them and that parting day was a sorrowful day And you record the day of their Death and your parting and mention it with Grief and Tears Remember a meeting day will come not only when they and you shall meet but when they and Christ shall meet and let the Thoughts thereof cause you to rejoyce What tho you and they shall meet no more while you live yet Christ and they and you also if you believe shall meet and never part But where shall this Meeting be In the Air. But how shall they get up They shall be caught up by the Power of God or be such agile and nimble Bodies that they shall be as able to move upwards as now they are proue to fall downwards You follow them to the Grave and see them there let down and you are filled with Sorrow Think again as if you saw that Body raised again and mounting aloft as swiftly as any winged Bird into the Air to meet the Lord and let such a Foresight abate your present sorrow CHAP. XVII After their meeting with the Lord THEY shall be with HIM for EVER Comfort from all Recollected SHall not a believing Prospect that those that sleep in Jesus shall awake and live with the Lord for ever make some abatement of our sorrow or rather turn it into Joy in the hopes thereof This is the last and highest and most Soveraign Remedy the Apostle giveth in this place against Excessive Sorrow saying and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Short words but matter of lasting everlasting Joy Soon said but not so soon understood for indeed they contain more than we can conceive and none know so well as they that are with him Yet that we may have a relish of this Remedy and a taste of this Spiritual Comfort for the correcting of extravagant Sorrow let it be enquired 1. With whom it is that these must be with the Lord and what it is to be with him 2. Who they are here meant that shall be with the Lord We. 3. How long for ever Blessed shall they be whoever they be that thus shall be with the Lord for ever 1. It is the Lord himself with whom these shall be And to be with him is the summ of all our Hopes the end of all our Prayers and the top of all our Happiness The Misery of the Ungodly and Impenitent when raised judged and condemned is that they must depart from the Lord and be in flaming fire and then with Devils The Happiness of the Godly then acquitted and absolved will be to be called to come to the Lord and to go with him into Glory and there abide and remain with him Mat. 25.34 41 46. Then shall the King say to them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World 41. Then shall he say also to them on the left hand Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Some are called to come to him the others commanded to depart from him some to be with Him the rest to be with Devils therefore those are declared to be blessed the other accursed for 46. These shall go away into everlasting Punishment but the Righteous into Life Eternal Do we believe these things or do we not All these things are spoken of Men when raised from the Dead and judged and sentenced and the Sentence put into Execution and do not you by Faith see with whom they shall have their abode that now do sleep in Jesus enjoying the beatisick Vision living in the comfortable glorious and immediate Presence of God the Father of Christ the Redeemer and of the Eternal Spirit their Sanctifier Now your Thoughts run to the Grave look down into it and you see them with Worms and with Rottenness and therefore sorrow Let your Thoughts run as far as the day of Christs coming and then suppose you look for them in the Graves you will not find them The Voice will be They are not here for they are risen come see the places where they lay Where are they Look up they are gone to meet the Lord in the Air and whither are they next to go to be with the Lord And is there nothing in the belief of all these things not only to asswage Sorrow but also to beget great Joy but because we are of so little Faith therefore we are of so much Sorrow 2. Who are these that are to be with the Lord What we doth the Apostle mean whom doth he say this great thing of of all those that shall be caught up in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air. Who are they those that shall be alive and remain when the Lord shall come Together with them Who are they the Dead in Christ that did rise first before the Living were changed so then it comprehends those that slept in Jesus and shall be raised and those Believers that shall be found alive and changed and caught up together into the Air to meet Christ who will adjudge them to Everlasting Life and so after that shall be with Christ in Glory Are these the Dead we Mourn for and why because they are dead in their Grâ—ves and with the dead but have we no Fâ—ith in this Word of the Lord. If we havâ— let us set their Resurrection over against their Death
