PROPOSITION I. That Gods People have consolations which others are strangers unto.

God hath provided those comforts for his Children, which he hath not made common to the World: they have their Joys which a stranger may not meddle with without presumption, be­cause he hath nothing to do with them. The Apostle, applying of himself to his Thessaloni­ans, makes a plain difference between them, and others who did not believe: he leaves wicked men to sorrow without hope if they will, yea and he reckons that they have reason enough so to do; but he wholly disallows it in the Children of God, as a thing that is altogether unreasonable, and that must be because they have something pe­culiar to support their spirits withal, or else what should make the difference? The world indeed make high pretences to their comforts, but they are of another stamp and character than those that belong to the people of God, and no way comparable with them: and we may observe these four differences between them.

1. Those are but seeming comforts, where­as [Page 7] these are real. They are but the shadow▪ these are the substance of Consolation. Of the worlds comforts, we have the Wis [...]mans observation upon them, Prov. 13.14. E [...]en in Laughter the heart is sorrowful; they think they have some refreshments, but indeed they have none. But the comforts of Gods Children are realities: they are therefore said to inhe­rit substance: there are true setled refresh­ments in the Joys of the Holy Ghost, which these partake in: there is neither delusion nor deceit in them.

2. They are of mens own making, but these are of Gods providing. Ungodly men arrogate them to themselves they snatch at, and take them without any leave, or title to them; they walk in the light of their own fir [...], and by the sparks which they have kindled, Isai. 50.11. But the Children of God have theirs given to them, it is God that comforts them in all their afflictions, 2 Cor. 1.3, 4. He hath made this Consolation for them in the pro­mise, and he applies it unto them by his Ho­ly Spirit, who imprints it upon their hearts indelebly, and makes them to tast the sweet­ness and satisfaction there is in it. And Hence,

3. Those are groundless, but these are grounded. The ungodly man builds without a foundation, whereas Gods Children are built upon the Rock. Sinners are under a curse, [Page 8] and there is no peace unto them, if God may be believed, for he hath said it, Isa. 57.1. and where there is no peace, how can there be any solid comfort? If they enjoy any favour Providentially, yet they have no security of it, being exposed to lose it every day, yea every moment; and while they have it, it is attended with a fearful curse: But the people of God have the assurance or security of theirs given to them. It is called strong Consolation, Heb▪ 6.18. not only in regard of its prevalency over the greatest Tempta­tions of afflictions, but also as it is well laid and immoveable. It hath its strength in the Everlasting Covenant, secured by the im­mutability and fidelity of God; and eviden­ced by those things that are wrought in them, which accompany salvation, attested by the Spirit of God in them, so bearing witness unto their Sonship.

4. Those are but during this life at the far­thest reach, but the [...]e are both in and after Death. Our Saviour Christ, speaking of wicked men, saith that they have their conso­lation, Luk. 6.24. i. e. they have already as much as ever they are like to have. Their personal comforts will reach no farther than so, Psal. 49.17. for when he dies, he shall carry nothing away. Their relative comforts do now also cease: whilst they live with them, they solace themselves in them, and [Page 9] make merry, but when they dye, they have now no more comfort of them: whereas the Children of God have their consolations ly­ing beyond death, this moth cannot eat them out, this thief cannot rob them of them: their joy for themselves is, that their Names are written in heaven; their solace in their relations, when they are dead, is, That they are gone to Christ.

PROPOSITION II. That Grace doth not secure any against Dying▪ or, Gods Children must dye as well as other men.

A bodily death is the common lot of all sorts of men, and Piety is no more a Bail a­gainst it than wealth or honour, or pleasures. Our Apostle doth not here go about to en­courage his Thessalonians by telling them that they shall not lose their godly friends by death, no, but he endeavours to give them relief against oppressing sorrow in case they do lose them, presuming it to be a thing which they are daily to expect. The truth [Page 13] of this, in Thesi, is confirmed unto us by daily observation, we see the best, the most holy, the most desirable to be going off the stage from time to time: all men may make that observation, Psal. 49.10. He sees that Wisemen dye: when therefore Christ promi­seth that some, viz. such as had believed on him, should never die, it is not meant of a bodily but of a spiritual Death. Nor do some extraordinary instances of those that were translated that they should not see Death, as Enoch and Elias, invalidate the the generl Truth of this assertion, being only special exceptions from the rule. But that which calls for our observation and en­quiry here, is, why Gods Children who are united to Jesus Christ, whose sins are par­doned, and from whom the Curse is remov­ed, must yet die as well as other men, upon whom the curse of Death lies in its weight? and we may take a summary account of it in the following Conclusions. For although there is enough to stop our mouths, and silence our cavillings, to consider that Infinite Wisdom hath seen meet in soveraign pleasure so to determine it: yet this Wisdom hath its rea­sons, and if we know them not all, yet it hath told us sufficient not only to silence, but to satisfie us too: here then let us observe.

1. That Death at first came into the world as a curse of sin. It was not a condition of [Page 14] mans nature, (as some do falsly suppose, and frivolously plead) but a consequent up­on the great Transgression, and a moral ef­fect of it, Rom. 5.12. By one man sin came into the world, and death by sin. God had laid a restraint upon Mortality in mans Creation, but he took it off again upon mans Apostasy, and left him to be a prey in the hands of it. If mankind had never sinned, he had never died. It is therefore a curse in its first intro­duction into the world, being in it self an evil which mans nature is grievously averse unto, and being brought in as a penalty up­on the creature, and therein a clear disco­very of Gods righteous Displeasure at man: the Apostle therefore makes that an argu­ment undeniably to prove that Sin was in the world from Adam to Moses, because men died all that while, Rom. 5.13, 14.

2. That the whole Curse of the first Co­venant is taken off from a man in his Justi­fication. It is of the very nature of this benefit, that it removeth the Curse from that person to whom it is applied. The nature or essence of the Curse consists in that sen­tence of Condemnation which is past upon the sinner: now in Justification that very sentence is taken off from the man, and there is no more of it lying out against him, Rom. 8.1. There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. The forgiveness of sins [Page 15] is contained in it, and where sin is forgiven, the punishment of it is removed; such there­fore are said to be past from death to life.

3. Hence the believers Death is spoiled of it's sting. It ceaseth to be unto them a cur­sed Death. God can suffer Death it self to continue, and yet take the malediction out of it: he doth so by all the other afflictions which befal his people in this life, in that he cau­seth them all to work together for their good, Rom. 8.28. and he doth so by Death it self too, for what saith Paul, Phil. 1.21. to dy is gain. When the poyson is taken out of it, it becomes an innocent and a serviceable thing, as will be seen afterward: and thus it is to all Gods people, so that Paul could make that challenge in behalf of all the regenerate, 1 Cor. 15.45. O Death where is thy sting? he doth not say where is Death? but where is its sting? and this is the very thing which makes a Child of God not to be afraid to dy.

4. Yet there are many reasons why God sees it convenient that believers should die, and some of them are these following.

1. It is fitting that they should tast something of the fruit of sin. Though this be not in the way of a curse, yet they must have some experiment of it in the way of Providence: The Apostle tells us, Rom. 8.10 The b [...]dy is dead because of sin. One thing designed in this expression is, that because [Page 16] Gods people were once sinners, therefore God will have them to tast of a bodily death. This becomes to them a witness that once they were Transgressors, and serves to keep them humble under all the grace they have received, and the sense of Gods love in Christ, which they enjoy, to think that they still must die. It is true, if there were nothing else of advantage to them by dying but only this, God would not have thus continued it to them: but still, this is a Remembrancer to them as long as they live; and it is one profitable use of it to them, to bring sin to remembrance.

2. Death is sometimes a fatherly correcti­on which God inflicts upon his Children. There must be acknowledged a vast difference between a curse and a chastisement: the matter of the one and the other may be the same, but the design which denominates them, is vastly divers. A curse is ever the fruit of hatred, but a correction hath always love in the bottom of it: there is indeed anger in it; and it consists well enough with the love of God, for him to be angry with his children, and when he is so, he can lay hard blows upon them, and love them still, because they are for their good and not hurt; yea, because he loves them he chastens them, Heb. 12:6. And sometimes he strikes so hard that he kills them. God is angry with Moses for his [Page 17] unadvised carriage at Meribah, and he must die for it: David provokes him in the mat­ter of Vriah, and he must lose his Child on the account: and though such a stroak hath a great deal of smart in it, yet there is no harm comes of it.

3 Gods people must die, that sin may be root­ed out of them. Sin is beyond dispute the worst evil, and the greatest misery; that Gods people are for the present subjected in it, and have the remains of it in them, they wofully experience: and it is no little infelicity that abides them to consider that they will be sinning as long as they continue in this life: this makes them to cry out dolefully of their wretchedness; with him, Rom. 7.24. and it is Gods good pleasure not to destroy this sin all at once, nor totally as long as they live; but they must know it to be an evil and bitter thing by sad experience in themselves. But when they die, then they sin no more; that unhappy work is at an end with them for ever; so then, their death is to them a passage into a sin less estate: and henceforth God will be no more dishonoured nor their souls wounded by their sin.

4. And they must die that their Grace may be perfected, and this is consequent up­on the former: for till sin be totally abolish­ed [...]n the man, his Grace must needs labour under imperfection. All the sanctification of a believer in this life is but in part, and be­cause of this, he practically comes short in [Page 18] every thing that he sets about: and it is no little trouble upon his spirits to find so much of the mixture of sinful defect in e­very thing which he takes in hand: but now Death passeth him over to the fulness of a perfect man in Christ; the Souls that are gone through Death unto Glory, are called The Spirits of Just Men made perfect: Heb. 12.23. there are they arrived unto entire Holiness; and this also they get by Dying.

5. By Death Gods People are delivered from Satan and ungodly men, as long as they are here in this life, they dwell with­in the reach of these enemies, and they give them no little molestation; partly by Per­secution, putting them to all the trouble they can; partly by Temptation, endea­vouring to draw them aside into sin, that so they may wound their Souls; and partly by their ungodly lives, whereby they are to these a continual vexation, as the Sodomites were to Lot, whilst he dwelt among them; so that their life is a meer dwelling in Mesech, and sojourning in the Tents of Kedar: and these Daughters of Heth, makes them weary of their lives: but when they come to die they are then removed from them, and shall be molested with them no more for ever: they are now called away and carried to that [Page 19] place where no such creatures as these shall ever come.

6. Death puts an end to all the sorrows of Gods Children which they encounter withal here. This world is a vale of tears, sin hath made it to be so; and the Saints of God have a very large share in the troubles of this life; the few days which are allowed to them to live in, are full of trouble: and very often do they meet wi [...] a great deal more of this uncomfort [...]e entertainment than others do: tiresome days and weary nights are appointed for them: the curing of the wantonness of their flesh, and the trial of their Graces do call for this, and the Wis­dom of God sees it meet that they should be thus exerc [...]sed; but though it be for their benefit, it is yet troublesome, and will be an happiness to be rid of it, when we are fit for such a delivery: and this shall be when they dy; now shall all their tears be wiped away, and their cheeks shall be dried: their bodies will now rest in their graves, when sickness and pain shall hurt them no more: and their Souls are conducted into that place, where trouble is a perfect stranger, where grief and molestation were never known.

5. Death also finisheth all their labour. The work of a Christian is a great work▪ and hard too; the remains of strong and active corruption in them, together with the weak­ness [Page 20] of every Grace they have, and the op­position which they encounter both from without and within, makes it to be so: and though it be the delight of the new man to be engaged in Holines [...], yet the employment it self is work, and wrestling and fighting. Now, as God hath appointed this life to be unto his people a time of labour; so the o­ther life is for rest, and it is Death which wafteth them over into it, Rev. 14.13. They rest from their labour.

6. It removes them to the place of their compleat Happiness. Sin hath spoiled this lower world from being a place for the en­joyment of perfect felicity, it is now in hea­ven alone that it is capable of being posses­sed. That is the Kingdom of G [...]ory, there are the fulness of joys and pleasures for evermore, that is the place where o [...]r portion is laid up and reserved for us, and we must go thi­ther in order to our inheriting of it: thi­ther is our Bridegroom gone, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose embraces our felicity doth consist, and thither must we go to meet and enjoy h [...]m: there is our everlasting employ­ment and fruition; there is all our company either gone or going, for that is the place of the General Assembly; we are strangers here, there is our home, so that we must ei­ther die or be translated, there being no other way to come at our Happiness; this latter [Page 21] God sees not meet to indulge us withal, and therefore it must needs be by the former.

PROPOSITION III. The Death of the Godly is but a sort of sleep.

The Spirit of God takes delight in ex­pressing it by this Metaphor in Scripture; hence also their grave is resembled unto a Bed, and their abiding in it unto Rest, Isa. [Page 25] 57.2. and there are many respects in which the resemblance s [...]tably expresseth the thing; only we must here cautiously observe, that it refers only to the bodies of the Saints; for their Souls sleep not, but do immediately pass over to actual perfect blessedness in the Kingdom of Glory. It is the body properly that dies, it is that therefore which sleeps. The Heathen Poets were wont to call sleep the Image of Death, and the Brother of death, because of the similitude between them, but more especially doth the resemblance hold in the Death of Godly ones. For,

1. Sleep is a binding up of the senses, and thereby it takes off the apprehension of pain and trouble. A man that is asleep doth not feel his sorrow. If it be Bodily pain, or if it be any grief oppressing the spirit, by fall­ing asleep he loseth the present sense of it: as long as it keeps him waiting he is molest­ed with it, but now it is to him as if it were not; and Death puts a real end to all the molestations and sorrows of the people of God. In this life they are ful of them, and they accompany them to their dissolution▪ but at the Grave they leave them, and they know them no more: All their Tears are now wiped away, sighing and sorrow now cease for ever.

2. Sleep gives a suspention to labour Men that work must be awake, when they [Page 26] go to sleep they leave off labouring; it puts an end to present business; men lay aside their work, when they lay themselves down to rest: and the death of Gods Children gives a cessation unto their work: the time of life is working time for Gods People, and they have a great deal of business to be em­ploying themselves in, whilst they are here, in glorifying of God, and in working out of their own Salvation; this is enough to employ all their time, if they had a great deal more than they have; but when once they come to dy, they have done with this, there is no business to be done in the Grave, Eccl. 9 10. and this is one part of the hap­piness of Believers in their Death, That they rest from their Labours, Rev. 14:13.

3. Sleep is a very comfortable and desira­ble thing to them that are weary. It gives them rest; when a man hath been to [...]ling and turmo [...]ling all the day long, and tired himself out at his business, it is a desirable and pleasant thing for him to lay himself down to sleep, so saith the Wise man, Eccl. 5.12▪ The sleep of a labouring man is swee [...]; and the death of godly men must needs be comfortable to them, when they have born the heat of the day, and gone through many wearis [...]me troubles of life in a weary world; and every gracious soul finds it to be so, who hath been ready to faint under his burden: [Page 17] It is an Encomium which is put upon the Grave, Job 3.17. there the weary are at rest; and of righteous men it is said, that now they rest in their beds, Isa. 57.2.

4. The night is the most proper time to sleep in. Then it is that all things are wont to be at quiet; and there is no work to be done, when the darkness invites men to rest; we therefore read, 1 Thes. 5.7. they that sleep, sleep in the night. The day is accom­modated for labour, and the night for re­pose, and the time of death is compared to a night; the Grave in which the Dead are laid, is called a land of Darkness: and also the troublesome condition of men in this life is compared to a night. There is a great deal of darkness upon the present con­dition of Gods People whilst they are in this world; and the more troubled the affairs of this life are to them, by reason of mani­fold afflictions which they encounter [...] ▪ the more desirable and pleasing it must needs be unto them, to turn aside into the Grave, as into a bed of rest, where they may be got­ten out of it, and be quiet.

5. Sleep is in order to waking again, and that refreshed; men that lay themselves down to take a sleep, do propose to them­selves to awake and to rise again, and no [...] only so, but also to have their spirits resto­red, and their strength renewed, and them­selves [Page 28] to be rendred more lively and vigo­rous by the benefit they have gotten by it: and thus it shall be in respect of the children of God that die: their death is therefore but a longer sleep, and when the time of it is over, they shall assuredly awaken again, and that to their compleat satisfaction: this the Psalmist, in contemplation of his disso­lution, comforts himself withal, Psal. 17.1▪ I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness; and this is the Prophets encourage­ment, Isa. 26.19. Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise.

PROPOSITION IV. When Godly ones dy, it is lawful and a duty for their Friends to Mourn over them.

Sorrow for the Death of Pious relations, [Page 33] is, so far from being a sin, that the Omissi­on of it would be so. Our Apostle doth not here tell them, that he would not have them to sorrow at all: but he only regu­lates this Mourning; we have therefore in the Scripture the examples of the most eminent and holy men recorded for this without any the least reflection made upon them for it; yea Jesus Christ himself wept at the grave of Lazarus: we shall farther­more find, that it is one Judgement, which God hath in his word threatned to befal some, that they shall die unlamented. We may take this brief account of the ground or reason of this conclusion.

1. Sorrow or Mourning is nothing else but the [...]ting of the Affection of Grief. To grieve, to sorrow, and to mourn do all intimate one and the same thing. Grief is the inward principle, and sorrow is the expression or exertion of this princi­ple, by the influence of it upon the spirits, oppres­sing and dejecting of them, and mourning out­wardly, which discovers it by sighing, & weeping, & bitter complaints, that persons make, or whatso­ever other outward symbols of it men are wont to signalize it by, as by solitariness, & walking soft­ly, putting on Sack Cloth, lying in the Dust, which kinds of practices we find recorded in Scripture.

2 Grief is an affection which is stirred by the apprehension of a present evil, that op­presseth [Page 34] one, and cannot be remedied. Grief derives principally from Hatred, which is an aversation from evil, and will always some way or other discover its dislike of it; which various ways of expressing it self, according to the different Postures of it, give denomina­tion to the several Derivarive Affections. Now there are three respects which the evil bears, that give occasion for the stirring of Grief: it is a present evil, for if it be future, it moves fear; It is something that is upon one that makes impression upon this affecti­on And it is an oppressing evil: a mans spi­rit will sustain a great deal of infirmity, but when it overbears, then it makes it begin to [...]: and it is an evil that connot be reme­d [...]ed: as long as the man hath any hopes that he may bear it down and repel it, An­ger takes place, and fortifies against it: but when there is no such expectation, then it sets grief on work: the Spirit is now strait­ned and burdened by it.