so surâ—ly our dead shall rise Comfort your selves and one anoth r with these words 2. Those that shall be found alive shall not prevâ—nt them that are asleep but the Dead shall be raised before the Living shall be changed they in their Graves shall have the precedency and preheminence before the Living and tho the one are dead and the other living yet the Dead shall be made Immortal and Incorruptible before the Living Comfort your selves and one another with these words 3. Rather than the Dead shall lye in their Graves for ever Christ as soon as the appointed time is come will Himself in his own Person come and with a shout with the Voice of the Archangel and sounding Trumpet call them out of their Graves and they shall hear and shall come forth Comfort your selves and one another with these words 4. When the Dead in Christ shall be raised and the Living changed they shall all be caught up together in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and shall there be acquitted and absolved and adjudged to everlasting Life therefore comfort your selves and one another with these words 5. After this they shall go into the highest Heavens in Body and Soul to be with the Lord for ever wherefore comfort your selves and one another with these words Now upon the survey of the whole matter what have you most cause for your Sorrow or your Joy What if yours do not live with you is it not better that they died in the Lord than to live as such with you what if they are in the Grave for a while and after that shall be with the Lord for ever Cease Excessive Sorrowing and encourage and comfort your selves and one another as the Death of any requires with the lively Belief the joyful Hopes and often mention of this most Blessed Time and State CHAP. XVIII Additional Questions propounded to Mourners for the Moderating of Excessive Sorrow BUT if your Sorrow be Excessive after all these Remedies alleadged made known to us by Divine Revelation doth it not argue Want or Weakness of Faith and slowness of Heart to Believe If you do not believe will you reason the Case with your self that we may bring it to this Issue that your Immoderate Sorrow is irrational contrary both to Faith and Reason Which will appear by that time you consider the Matter well and give in a deliberate Answer to these following Questions briefly offered to you 1 Quest If a particular Resurrection now could be as formerly hath been would you desire that your Relations that died in the Lord might now be raised from the dead to live and dwell with you in your House upon Earth again If it were possible would you have your holy Father or Mother Husband or Wife raised as Jairus his Daughter Lazarus Tabitha and others were and come and sit at your Table and live with you in the same Circumstances as they did before If you would not how unreasonable is all your excessive Sorrow because they are dead and yet would not have them live with you again thô you may What! will nothing content you Is their restoration to Life now no matter of your desire and yet is their death such matter of so great abundant Sorrow Will you be pleased neither way concerning them dead or alive again If you would desire this do you consider what it is you do desire and how injurious you would be to them that you may have your will and as you say the comfort that before you had in them Tell me 1. Would you indeed have them from the glorious presence of God and Christ and the eternal Spirit to live with you Could they have that Delight and Joy in your Company as now they are filled with in the presence of their glorious God and Redeemer 2. Would you have them leave the Society of Angels and saved Souls above to come and dwell among sinfull men again 3. Would you indeed have them return from Rest to Trouble from Joy to Sorrow from Praising to Mourning 4. Now they have got out of the reach of Satans Temptations would you have them live here again to be buffeted again and tempted and assaulted by that roaring Lion And after they have got the Victory and won and wore the Crown would you have them to come into the Field again and conflict with the Powers of Darkness again 5. Were you grieved for them on their dying Beds to see what they endured and what cold Sweats the Pangs of Death did put them to and yet would you have them live again that they may die again Do you sorrow that they have died once and will you sorrow on except you could have them live again that they may die twice would you have them have two deaths for one Is this your Love to them 6. Is once mourning for them so grievous and would you have them live again and so die again and you Mourn again for their Second dying if you should out live them or leave them behind you for them to Mourn for you whereas where they are now they have done Mourning and are strangers to it 7. Would not you be more Kind to your self and them to prepare and desire to go to them than to have them return to you if such a thing could be Do not you know which to choose and yet sorrow in this manner 2 Q. If you would have them Live again can your sorrow multiplyed ten times more help you to your Will May you not by this sorrow bring your self to the Grave sooner than fetch them out Say what good this excessive sorrow doth or else moderate it 3 Q. Who hath done this that you mourn so much for Was it not by the Providence of God And will