3. The Death of Friends and Relations gi [...]es a proper occasion for the excitation of Gr [...]ef in us. It hath all of that in it which is proper to the object of such an Affection. It is an Evil; it is one of those things which are greatly averse to our natural inclinations; it deprives us of those good things in which a great deal of our love was laid up: it is a [...]reavement, so Jacob accounted it, Gen. 43 [Page 35] 14. It is a pres [...]nt evil: it is that which makes an actual separation between us, and our chiefest comforts, and it is an oppressing evil; the most of our delight which we place in any Creat [...]d Objects, is wont to be carried forth unto these; it therefore rends our very Cauls, and streins our heart-strings. Yea, and it is an [...]rremediable evil; they are now gone from us, and they must never come to us again; Death makes a total and utter separation; there is no returning again to have any converse among the Living, when we are once gone from hence; all hopes of any farther communion in this world is now wholly cut off, Job 14.7. with 10. there is hope of a Tree, &c. but man dies and wasts away; yea man gives up the Ghost, and where is he?

4. Hence mourning upon such an occasion is but a rational improvement of a natural aff [...]ction. All the Affections were put into men by God when he Created them, and so they belong to the very nature of Humani­ty; now there was an use and serviceableness that these were put into man for; and that was to help him to carry himself suitably to all the occasions of his life. Sin indeed hath put these much out of order, and made them very unruly: but still there is a rati­onal use to be made of them, which is in it self lawful for men, yea and a moral duty; [Page 36] and by such an application or improvement, the Affection doth attain the moral end which it was placed in the man for: the thing it self therefore is warrantable; tho' the corrupt heart of sinful man, alwayes spoils his lawful actions, and they, being un­sanct [...]fied, are not pleasing to God, nor can be: yet the things themselves are justifiable: and hither belongs this of mourning over our dead Friends.

5. The Death of godly Friends hath in it the greatest occasion of all for our grief. Besides the ty [...] of nature, which hath an e­qual respect here as elsewhere, we may ob­serve a farther call to it under this conside­ration that they were godly, for;

1. The loss it self is upon this account the greater: and that both personally; we must needs suffer the more by it, by how much the more profitable they were unto u [...]; and soul advantage is the greatest of all: [...] [...]ore of benefit that we enjoyed by having their presence and company with us, so much the more must we lose in our [...]sing of them: and upon a publick account also, in which we are jointly concerned with others: the Death of the Godly is an uni­versal loss; all that they lived among are suffere [...] by it; [...]ea though it be of a private Christian, for he was a publick good; and this cannot but afford us the greater [Page 37] reason and matter for sorrow: There is al­ways some of the glory of a people goes away when a godly man dies.

2. The more of Gods anger oftentimes discovers it self in such a loss. God takes away his own Children from us, because he is angry at us: we lose our Friends b [...]cause we had provoked God against us, and be herein testifies unto us that he is displeased at us: and there are no Deaths that carry so much testimony of the Divine Displea­sure in them, as those of the righteous: for usually his taking of them out of the way, is that he may thereby make way for more Calamities to break in upon us; Isa. 57.1. The righteous is taken away from the evil to come.

3. Not to lay the Death of such to heart is in it self a provocation given to God. When godly men go off the stage, and there is little or no notice taken of it; it is scarce any matter of grief or trouble to others, they pass it over and are hardly concerned at it, God makes a critical remark upon it, and puts it down as an evil Omen, hence that complaint which he makes about it, Isa. 57.1. The righteous perisheth, and no man lays it to heart.

PROPOSITION V. Christians in their mourning ought not to imitate the rest of the World.

Although they may irreprehensibly sor­row at the death of their Friends, yet not as others do: These Thessalonians to whom the Apostle directed his Epistle, lived a­mong a company of Heathen, who had not the Knowledge of God nor Christ, and had many Heathenish and Idolatrous Customs a­mong [Page 41] them, and particularly in their mour­ning over their dead: he here gives the people of God warning against imitating of them, or obliging themselves to all their vain and superstitious customs upon this ac­count; and that we may take up a right notion of the caution here given, let us ob­serve a few things

1. Negatively, take these two observati­ons;

1. That it doth not follow from hence, that because the Heathen mourn for their Dead, therefore Christians are bound not to mourn at all. It is not the thing it self, but the manner of it that is here cautioned against: none but Stoicks ever prohibited this, and that upon a false Hypothesis: it hath been already taken notice of, that the Law of nature and of Reli­gion concurr in it; and there are some things which meer Gentiles do, that are morally good, and commendable, and performed according to the light of nature, and dictates of right reason.

2. Nor doth this caution forbid us to use all outward expressions of our sorrow in our mourning. Such as weeping; when our Saviour said to the woman at the bier of her dead Son, weep not; it was not a reproof of her action, but a preparatory to her comfort, in the restoring of him to life again: and the putting of themselves into a mourning garb; although there be a great [Page 42] deal of vanity and excess used by many [...] this regard; yet the thing in it self is no [...] forbidden, and Gods People in former time [...] were wont to use such expressions of grie [...] as these; such as covering of the lips, and putting on Sackcloth, &c and if the inward affection be a thing lawful, the sober discovery [...] it cannot be denied, if it be not in it self a thing unworthy of a Christian, and re­proachful to his Profession; but

2. Positively, three things may be obser­ved.

1. That the Heathen are not to be imi­tated in their excessive Mourning. The A­postles drift in this place is, to perswade them to moderation in their sorrowing; and so not to follow the courses which such used as did exceed all bounds therein Gods People are too prone to be overwhelmed with immoderate Grief on such occasions as these befalling them in the Providence of God. Rachel weeps for her Children, and will not be comforted, because they are not; the Gentiles were accustomed to do too much, but those that profess Christ should set bounds to themselves, and ende [...]vour not to go be [...]ond them: the reason of this dif­ference will afterward follow; but here this Rule is to be attended, viz Gods Children should beware of indulging themselves in their sorrow. They have a great deal more need [Page 43] to lay Restraint upon themselves, the most are in greater danger of doing too much than too little▪ we find that the Egyptians mourned for Jacob, seve [...]ty days, Gen. 50 3. whereas Joseph mourned but seven days, ver. 10 al [...]hough he was his Father, and had been so tender of him, and this was not for want [...] of filial affection or b [...]cause they loved him bet [...]er than he did, but because he had more grace than they, which help­ed to rectifie the exercise of naturul grief.

2. The [...]e are many kites and Customs are [...]sed by them, which ought not to be imitated by the people of God, as being Heathenish and no way becoming of Christianity. I shall not here take into all the fo [...]lish customs which the Gentiles addicted themselves unto, but only point at some of them, which the Scripture takes notice of, and rest fieth against, and gives war­ning to them that fear God that they beware of them; and those were such as were expressions of g [...]eat immoderacy in mourning, & carried also [...] decency in them▪ we fi [...]d such a prohibiti­on Lev 19 28. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your fl [...]sh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you; in Deut. 14, 1. Ye are the Chil­dren of the Lord your God, ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your e [...]es for the Dead. The argument he u­seth is from their relation and neerness▪ unto God; the things forbidden, are, cutting the flesh, making prints upon themselves, tnd bald­ness [Page 44] upon their heads: these were customs which the Heathen had taken up, and were in the p [...]actice of, and all to testify the exuberancy of their sorrow; and in likelyhood there were some Ri [...]es belo [...]ging to their superstitious worship, w [...]ich had been taught them by the Devil, and were every way unseemly to be taken up by the people of God. Our Saviour also shewed his dislike of the use of Minst [...]ls at the dea [...]h of Friends, when he came where they were made use of, Mat. [...].23. &c. these were a company of mourners, who with sad and doleful ditties stirred up and enkindred [...] sorrow of those that were related to [...] deceased party, and blow it up to great ex [...]cess: The custom also of having mour [...]ing wom [...]n belongs to the same original; nor are we to look upon it as approved by the sp [...]rit of God, because we read, Jer. 9.17. Call f [...]r the mourning women, that they may come; for it is there used Rhetorically to signifie the desperate miseries which were co­ming upon them, which would call for the bitterest lamentation. These women were, by their bruitish howlings; and formidable e [...]ula [...]ions, accustomed to represent sor­row Tragically, and raise the affection in the mourners; which ought rather to have means used with it, whereby it may be rectified and moderated; now of all these, and such like things, it is to be said, that [Page 45] the Customs of the Heathen are vain.

3. In a word, nothing is to be done here that doth not bee me [...] the profession of the Gospel. Because the Heathen are not ac­quainted with th [...]s, it is no wonder if they do not comport with it in their Solemnities, but follow the depraved inclinations of their ungoverned Affections Though nature is not altogether to be restreined, yet it must always be regulated by Grace, and by the rules of Religion, which teach us better, and afford us help in al [...] the cases wh [...]ch we can any way be concerned in. There is [...]ason enough why we should not give our selves this unlimited allowance, in this consideration, that we have not so learned Christ ▪ but a more special reason for it will follow to be considered in the next Proposition: and in general, let us remem­ber, that it is the duty of all Christians, to let the world see and know in all things that they are not Heathen.

PROPOSITION VI. GODS People have an Hope concerning theirs that are asleep, with which they ought to alleviate their sorrow in Mourning over them.

There are some who take this Phrase in our text, [who have no Hope,] to be a Paraphrasis to express the Heathen by, of whom that is one Title, Eph. 2.12. without Hope; as if Heathen and Hope-less Men were equivalent terms: Certain it is that [Page 50] the Apostle useth this expression as a reason why the people of GOD should [...] their Grief, upon all such occasions more than the Heathen do, Because th [...]se have [...] good Hope, whereas those have none at all. In the making out of this Proposi­tion; there are two enquiries may be made & resolved, viz.

1. What influence Hope hath upon our sorrow for the moderating of it.

2. What Ground of Hope GODS people have concerning their Dead, more than o­thers,

1. What influence Hope hath upon sorrow for the moderating of it.

A. It hath already been observed that sor­row is an affection which sinks the Spirits under the pressure of a present evil that is felt: and hereupon the greater the evil [...] the more sinking it must needs be. The Spirits of men have some portion of strength in them, so that they are able to bear a con­siderable burden, and to stand upright under it without sinking; but sometimes they meet with a burdrn which is too heavy, and then they stoop, & are overwhelmed. Now though aff [...]ctions themselves, are not alike heavy, yet there is nothing that puts a grea­ter weight into any trouble that befals [...] than to look upon it as a Suffering that is ir­reparable; for this adds despair unto sor­row [Page 51] & that is a breaking b [...]llow indeed; and the more our closing affections are ingaged and united to a thing the more terrible a thought it is, to consider that we have not only lost it, but that we can never enjoy it any more and that the thing it self is also lost irreme­diably. That therefore which will ease us in this circumstance, will grea [...]ly abate from our present distress▪ and make it to be no­thing near so molestful to us; and this is done by Hope.

Now this is the nature of Hope, that it is an affection in the exercise whereof we en­tertain our minds with the grounded expe­ctation of some future good. The object of hope is good; it is one of those affections which carries us after our object, and enables us to embrace it: it is derived from love; and the good which it doth embrace is some­thing future; it hath it not in hand or pre­sent possession, the man need not hope for that which he hath; but he sees it at a di­stance; but yet Hope carries the Soul to the thing, as far off as it is, enableth him to entertain it; and for this reason the anci­ent Patriarchs are said to see the promise afar off, and yet to embrace it, Hebr. 11.13. and in this respect it makes absent things to be present. The hand wherewith this affection lays hold upon its object, is expectation; it looks for it, the man presumes and promiseth [Page 52] himself, that although at present he [...] without it, yet he shall in due season enjoy it; that it will undoubtedly come to him, if he can but have patience to tarry for it, until the proper season: he therefore sees it not only absent but future too; that it is coming, and will be present before it be long: and this expectation is not a meer fansy, but is built upon reason; the strength therefore of this hand is the ground upon which the expectation is built, according to the measure of stability there is in that, is this Hope either stronger or weaker.

Now these grounds of expectation are fetched from three Topicks, in which also there is a gradation, or so many degrees of settlement.

There is Possibility: this is the lowest, and yet it hath its support; for Hope is willing to live, though it have the meanest and thinnest maintainance to live upon; if it can but have a few crumbs, it will not starve: it will keep it self up upon no more than a who knows? Jon. 3.9. if it doth not see the matter to be clogged with an utter impossib [...]lity, it will not give up: Though the man ha [...]h a great deal of fear upon him, and a great many improbabilities are in his view, making him to question, that he is willing to hope too Then there is Probability, and this hath a great deal more [Page 53] of life and nourishment in it; Hope can quarter it self pretty comfortably upon this, though there is also a gradation in this, and the more likelihoods there are of the things obtaining; the better Table Hope is able to keep: and with these discoveries it is able to suppress those fears which may make any motion in him by reflecting upon the pos­sibility that the thing may miscarry; especial­ly if things be not near an equipoise, but e­very thing bids fair for a good Issue likely to [...]nsue.

Finally there is Certainty; and this is the top of all; when the thing is so secure, that there is no possibility of its failing, the futuriti­on of it is built upon such grounds as cannot mis­carry, or in the least be prevented; this furnisheth Hope with such a rich Table, that it is able to feast it every day, and make merry in spite of all that can interpose to disturb it; compare, 2 Cor. 4.16. where the Apostle tells us how they bare up chearfully under afflictions, in hope of better things; with chap. 5.1. where he gives an account of the strength of this, for we know, &c.

And now we may easily discover what in­fluence this must have upon sorrow to at­temper it, and make it moderate, viz. by giving us a prospect of good with relation to that very evil which hath put us to trou­ble: and there are these effects which are [Page 54] the natural result of it, all of which are very serviceable unto this purpose.

1. It makes the affliction look less then it did before: it hath not so much in it now as appeared to us at the first aspect: for by this hope entertained, we begin to discern that it is not so great an evil as we had reckoned it to be: the man had over­rated it, whilst he was looking upon it thro' the spectacles of despair; but Hope puts a sweeter colour and countenance upon it; it makes him to resolve that it is nothing near so bad [...]s he had been perswaded by his misgiving thoughts: it takes off many of those evil circumstances which he thought it to be attended withal; and this greatly heightens it, and makes it be far more por­table; thus the Psalmist eased himself when he found the burden ready to sink him with its weight, Psal. 43. ult. Why art thou cast down O my soul, hope thou in God, &c.

2. It moderates the affection of fear which before did exceed. Fear in excess affords con­tinual nourishment unto sorrow; if this passion be but moderated, the other will be far better dealt with: moderate fear is an help to men, be­cause it puts caution into them, and employs them in a diligent using of means to redress their troubles; but if it grows beyond the bounds of moderation, it then drives men from endeavour [...], [Page 55] and betrays them into the hands of despair, which is the bitterest ingredient of Sorrow: now Hope is a preventive to this; because, how sore soever the present distress be, it com­mands the man to expect a good issue of it, and to resolve with him, Psal. 56.3. what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

3. It diverts the mind with better thoughts, sorrow takes a great deal of pleasure in fee­ding it self with poring upon black and bit­ter speculations; it findeth a kind of a sul­len contentment in representing every thing to it self with Sable Colours, and thereupon to sink it self yet lower with its own thought whereas Hope interposeth more bright and lightsome things for the mind to be looking upon, and by such an entertainment as this is, gives unto it a very happy diversion; the heart is hereby opened, and hath liberty gi­ven it to fetch breath and recover spirits & life again.

4. It puts men upon the exereise of Pa­tience. Impatience under sorrow, makes it to be a great deal more burdensom than o­therwise it would be: now the genuine fruit of Hope is patience: when expectation is raised in a man, it puts him upon waiting, and makes him quiet in waiting; and this is proportionable to the degrees that hope hath arrived to; so that when the good ex­pected is certain to come without fail, and [Page 56] there is a clear prospect that when it doth come, it will make a full compensation for all the trouble which hath been susteined, toge­ther with the removal of it from him; a com­fortable perswasion that it shall be so, makes him to be earnestly looking out for it, and to satisfy himself for the present with the ex­pectation of it. This may suffice for the consideration of Hope in general; it follows to enquire.

2: What ground of Hope the people of God have, concerning their Dead, more then other men have.

A. The Apostle here intimates concerning others, that they have none at all: not as if there were none but Gods children that make any pretence to an hope concerning such as these. If we speak of the Hea­then Nations, to which our Text hath a more immediate respect, they enterteined divers sentiments concerning the state of the dead, and made answerable improvement of these notions. The Epicurean Sect in­deed thought man to be utterly mortal; their tenent was Cum sumus, non est mors; cum mors est, non sumus. And hereupon they pleased themselves with this, that death puts an end to all miseries: But the Platonists held the Immortality of the soul, and the communion of souls in a future state, and would take a great deal of satisfaction in [Page 57] the forethoughts of that happy day when they should come to enjoy one another again in a better condition. The Peripateticks also verged this way, though not without some hesitancy. But as to the Resurrection of the Body, it agreed not with their principles, and seemed an impossibility to their way of reasoning, and therefore they exploded it with all manner of scoffs and scorns: If we speak of the visible profession of Christiani­ty, and such as have been acquainted with the Word of God, these do for the genera­lity acknowledge the same Truths upon which the Hope of Gods Children is built▪ and do also support themselves with such [...]ope from the consideration thereof, as af­fords them a great deal of present quiet▪ But the intendment of the expression is, that there are none else but the people of God who have a good ground for their Hope; that all others, how confident soever they may be, do build without a foundation.

Now if we would take a right scantling of this matter, there are three things which must be considered in conjunction?

1. The persons hoping; and they are such [...]s are not barely Christian by profession, but [...]e also true believers in State. For tho [...] this hope is offered to all persons where the Gospel comes, yet there are none that have really embraced it but they, and though [Page 58] the goodness of the person hoping, doth not contribute any thing to the good estate of the person for whom this hope is con­ceived, (for every one must be saved by his own faith, and not that of another, which is of Gods free-giving, and not o [...] our meriting,) yet there is an hope which godly men may entertain with respect un­to their dead, which others cannot do upon the same reason: yea and there are argu­ments of comfort to be drawn from their hope, by such as these, which others can­not derive unto themselves without false­hood; as will be made to appear in the sequel of this discourse.