you quarrel with him or call him to an account why he hath done so Or should not his Hand quiet your Heart Read Job 33.13 1 Sam. 3.18 Psal 39.9 4 Q. Do not you hereby contradict your Prayers Do not you pray his Will might be done and submitted to when it 's done Do not you see it was his Will to have your Relation from you and is this your submission to it Is it so done in Heaven as you do it upon Earth 5 Q. Hath God herein taken any from you but what he first gave unto you Who gave you your Children or Husband or Wife were they not the Gifts of God Did not this quiet Job Chap. 1.21 6 Q. Whose was He or She that is dead that you so Immoderately do Mourn for Do you say it was my Child my Father or my Mother my Husband or my Wife If it had not been mine I should not thus have mourned But were they not Gods own more than your own When God gave them you did he give away his own right Might not God do what he will with his own but you must take on as if he had taken something he had no right unto What
thy holy Word that if Christ be raised then those that slâ—ep in Jesus shall also rise and if these shall not then Christ is not risen and if Christ be not risen we are all in our sins and all Preaching Praying Believing and all Religion is in vain which being absurd and false the other must be certain and sure And by the belief of this thanks be to my God I find I feel my Sorrow is turned into lively Hope earnest Desire and comforting Joy Besides this O my Soul be further satisfied and quieted within me forasmuch as thy Lord hath not only said that those that sleep in Jesus shall rise again but hath also foretold what Bodies they shall then be tho the same for substance yet their Properties Qualities and Endowments far more excellent than when they lived or died Dost thou sorrow because her Body was Mortal and did die why dost thou not rejoyce because it shall be raised Immortal and then shall die no more Art thou grieved at the remembrance of its weakness sickness and pains why art thou not comforted at the believing Foresight that it shall be raised a Powerful and Impassible Body and shall be sick and pained no more for ever Or art thou cast down because that Natural Body by Food and Physick could no longer be supported nor maintained in Life Why doth not this raise thy Comfort that it shall be raised a Spiritual Body and need Food and Physick and Sleep no more than the Angels in Heaven Is it matter of thy trouble to coâ—sider how vile and loathsom Death hath made it why doth it not delight thee to believe it shall be raised in such Glory that it shall shine as a glittering Star yea as the Sun in the Kingdom of God and that Beauty shall be its Cloathing all over Why doth soâ—row daily fill thy Heart because the Soul is gone and left the Body a lifeless piece of Earth a mass of breathless Mould and dost not rejoyce that the Soul already is made like to Christs Glorious Soul and the day is coming and it hastens when the Body shall be fashioned like to Christs glorious Body Like to Christs Glorious Body Lord who that doth believe these words of thine may not cease to sorrow in excess because now the Body is so like the dust in which it lodgeth and begin to joy that in thine appointed time it shall be like the Glorious Body of an exalted Jesus Holy Lord how great is the difference betwixt the same Man as if he were not the same when he looks upon his Dead with an Eye of Sense and Carnal Reason and when with an Eye of Faith according to thy Word For when I sit and muse and say Methinks I see how the Body of my dead lyeth in the Grave and how it mouldreth and consumeth I am a sad and sorrowful Man and my Heart is grieved within me but when I sit and consider and believe and say Methinks I see it Redeemed from the Grave methinks I see it raised an Immortal Powerful Spiritual Beautiful Glorious Body shining as the Sun and like to Christs Glorious Body I am a chearful joyful Man and Comfort flows abundantly into my Soul Moreover O my Soul thy Sorrow might be turned into Joy when thou dost believingly consider that rather than the Dead should always be captivated by Death and ever held by the bonds thereof the Lord HIMSELF will come down from Heaven and fetch them forth Rejoyce and be exceeding glad that when the appointed day is come the Lord Jesus will not stay nor rest in Heaven till he hath opened their Graves and delivered them from the Power of death Blessed Jesus Help me to rejoyce in thy Mighty Power and abundant Love in that because the raising of the Dead is a work too great for all the Angels in Heaven thou wilt come thy self and cause them to live again Methinks I hear thy Voice Ye Dead arise Methinks I hear the mighty Shout and the Trumpet sounding methinks I see the Lord in his Glory coming down from Heaven and calling to the Dead and methinks I see them in great numbers coming up out of their Graves He calls they tho dead do hear and tho dead at his Command do Live Lord at thy pleasure they fell into the Grave and at thy Voice they do come forth O powerful Voice Oh joyful glorious sight Oh the difference betwixt a Funeral and