2. The persons hoped for: they are such [...] sleep: i. e. such as we have any grounded hope concerning, that they died in Christ; and this is not the lot of all men; nor yet of all such as live under the Dispensation of Gospel Ordi­nances, and have been externally related to the Covenant: and it is a thing very evident that the hope here intended hath all its strength from Christ; and therefore the thing hoped must de­rive from an interest in him, and by consequence it must hold proportion with the reason which we had to conclude that they had such an interest, for, to be without Christ, and to be without hope, do run parallel, Eph. 2.12.

3. The things upon which our Hope feeds it self concerning them, and from which it sup­plies [Page 59] us with our consolation: and they must be such things as are in themselves hopeable, and upon a presumption that they shall come to pass, do contain matter of good consolation in them. Now that which must comfort us in our mourning for those that are dead, must give us particular relief against those very things which are the grounds of our Sorrow: and the proper reason of this sorrow is, a supposed loss which there is sustained by their death: and this must be either with respect to our selves, or unto them: That which is with respect unto our selves is, that we have lost them, and that which refers unto them is that they are lost: here­upon the evil which we apprehended to be suffered by this loss, is that by which we take the measure of our sorrows: all the hope then which we can entertain about it, either that the thing is not so as we think, or that it is not so bad as we did suspect it to be, will give us mitigation here: and that is it which we are to make enquiry af­ter. Let us then for the present take it for granted upon supposition, that we that are Mourners are true believers; and they for whom we are in mourning, are such as are dead in Christ: and in this case, the Word of God is fully stored with abundant provi­sion to establish our Hope, against those very things which Christians are wont to make the greatest arguments of their grief.

[Page 60]Here then observe,

1. This Hope doth not take away all occasion of mourning wholly from us; because there is un­doubtedly a present grievous loss sustained by us [...] we a [...] [...]sers by the Death of all such on a tem­poral respect▪ for we are bereaved of their desi­rable and delectable company; we can no farther enjoy them, and solace ourselves with them in this life; we have no hopes ever to see them any more among the living; all the benefit which [...] had by their sweet company, pleasant entercourses or whatsoever was dear to us in their presence with it, is now utterly gone, and wee must see their faces and hear their voices no more; yea and many times there is a great deal of the sense of the anger of God imprinted upon our minds, up­on the taking of such away from us; and a sad and sorrowful remembrance is left behind of the fearful provocation that we had given to God to bereave u [...], and that carries a sad and smar­ting sting in it, which makes deep wounds in our consciences, and ingeminates our grief. And they are lost also as to themselves in many respects They are [...]o [...]t in respect of the present life, which is in it self a very desireable blessing, but now they are cut off from it, and it may be in the very bud, or in the blossom of their age, before they have had the opportunities to do much of their work; and their bodies are lost as to any capacity of being serviceable to their souls in their natu­ral employments and rational services, being now [Page 61] laid by in a rotting grave, deprived of all life and motion, they are therefore lost as to any far­ther oportunity of glorifying God among the living: might they have been spa [...]ed and suffered to have lived a litle longer, they might have been precious instruments of the Honour of God, been capable of doing much good in their generation, and how much would this also have also tended to their everlasting benefit, but now they are lost as to all this, the deal praise thee not, &c. Psal. 115.17. and these things do carry evil, and matter of mourning in them but.

2. There is something to compensate this loss which our Hope may safely stay it self upon; and that both in consideration of our selves and of them too; neither is our nor their case desperate or irreparable: it may be made up, the loss repaired in a good measure for the present, and to be sure in measure full and running over for the fu­ture, and what more is there to be desired to make our hope full? here then;

1. For the present there is good Hope, and that

1. In respect of our selves in waiting for the accomplishment of that Promise, Rom. 8.28. all things shall work together for good to them that love God. The Apostle is there speaking of afflictions, and the loss of friends and relations is none of the least of these. God is able to repair us to the full and run­ning [Page 62] over, and that both by his Grace and his comfort, he can sanctifie such a loss to us for our very great gain: there is many a Child of God that finds honey in this Lion▪ they are by such a Providence weaned a great deal more from Creatures, and drawn nearer unto God; they experience how poor things these are to lean upon or make the objects of our delight, and to find that none but God can be a portion suitable and suffici­ent: God also useth this to put them upon serious reflection upon their former ways and courses; and leads them to repentance and reformation of those things that had provoked God thus to deal by them: they learn to love earth the less, and heaven the more by this, and accordingly they are put upon the pursuit of heavenly things with intenseness; and this is an exceeding great benefit; and God is able to reveal more of himself to their souls upon it, and give them spiritual comforts in the room of tem­poral, the light of his countenance in ex­change for the delight which they had in the creature; and God is frequently wont thus to do, which is a very happy and advante­geous exchange to them.

2. With regard to them who are Dead. Though a lifeless body, which they leave upon our hands lying by the Walls, to be commended to the cold and silent Grave, [Page 63] where it must be entertained with Worms and Rottenness, and be turned into putre­faction and dust, are sad entertainments to our Melancholy thoughts; yet God hath provided our hope with a comfortable re­past for the present, when we look off from this sad spectacle, and remember that their immortal soul no sooner took their flight from their dying bodyes, but they imme­diatly fell into the hands of glorious Angels, and were by them royally guarded to the Palace of delight, and are now sweetly en­tertained in the bosome and embraces of the Lord Jesus Christ; perfectly freed from all sin and sorrow, which shall never more molest them; filled with joys and pleasures in that blessed Kingdom: that they went from hence directly into Paradise, and are now, whiles we are in heaviness for them, singing of endless Hallelujahs: that they have but broken their prison, and obtained the greatest and most blessed enlargement: that their better part now lives, and is with Christ which is best of all. And this for the present.

2. For the Future: And here there is a victorious Hope in both the forementioned respects: and there are more especially three Articles of the Christian Religion, which affords life and nourishment to this hope, all of which are urged by our Apostle in the context of [Page 64] this Chapter, for the whetting on of his Exhor­tation upon these he writes to; and they are of equal use to the People of God, in all the Ages of the World.

1. The Happy Resurrection which all those that sleep in Christ shall partake in. It is true, all the Dead, both good and bad shall rise again; but ungodly men have no hope in the Resurrection: nor yet their friends for them on this account; because their rising is only in order to their having the more fearful fall: whereas the Resurrection of the Just is a Doctrine full of all Consolation this therefore is urged, context, verse, 14▪ them that Sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. And it is greatly enlarged upon, in▪ 1. Cor. 15, Where both the thing it self is asserted, and the precious qualities of it are declared. For Gods people to think with full perswasion that these very bodies which we had been so intimate withal, and of whose Communion we are now depri­ved shall not only rise, but so rise as is de­scribe [...], verse, 4 [...].43. Changed so excee­dingly for the better, is a very precious thought: the Psalmist thought this truth believed and pondered by him, was enough to make his flesh to rest in hope, Psal. 16. [...].10. he thought he could dye chearfully: well then may we quiet ourselves in hope, concerning them, by observing and believe­ing [Page 65] what a change for the better shall then be made.

2. Their happy meeting of Christ when he shall come to the last Judgement. That he will so come, the Scriptures of truth have given in a full Testimony unto: that all these shall meet him at his coming, is asser­ted, context. ver. 15. where it is given as another ground of Consolation to the Chil­dren of God▪ and there is a great deal of reason for it, because they shall then meet him in the quality of his Favourites and Redee­med ones. It is true they shall meet him as their Judge: but this also is their great Pri­viledge, because he will then come to acquit them from all that was here laid to their charge, openly to Justify them, to declare them to be his redeemed, to confess them be­fore his glorious Angels, and to adjudge them to be the heirs, and appoint them to the possession of that Kingdom, and those felicities which he hath purchased and pro­vided for their everlasting entertainment: others indeed shall meet Christ at his Tribu­ [...]al, and there they shall be judged by him, but it is to be condemned, to receive a fear­ful Sentence, adjudging them to eternal mi­series; whereas these being acquitted, shall be made honourable Assessors with Christ in his Judging the world, 1 Cor. 6.2.

3. Their everlasting abode with him in [Page 66] his glorious Kingdom, after the Judgment is over; this encouragement is expressed, Context, verse 17. and so shall we be ever with the Lord; when Jesus Christ shall have finished that great Affair, and that High Court shall be broken up, then shall he re­turn to Heaven again, attended with the pompous Train of Holy Angels, which waited upon him in that Transaction, toge­ther with all his Redeemed Saints, who in Soul and Body shall go with him to the hea­venly Kingdom, and there be filled for ever with his presence, and be made blessed by his Communion through all Eternity; where as all others shall be excluded from his Pre­sence, and suffer everlasting miseries in that Separation. Now these hopes are sufficient to swallow up all sorrows, and to dry up our tears▪ at least to keep them within the bounds of a due moderation, in either re­spect▪ now is the happy time when we shall come together again, and when we are there met, we shall part no more: and then our mutual fruitions shall be entirely per­fect, and without any dregs or mixtures of sorrow or fear; we with them being toge­ther made compleatly blessed in the full enjoyment of all that which we have hoped for: and here lies the strength of a believ­ers hope in this respect: The things them­selves which are to feed and nourish it are [Page 67] full, and there is nothing wanting in them; and they are also certain with respect to all those that are so qualified, as we have been considering; we have the infallible Testimony of the Spirit of God recorded in the Holy Scriptures giving us a full confir­mation of these things.

But there is a great enquiry whieh still remains, and it is about the strength of this hope in reference to the Subject about which it is to be conceived by us: Though the things themselves be indubitable conclusions concerning all such as are so qualified; yet what room is there to exercise this hope in particular, respecting this and that person? and how may our sorrow be mode­rated thereby? for, suppose we our selves are true believers, and consequently heirs of the Promise, yet except we have some encouragement to hope and believe that those who are gone, died in Christ, we must remain hopeless concerning them. I know that there are divers serious Souls, that would desirously have something be offered for their satisfaction in this great case; I shall therefore endeavour to discuss it according to Scripture Light; and to make way for a more full resolution, let these things be premised.

1. That Christian Hope is a Grace which is exercised by the influence of Faith. Faith [Page 68] is the leading Grace of all those that are wrought in Sanctification, and a Child of God lives by it, Hebr. 10.38. the Just shall live by his Faith i. e. it is to influence the hope of a Christians conversation: it is that whereby he depends upon Christ, and by the promise, derives from him all that which e­nableth him to serve God in the improvement of every vertue that is in him: and this is that which principally makes Christianity to differ from meer morality: Hope must have its grounds, and Gods people must have the help of Faith to establish them on these grounds.

2. Hence we infer, that a Believers hope hath a good foundation to build upon, which it is fully assured of. For if it be built upon Faith, it hath the same foundation in the bot­tom with Faith, and that must needs have its Evidence in it, which supposeth assurance: for that cannot be called Evidence or Demonstrati­on, which is no [...] sure; hence we have that Encomium given to Faith, Heb▪ 11.1. it is the Evidence of things not seen; i. e. it gives a full discovery that the things hoped for, though they lie out of our present sight, are no [...] meer suppositions, but realities. If there were not a certain future happy estate of the People of God, if this proposition were not in­fallibly true, both with respect to the thing, and also to the subjects for whom it is provided, [Page 69] Faith could give unto Hope no evidence at all; [...]ut these things are unquestionably true, being confirmed by the Testimony of him who cannot [...]; so that the Doctrines forementioned are not things that may come under dispu [...]e, but are confidently to be belie [...]ed by all that will not de­ny their Religion: and these are they which hope makes use of,

3. That the application of this Hope is in re­spect of something future. For such a thing, we observed, is the proper object of hope, accord­ing to that of the Apostle, Rom. 8.24 Hope that is seen, is not Hope, for what a man sees, why doth he yet hope for? There is something that is expected to come, upon the as­surance of these premises; and that is the eternal felicity of such as are under the shadow of this promise: either they are [...]ot yet happy, or we are not as yet fully assu [...] that they are▪ either the thing is future, or [...] perfect knowledge of it is so; and we are in the mean while encou­raging of our selves by this Hope.

4. This application is not in respect of every one for whom we Hope, of equal evi­dence. Though the general Rule of faith be sufficiently Demonstrable, viz. chat all the Dead are blessed which dy in the Lord: yet the particular inference of hope, hath its different degrees with respect to the persons concerning whom it is execised: and the reason of this difference lieth here, because [Page 70] we have not a like evidence of the being of the thing in those whom we hope for, which is the reason of our Hope; for,

1. In regard to our selves, we may have a sensible assurance of our future good e­state: such as may set us down fully satis­fied, and which shall not deceive us: Paul could say, we know, 2 Cor. 5.1. and we are always confident, ver. 6. I do not say that e­very true believer hath this apprehensively; godly men have many clouds that intercept this light, and there are some that sit in darknes [...]; but he may have it, it is a thing attainable, and he hath the grounds of it in him. That every one that dies in the faith shall rise again in a glorious state, meet Christ coming to Judgment with comfort, and live for ever in his presence, is certain: now they that are united to Christ by a li­ving faith, shall assuredly so dy: and there are those discoveries to be made of the tru [...]h of this faith which are undeceiving, for it hath its properties which belong to it, and are no where else to be found: they are the things which accompany salvation: so that upon the experience of them in him­self, a believer may safel [...] assume, and say, I am united to Christ, by a faith certain, and therefore I shall rise in glory, stand in the Judgment, and eternally possess the incor­ruptible Inheritance.

[Page 71]2. In respect of others the case is far other [...]wise: for though the Hypothesis is certain, viz [...]f they are in Christ, then all the felicity we have heard of is their portion, yet the Assum­ [...]ion is not directly of Faith which always hath the Divine Testimony to confirm it, but of charity, for.

1. No man can infallibly know anoth [...]rs good estate without divine revelation. The differencing notes by which Sincerity and Hypo­crisy are to be distinguished are latent; God only knows them certainly. A man may make a great shew, and carry it with a great deal of strict preciseness, and yet be rotten within. There are a great many that pro­fess and walk orderly for along time, and yet they fall at last into some soul Apostasy; and it is not to be questioned but that there are others that never discover themselves to the world, but go off fairly to our apprehen­sion, who yet dissembled, and deceived o­thers, and it may be themselves too. The day will discover many mistakes and wrong guesses that were here made by the most discerning Christians. It is Gods alone prerogative to judge the heart.

2. There are greater hopes concerning some than others, of some there are such probabilities as give us a great deal of settled satisfaction concerning them▪ their lives are so holy, their [Page 72] Testimonies are so clear, their conversation so shining, that we hope without any doubt con­cerning them, having as much to set us down; as can rationally be expected for our satisfacti­on in their good state, others give only slight and more weak encouragements to our hope, and mix it with many occasions of fear and jea­lousie concerning them: and yet hope hath at least so much to say, that there is some pro­bability, at least a possibility that they may be well, and this gives some relief, though not so much as the other.

5. This Hope is only given us for our pre­sent support in this life. The truth is there will be no occasion for it afterwards: The Children of God are while they live here very anxious and sollicicions about the ever­lasting estate of their friends and relations▪ they know a great deal more then others do, concerning the terrors of the Lord, and the affairs of another world, and their natu­ral affection put them upon much inquisitive­ness about them; the present thoughts which they have of their being under the impression of those doleful miseries that are denounced in the curse, are killing thoughts, and they cannot tell how to support their spirits un­der them, but they are ready to sink, God is therefore pleased to afford them this Hope for their present relief. When a Child of God is made perfect, as he shall then [Page 73] be fully informed and assured about these things, so he shall be compleatly satisfied in them; there shall be no unruly unmortified affections then to be wrested withal, but an entire acquiescence in the Justice and Righ­teousness of God: and as there will be no more room for hope, either for one or for another, because every ones state shall be put beyond it, so there will be no occasion for it: but whilst we are here in this life, there is no doing without it, God hath therefore set it before us, together with the grounds of it, and they that make a right improvement, shall never be ashamed of it: the use of our hope, is not to do them any good, for they are gotten past the advantage of receiving any benefit by us; but it is to do our selves good, and it serves suitably to that end, when it is helpful to put us into a quiet and submissive frame to the hand of God upon us.

6. We are to rest in the revealed will of God for our Hope, and not to pry into his secret will. It is to be granted, that concerning our selves, we may come to know our Election by our vocati­on, and we ought to endeavour to arrive to that assurance; 2 Pet. 1.10. but we can have no such knowledge concerning others. We are apt to say, oh! if we were but sure of their well-being, we could then be quiet and contented; but this is to fight against God▪ it is his pleasure [Page 74] to keep these things secret for the present; and it is good for us that he so doth, we are not fit to be acquainted w [...]th the particular estate of these and those in another life; when we are, we shall know; and that will be when there are no more remainders of flesh and corruption in us. In the Interim, God hath so far reveal­ed his mind unto us in his word, as to give us those grounds of hope, in which we ought to bear up, and comfort, at least sustain our souls: but we must ever remember that of, Deut. 29.29. the secret things belong to God. It is Gods will that we should pry no farther, than into his word, for our direction; and it is our duty to comply with his will, and there can be no profit in doing otherwise.

7. All the Arguments of our Hope, are to be fetched f [...]om the new Covenant. It is in that Covenant that the only foundati­on for fallen mans hope is laid: It is one Epithe [...]e that is put upon that legal estate, or the relation which men have to the first Co­venant, that it is without Hope, Eph. 2.1 [...]. The unhappy fall hath brought the whole race of mankind under the sentence of Con­demnation: man, woman, and child are so many dead persons according to the tenour of that Covenant: the curse of Death is fallen upon them, which hath bound them over to the suffering of all misery. It is in the new Gospel Covenant that life and im­tality [Page 75] are brought to light; and as the only way to Salvation is there made known to us, so the foundation upon which Salvation is to be hoped for, is there alone to be found & it is according thereunto that we have solid encouragement.

From hence therefore I shall endeavour to draw those Rules upon which our hope is to Proceed in the Present case. And here also there are two sorts about whom we are wont to be concerned and very thoughtful, viz. such as dy in their infancy, and such as dye adult, or after they are come to years of understanding: I shall speak of each distinct­ly.

1. Concerning Children that dye in their infancy. I understand all that age wherein they are not grown up to these years of knowledge, wherein they are able to im­prove the word of God, and the ordinances of the Gospel, for the good of their own Souls, in the ordinary course of Gods provi­dence; for some extraordiaary instances are not here to be drawn into a general Rule. There is great reason why we should not mourn for these as that have no Hope; for there is a great deal to be pleaded, and that which is abundantly satisfying, upon their score. And we may take a brief discovery of it in these particulars.