the Resurrection day the one was a sorrowful the other will be a joyful day Especially O my Soul when the day of Death was a parting day the day of the Resurrection will be a meeting day Thou and thine at Death did part and that did fill thy Heart with sorrow but then thou and thine shall meet again and never part Thou and thine that 's not all thou and thine shall meet the Lord in the Air. Wondâ—rful Bodiâ—s but now in the bottom of the Grave anon the same mounting up into the Air there to be owned acknowledged and openly acquitted and from thence to go along with their Lord Redeemer into the highest Heavens to be for ever with the Lord. Once in the Grave and after that with the Lord A long time in the Grave and after that long time is out and over be with the Lord for ever which never will be out and over O blessed Day O desirable Day Lord when shall it be When shall it come Dear Jesus gather in the chosen of the Father effectually all the number that is ordained to be with thee for ever and then come yea come quickly that those of thine that are sleeping in their Graves may awake and meet thee and be with the Lord for ever Thus O my Soul hast thou followed thy Dead unto the Grave and dost know and believe that this Body shall rise again and be an happy and glorious Body prepare to follow cease excessively to sorrow rejoyce in Hope that the Lord will come when his shall be with him for ever Be with with him for ever Are they now dead amongst the Dead and shall live with him for ever that doth live for ever Is not this it that Christ did bleed and sweat and suffer and die for Is not this it that Christ did rise from the dead for that those that sleep in him might also rise Is not this it for which he ascended to Heaven to prepare a place for them Is not this it for which he intercedes that all those that the Father hath given him might be where he is that they may behold his Glory Is not this it for which he will come again and take the Quick and Dead in him all of them unto himself that where he is there they might be also Lord hast thou said it and shall I not believe it Lord I believe help thou my Unbelief And dost thou indeed believe these sayings of thy Lord O my Soul and yet sit sorrowing with excessive sorrow for thy
Moreover O my Soul wilt thou not grant that Sorrow is excessive which causeth thy Thoughts to run into the Grave and hinders them from ascending into Heaven and to have many self-piercing and self-tormenting Thoughts of thy dead for one serious and Heart-affecting Thought thou hast of the Living and Eternal God and which makes thy Heart as cold in all thy Duties unto God as the Body of thy dead Relation is in its Grave Besides is not thy Sorrow too much when it hinders thee from Spiritually rejoycing in God and giving Thanks to him for all the Mercies which in thy Sorrow thou dost overlook Especially when let thy Condition be what it will as to Temporals thou hast much more cause to bless God for Spiritual and Eternal Mercies than to grieve for the loss of Temporals Add to this O my Soul and then judge that thou grievest so much for thy Dead that thou hast left off sorrowing for the Miseries of the Church of God and losest much of thy little remaining Time wherein thou hast many Duties to perform many Graces to get and more degrees thereof many sins to mortifie and subdue many Temptations to resist a deceitful Heart to watch and search Children and Servants to instruct and teach and holy preparations to be made for Death and another Eternal World and while thou sorrowest all these are neglected Is it not too much By this time and from these Evidences O my Soul art thou not convinced that thy sorrow for thy dead hath been and still is excessive sorrow that thou hast and dost transgress the bounds of Christian Moderation and thereby offend thy holy Lord wrong thy self discredit that Religion thou dost profess discourage the good and cast a stumbling-block in the way of the ungodly and wilt thou still proceed herein Canst not thou sensibly feel the stroke of his hand and yet patiently submit unto his will How long wilt thou thus be cast down how long wilt thou thus be disquieted within me Is thy Relation fallen asleep and are thy Graces slumbering Is thy Faith as dead in thy Heart as thy Relation is in the Grave Shall Nature wôrk thus strongly in thee and Graces so feebly If natural Affections be exorbitant hath not God implanted Grace in thee that it may correct moderate and govern them Art thou only a Rational and not a Believing Soul Yea dost thou thus Immoderately grieve as if thou wast neither believing nor rational in thy sorrow If there be nothing in the common Book of corrupted Nature that thou canst read but what doth add grief unto thy grief yet is there not enough in that special Book of sacred Scripture that might turn thy sorrow into Joy for those of thine that sleep in Jesus Or hast thou thrown it by and neglected to look and search into it Or if thou readest dost thou understand what thou readest or dost thou consider what thou dost understand or believe with an unshaken Faith what thou dost consider