2. Negatively take these three Conclu­s [...]ons.

[Page 76]1. That Saving Grace is not absolutely tied to the visible covenant. It doth not ascertain Conversion and Salvation to every one that is under it. The Gospel Cove­nant requires such conditions to be found in us, as God alone is able to work by Al­mighty power, and he is Soveraign in his dispensations; he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, Rom. 9.8. His Grace is free. So that being in the Covenant and under the terms of it, doth it not make an infallible truth that such an one must & shall be Saved. We know that God hath a Glory for his revenging Justice, as well for his Grace, to be gained in his visible Church; there are therefore threatnings as well as promises put into the Covenant; and the promises themselves are Conditional, and will argue no farther than from the Condition being wrought in the person, which God is not under any possitive engagement to this or that person to do it for him:

2. The innocency of Children cannot save them. Nor is it any reason or ground of Salvation: It is not that which makes any impression, or becomes any motive on the heart of God to save them rather than o­thers. It is then a very poor Hope that is built upon this Consideration. This, as it raiseth prejudices in some at the providence [Page 77] of God to think that such poor innocents must dy, and they are ready to murmure on this account; so it is the strength [...]f the Hope of a great many other; they comfort themselves after such a manner, poor Babes▪ they never did any harm in this world, In­nocent Lambs that never sinned in their lives, surely then God cannot but pity and have mercy upon them, and is this all? alas! there is no reason nor plea at all in this. B [...]bilons Children were every whit as innocent as ours are, and yet see what is declared concerning them, Psal. 137▪ ul [...]. By innocence we can intend truly no more but only this, viz. that they never actually did any harm, that they have not committed any actual sin since they were born; and this is a very poor sort of innocence: why did they not so do? it was because they could not; they were not arrived to a capacity of doing either good or hurt: as not hav­ing the liberty or power of using their ra­tional faculties for the performing of Hu­mane acts: but in the mean while let us re­member, they were only innocent vipers, that were as full of the poyson and malignity of sin as ever they could hold, and would have vented this venome of theirs as soon as they had gotten a little strength and understand­ing; we should soon have seen what brood they were of; and therefore in themselves [Page 78] deserved to be killed in the nest; we are told what all Adams posterity are, in their birth, Psal. 58.3. they are estranged from the womb, they go astray as soon as they are bo [...]n, speaking lies; and what an innocency is this?

3. Nor can the piety of the parents merit the application of saving grace to the Chil­dren. God is not obliged or brought in debt unto us, by any thing of ours. We ourselves when we have done all we can, and served God with the greatest integrity, are still saved by grace, Eph. 2.8. And so must our Children too: God hath the liberty to do with his own what he will, we cannot be before hand with him. They greatly err, who think that infants are saved by the Faith of their Parents, as the Condition of their salvation; much less can it be the procuring cause of it: The qualification to which Salvation is ascerteined, or the condition re­quired in the new covenant in order to Sal­vation must be found. Habitually at least, in every one that partakes in the good of it; The Just shall live by his Faith; and as a god­ly Parent can neither Propagate it by Gene­ration, nor produce it by all his most careful endeavours, so neither can he make God a Debtor of it to his Children by any thing that he can do, for when he hath done all he is [Page 79] an unprofitable Servant, hath done but his duty, Luk. 17.10.

2. Positively, take these following conclu­sions;

1. That godly parents have a better hope concerning their Children than those that are Unconverted. Though both are in the Gospel Covenant outwardly, and under the external dispensations of it: and though a gracious man can no more merit for his Children then an ungracious man; nor can [...]e any more work saving grace in them than the other; yet his hopes are far better than the other: and the reason of this is e­vident; because we have observed that the hope of Gods Children is a result of their faith; we are therefore said to be be­gotten to a lively faith, i. e. in Regeneration, The Hope of Godly ones is not a meer Affection, but a sanctified Affection; and therefore it cannot be but there where this sanctification is wrought.

Though God can as well save the Child of an unbeliever, as of the most eminent Saint in the world, yet the unbeliever cannot so well hope for it: and the reason is because this soul satisfying Hope, is a fruit of the spirit, and is wrought in none but such whom he sanctifies. An unregenerate man is under the Covenant threatning, and there­fore all the Hopes that he maintains himself [Page 80] withall in that state, are no better then pre­sumptions; he is ready under a curse, and so cannot challenge an interest in any promise▪ what hath he to do with Gospel Consola­t [...]ons as long as he goes on in his Transgressi­ons.

2. The more fruitful and conscientious Gods people are in their Duties to their Children▪ the stronger hopes they may en­tertein concerning them. There are some Duties which we ow to our Children in their infancy; others are to be attended as they grow up to understanding: the for­mer of these are under our present consi­deration. Now, though all our care and conscience that we exert in these Duties, cannot work the saving change in them; yet▪ as it is certein, that in order of the means, doing of duty is neerer to the blessing then the neglect of it; so a man hath a great deal more of inward tranquility upon his mind, in the faithful discharge of it, than in the omission or sl [...]ghty performance, Psal. 119.165. great peace have all they that keep thy law, and nothing shall offend them. And be­cause there is a connexion between the pro­mise and the precept, the more fruitful we are in our obedience to God, the clearer is our evidence that the promise belongs unto us: Now there are Duties to and for our Infants: God hath put them under our [Page 81] care, and expects this of us: They are to be presented to God in Baptism, that they may have the sign and the seal of his Covenant bestowed upon them: and they are to be continually brought to God in our ardent importunate prayers; and we are to begin early with tyem to instruct them, and drop into them the things of God, and the great things, of Salvation, according as they are capable of imbibing the same. The neglect of these things will not a little obstruct the exercise of our hope: it will be a great damp to our minds, to have such a reflection upon them as this, I did not so much as pray earnestly to God for the Soul of this Child, and now it is gone past all prayers. I do not say, that those of Gods people that have not been so solicitous as they ought, have no hope; God can give us hope too [...] but to be sure every such consideration will cast a damp upon our spirits.

3. The Infants of Professing Parents are in the Gospel Covenant. By professing Parents I understand, such as do openly own the truths of the Gospel, and do walk orderly in subjection to the Government of Christ therein appointed; and that the Children of such as are within the Vineyard, are brought under the terms of the Covenant, and priviledged with the outward be­nefit of it, is a great Scripture Truth, and a ground of abundance of consolation to the souls [Page 82] of serious Parents, then they can look into the Word of God, and there satisfie themselves in this, that God hath so far owned their Children to be his, as to take them under the shadow of his Covenant. This was not only a priviledge conf [...]r [...]ed upon Israel in the days of the Old Testament; but it belongs to the visible Church in the days of the New Testament too: It be­longed not restrictively to Moses's; padagogy, but it was put into Abrahams Covenant, Gen. 17.7, 9. It is therefore revived in the days of the Gospel, Acts 2.3 [...]. the promise is to you and to your Children, 1 Cor. 7.14. your Children are holy; and certainly it cannot but be some relief to a sorrowful Christian, when his Infant dies, to think with himself, this Child of mine wa [...] in Covenant with God; es­pecially if he consider how much there is in this; and therefore,

4. That the direct aim of the New-Cove­nant is life and Salvation. I do not say that all who are any way comprehended under it shall certainly obtain Salvation, the Scripture assures us that the case stands far otherwise: the fig tree which is planted in the vineyard may prove barren, and be a cum [...]er to the ground, & for that reason may be cut down: the Gospel may, and very frequently doth e­ventually, prove to be a savour of death in them that perish, 2. Cor. 2.15.16. Many are at last found unbelievers and so procure [Page 83] Damnation to themselves. But this is cer­tain that God introduced the New-Covenant [...] the deficiency of the Old-One, in point of being able to give life to fallen men, Gal. 3.21, If there had been a law that could have given life, verily Righteousness should have been by the law. It was because man had destroy­ed himself, and there was no remedy provi­ded for him in the first Covenant, that God revealed another in which there was one: and what could the direct aim of this be, but that a number of that unhappy race might be delivered from eternal death, and made par­takers in Salvation? There was enough to destroy all mankind in the former Covenant, the curses of it were amazing: if it had not been for the Salvation which is provided in this it had never been promulgated; life therefore and immortality are said to be brought to light by the Gospel, 2. Tim. 1.20. And this consideration also gives no little [...]ift to the Hope of Godly Parents: it must have some comfort in it, to think that the Cove­nant in which my Babe died, was a Covenant of life and peace. And yet farther.