whilest thy sorrow doth continue so excessive Hath not God revealed therein such certain Truths concerning the Bodies of those that dye in the Lord such glorious things concerning their separated Souls for the present such wonderful work that he will hereafter do in reuniting the same Souls with the same Bodies in raising them from the dead and Redeeming them from the Grave such desirable Glory that their Souls and Bodies thus reunited shall be joyntly partakers of and be made perfectly and eternally holy and happy in the enjoyment of the Father Son and eternal Spirit in the innumerable Company of glorious Angels and the vast multitudes of such as with them were chosen redeemed sanctified and shall be for ever saved singing triumphant Hallelujahs when they shall all be gathered together in the Immediate presence of their Lord and Saviour and be possessed of those Mansions in their Fathers House which were prepared for them Hath he made known such things as these and are they sure and infallibly certain and yet for want of Faith and Hope and Love dost thou sit here and sigh and sob and grieve and groan as thô those thou mournest for were for ever lost as if they were so dead that they should live no more or as if they were so fast bound in their Graves that they never should come forth nor be taken from that dark place to the Palace of glorious Light above Attend then O my Soul unto the Expression wherewith thy Lord doth represent the death of thy holy Relation now deceased as a sleeping in Jesus And if thou mournest because she is dead yet try if thou canst mourn because she sleepeth in the Lord. For this doth Sorrow fill thine Heart or mayest thou not rejoyce that being dead she so sleepeth for if she sleep in Jesus shall she not do well and if she shall do well shouldest thou not rather rejoyce than thus lament and grieve When didst thou sorrow when she went to bed and slept and took her natural Rest And now she sleeps in Jesus is she not at rest in her Grave as in her bed from all troubles from men from Sickness and Pain and from all Sense thereof from all worldly cares and piercing Sorrows that did usually accompany those cares and if her Death be but a Sleep how easie is it for Almighty Power to awaken her out of her Sleep And if she sleep she shall awake for if in the usual Course of Nature waking followeth after sleeping wherefore dost thou doubt or sear that Death being but a Sleep that it will be a perpetual Sleep And if she went sick and weary and weak to sleep when she shall awake shall she not be more refreshed and revived in the Morning of the Resurrection If the time of her sleeping seemeth long to thee now waking and not to her now sleeping why dost thou trouble thy self with that with which she is not at all concerned about If in the time of her Life thou sawest her sick and could not sleep this was a grief and trouble to thee would it not much more have added to thy sorrow to see her languish filled with pain hear her sigh and sob and groan upon a sick bed and could neither recover nor yet fall asleep and yet dost thou take on that when by all means used and learned carefull and pious Physicians consulted she could not be recovered that now she is fallen asleep Why dost thou molest and trouble thy self at the thoughts of the Length of her Sleep when it is no more trouble nor disquiet to her than the Length of time is to one that is fast sleeping in his Bed tho it may be tedious to one that sitteth by and waketh while he sleepeth Remember O my Soul and let the remembrance thereof asswage thy sorrow that it is her last but not an everlasting sleep tho it be long it shall not alwayes last and because it is a sleep that is called Death it shall
be the last that she shall sleep for when awaked she shall sleep no more for ever And yet is this the Body that thou thus bewailest and for this dost thou thus Night after Night break thy sleep and when she sleepeth quietly in the Lord and dreameth not of any of the things that are done in this World canst not thou rest nor sleep in thy Bed without dreaming of her that is so unconcernedly sleeping in the Bed of the Grave Let her quiet and resting Body rebuke O my Soul thy unquiet and restless thoughts Moreover consider O my Soul whose State thou hast more reason to lament and bewail thine own or the state of the Soul of thy Relation that was converted and sanctified that did repent and believe before Death made the separation betwixt thee and her or betwixt her Body and her Soul Dost thou not believe that her Soul being absent from her Body is now present with the Lord and being so is perfectly freed from all sin sorrow Temptation Inclination to sin and from a possibility of sinning and is possessed of all good filled with all Joy perfect in the Knowledge of God and Christ and in Love to and Delight in all the Persons in the to us unsearchable Trinity Whilest thou thy self art grieving groaning under the Burden of remaining sins conflicting with Satan and the Powers of Darkness clogged with the Flesh and ensnared with the Allurements and Affrightments of this evil and deluding World Thou in a state imperfect and Militant the Soul of thy Relation in a state perfect and Triumphant Is it not thy frequent Doubts and Fears whether thou lovest God and whether God loveth thee with a differencing special and peculiar Love Are they not thy often Complaints that thou hast but little Enjoyment of God and Communion with him in his Ordinances and sometimes none at all That thou seekest God but canst not see him and searchest for him but câ—nst not find him That thou goest from Meditation to Prayer from Praying to Hearing from Hearing to attending upon â—im at his Table and after all thy sorroâ—ful saying is I sought him whom my Soul loveth and longeth for I sought him but I could not find him That thy Sin had interposed betwixt thy God and thee and caused him to hide his Face from thee Were not these the Complaints also of thy Relation while with thee and didst not thou endeavour to satisfie her grieved and disconsolate Spirit by reason of Gods frequent withdrawings from her Soul and labouredst to resolve her Doubts to remove her Fears and to answer all the Objections she did make about the Sincerity of her Love to Christ And is her separated saved glorified Soul now above all these Doubts and Fears and Jealousies Is it now above Hope and Desire because possessed of what it hoped for and desired after Is it now perfectly Loving and delightfully Praising of its Lord and Saviour Is it now constantly beholding of Him and rejoycing in Him and can doubt no more and question his Love to it and its Love to Him no more for ever because it feels and is filled with the lively sense of both And dost thou sit here Mourning whilest it is eternally Rejoycing Cease sorrowing for her whose Soul is perfectly happy and triumphant and save thy Tears to bewail thine own Hazards Dangers and Sins in this Imperfect state and to pour them out before God in fervent Prayer that thou when separated from this Body mightest be received into that place of Light and Life and Love into that glorious Kingdom of the Ever-living God and all-sufficient Saviour to which her Soul is gone before and is now singing rejoycing and triumphing in But above all O my Soul why art thou troubled and disquieted most of all for what hath befallen the Body of thy dear Relation Why dost thou sit in thy Chamber where thou sawest her breathe her last Breath and give up the Ghost and â—use how thou sawest her pale and didst handle her cold Face when layd in her Coffin And while thou sittest here thy thoughts so often run unto the Grave and coâ—siderest how the Body is mouldring and consuming and turning into Rottenness and dust And while thou sayâ—st For this here is my sorrow let me ask theâ— in the mean time where is thy Faith Hast thou an Eye to see how the Body lyeth in the Grave and hast thou not another Eye to see how it shall be raised up Canst thou not look beyond the Coffin and the Grave to a joyful glorious Resurrection Wake O my Faith awake that I may firmly and steadfastly believe this great and comfortable Article of the Resurrection to Life Everlasting and joy more that it shall rise again than be cast down because it is cast into the Grave and for a while is lodged there Hast thou not O my Soul solid Foundation for thy Faith in this particular Doth not thy Lord that is infinite in Wisdom know where every one is buried or where the Body doth consume Doth not he know which Bones and Skull and Dust belong to this Body and which to that If this be knowable doth not he know it Or else is not his Knowledge limited and finite Knowledge because not extended to every thing that may be known And hath he not Almighty Power and so can do all acts of Power all things possible to be done Cannot he that made this great World and yonder larger Heavens out of Nothing out of something make these dry Bones to live Cannot he that formed the Body of Man at first of the Dust of the Ground and caused it to live New-make these Bodies tho turned into Dust Or doth this seem incredible to thee that God should raise the Dead Cannot he do what he hath done Did not he raise Lazarus and the Son of the Widow of Naim and Jairus his Daughter and himself when he had layn for a time in the Grave And as he can so hath he not declared that he will How often hath he spoken it How frequently hath he promised it Is not this the Fathers Will that sent his Son that of all that he had given him he should not lose any one but raise them up at the last Day And O my Soul dost thou not believe that the Son hath and will do the will of his Father in every point and particularly in this when he so often hath said he will raise them up at the last Day O be not Faithless but Believing and so cease thy excessive sorrowing Blessed Lord increase my Faith that my immoderate sorrow may decrease I have shewn my Unbelief by my excessive sorrow Now help me Lord to shew my Faith by my abating of my grief for my Dead because tho Dead yet shall certainly Live again Lord confirm my Faith in this That as sure as Christ is risen from the dead so surely shall my dead and all others be also raised because I read in