5. That the Babtism which is appointed for and applied unto infants is not to no pur­pose. It would be too large a digression here to insert what may be said to make it evident that infant Babtiism is a Divine in­stitution, appointed by God to be applied [Page 84] to the Infants of his professing people. That they are included in Gods Covenant, and have the qualifications rendring them capable of this Ordinance, hath been so often and sub­stantially made good against all the attempts that have been used to undermine this Do­ctrine, that I hope duly considerate persons will not call it in question: Now upon the supposition, which I reckon to be sufficiently evident, That these Infants are Baptised by Gods Command, and that this Baptism is a visible seal of the Gospel Covenant unto them, as Circumcision was of the Covenant of Grace under a more legal dispensation of it; certainly then God had some end in this appointment; for we know that he doth nothing, he commands nothing in vain: and this design must have a respect either to the Children, or to the Parents, or to both, mediately; and to the Glory of God ultimate­ly: This very thing must bring some glory or other unto God, either from the one, or the other, or both. In respect of the Chil­dren who are made the Subjects of this Or­dinance; we cannot readily conceive that it should encrease their Condemnation upon the supposition that they dy in their Infan­cy; and the reason is because, as they cannot unders [...]and the nature and design of it, so they are incapable of actually abusing it: and how it can possibly have a moral influ­ence [Page 85] upon them to draw them unto Christ, is beyond our ability to conceive, in as much as they have not any present knowledge of it: and a physical operation, it can have none at all, it being purely Sacramental: and we have reason to think that the Spirit of God worketh faith and holiness in them, at least habitually, immediately. In the Pa [...]ents, it hath a very good end and design, viz. not only to lay them under a strong obligation of Duty, but also potently to en­courage them to be strenuous in the doing of it, upon the good Hope which they do hence entertain, because it hath pleased God to make them his Sealed Ones, and to ap­point that his name should be called upon them; and herein they glorify God, and the Apostle thought it a great encouragement to believing Parents for them to be acquainted that their Children were holy, 1 Cor. 7.14: but still,

6. Infants dying in their Infancy cannot be charged with rejecting of Gods Covenant. It is true, they are by nature Children of wrath as well as others. They have a relation which they bear to the first Adam, and derive both Guilt and Pollution from him, by vertue whereof the Justice of God hath a righteous plea against them; they have a corrupt na­ture cleaving to them in their very concep­tion and birth, and they sadly shew it as [Page 86] soon as they come to a capacity of doing a­ny humane actions. But if we look to the Gospel Covenant, which God hath seen meet in his Soveraign Pleasure to extend unto them, they have for the present done nothing at all against it: they have never despised a Saviour, nor turned their backs upon Sal­vation, they have never said unto Christ, depart from us: they have indeed a nature in them prone enough to do this; they have congenerate principles which adhere to them by vertue of Original Sin, which would lead them unto all this in time, if not graci­ously prevented: but the act they are at present incapable of, and this also affords a good supply of encouragement unto parents, to consider that God hath taken away their Children before they ever d [...]d practically renounce his Covenant which he had taken them under; and hereby hath prevented them of [...] any such consideration to exercise their minds withal.

7. We no where read in the Scripture that the Children of Godly ones dying in their infancy did eternally perish. Tho' we know that Gods Electing Grace is free, and that there is no express word of promise upon this account, God having seen meet to reserve his own Counsels in this affair within his Bo­some; yet there is this farther to encourage our hopes, that we do not find in the Word [Page 87] of God, either such a Doctrine delivered, or such an example recorded, that any one such did miscarry. That David had any particular revelation extraordinary we read not, (and we may well enough, according to the tenour of Faith suppose that he had not) about that Child of his, and yet, tho' it were begotten in Adultery, and he had followed that with Murder, and other grie­vious sins; upon his true repentance, and his fasting and praying in particular for that Child, he is enabled to Comfort himself with this Hope, 2. Sam. 12.23. I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. For it would be a poor argument of comfort we must think him to draw, if we suppose he argued only from a consideration of his own Death; nor could he expect or desire to go to him, but upon the Hope that he was gone to Glory.

8. We are fully assured that there are multitudes of such as these are now in the kingdome: The word of God is very clear and plain for this▪ It was the argument which our Saviour Christ used to encourage their bringing of little children to him, when his Disciples would have prohibited them, math. 19.13.14. of such is the kingdom of Heaven; which text of Scripture assures us both that Jesus Christ hath a special favour for children, and that they are the Subjects [Page 88] of his Grace and Glory; By the word [Such] cannot be meant such in quality, or dispositi­on, as some would go about to put us off, for why did Christ take these little Children into his arms, & Bless them? they whom he Blesseth are Blessed indeed: the meaning therefore plainly is, of such as dy in that age, that are taken away in their infancy: and there is a great deal of reason to draw this inference from it, that there are more of that than of any other Age, in Heaven.

9. And they are not incapable of haveing the Gospel condition wrought in them, it is true, they are not in a capacity of being regenerated by the ordinary means which are appointed for the conversion of adult per­sons; they cannot attend upon the Preach­ing of the word, they cannot be taught by the counsels and instructions of parents, be­cause they are not able to understand any thing in this way; but there are some means which they are capable of having used for them, and because God hath appointed them, we may hope for his Blessing upon them; they may be Baptized, and they may be pray­ed for; and the Spirit of God is able to do all that for them which they want in order to their being made meet for the Inheritance. They have Humane Souls which are subjects capable of being Sanctified, aad purged by his Holy Operation upon them; and tho' [Page 89] he hath tied us to the use of the means ac­cording to our advantage, yet he is not himself tied up, so as not to do it for them: Divines Generally suppose that Jeremiah, and John Baptist, were Sanctified in the womb: I dispute it not, but I am sure this is not too hard for God, & he hath done it, because there are many such Glorified.

10. And there have been some Children that even in their Infancy made a good disco­very of their seriousness, according to the measure of their capacity of understanding the things of God, yea and beyond what could ordinarily be supposed to have been in them: though their understanding hath been small, yet there hath appeared in them the favour of some breathings after Christ, herein hath God been pleased to shew his power; Possibly Jeroboams Son was such an one; in whom There was some good towards the Lord God of Israel. And this also is a great encouragement to Hope; and when all these things are put together, they will certainly af­ford matter of releif.

2. We may now proceed to consider this with respect to adult persons. Or such as dy after they are grown up to years of under­standing; and see what Hope there is which we may entertain ourselves withal concer­ning them, and how far there may be the ex­ercise of it for our support under the sorrow [Page 90] that we feel for the loss of them: and here I shall first give some general Rules, and af­terwards apply them to the particular respects▪ In general then.

1. That the Covenant promise is made to man upon Condition. It hath been already observed: that it is the New-Cove­nant which gives men all their hopes: from thence they do derive; Now that as well as the O [...]d-one, is a conditional Covenant. The Promise, according as it is revealed in the Gospel, is not absolute, it is not there decla­red to be made to these and those men par­ticularly and personally, but it is offered un­to all where the Gospel comes, upon terms which are proposed for their acceptance: and indeed it could not be a Covenant Promise if it did not bear such a tenour: for it is Essen­tial to a Covenant that it always hath in it a mutual stipulation. Gods Decrees are ab­solute but his Covenant, in which he transacts with the Children of men, is exhibited with Articles in it, which are proposed, in which God requires of men that they should thus do and makes a promise of Salvation to them upon their complyance w [...]th him; thus there­fore were the Apostles commanded to Preach the Gospel, Mark. 16.15 16. And thus Paul proposeth it in Rom. 8.13. The Precept therefore and the promise connected together exhibit the Covenant.

[Page 91]2. That except this Condition be wrought in them, they cannot be saved. That with­out it they cannot lay any claim unto salva­tion; and there is neither injury nor false dealing in God, if he with-hold it from them: this is very evident, because the Gos­pel promise which is declared unto men, hath brought him no farther under obligation unto them, than according to the terms of it. If he should deny Salvation unto him that doth believe, he would not be so good as his word, because he hath ingaged it to all such, and made it their encouragment to be­lieve, Joh. 3.16. that whosoever believes in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life: but if he with-hold it from an unbeliever, he is just, because he hath not performed the condition upon which it was tendered to him. But besides this, there is no hope that he ever will save such an one; nay he can­not bestow salvation upon any without the condition wrought in them: no unbeliever can be saved in his unbelief, because God should be equally false to his Creature in sa­ving such an one, as in denying Salvation to the other; in as much as there is a Co­venant threatning which includes this man in it, and hath something to say to him which must be accomplished upon him, and that is, he must be damned, Mark 16.16. there is no room therefore for any indul­gence [Page 92] to such an one, nor will Gods Holi­ness or Truth allow of it.

3. This also must be before they dy. The working of the Gospel condition in us, depends upon the Grace of God, and except he puts it in▪ to us we shall never have it: and he gives to none but here in this life, this is the only ac­cepted time, and day of salvation; there is no business to be done in the grave, and nothing of this nature left to be accomplished in another world: now only is working time, then every one comes to have his reward, and that is to be di­stributed to every one according to the things done in the flesh, 2 Cor. 1.10. Death dis­poseth of men to their everlasting Vnchangeable Estate. It puts an end to the Gospel treaty, and brings every man to, and lodgeth him in that place from whence he shall return no more·

4. The reality of this work is a secret which no other can infallibly discern: The Saving change in a man is somthing inward: the sincerity of it lies in the heart; and that must be much out of our knowledge; It is Gods alone preroga­tive to Search and judge of that. All that l [...]ves within our compass to do about [...], is at most but conjectural, and the best conclusion that we can draw, is no more than that it is strongly p [...]obable that it m [...]y be so: though saving grace hath its marks or characters, yet because they are spiritual, there is none that can certainly know them, but he that gives them, and he [Page 93] that hath received them: But as to what is visible to us. Grace hath its counterfeit; and there are those that can ape it so handsomly, that a discerning Christian, with all his ob­servation cannot see into the imposture: & by reason of this, there is many a false Hypo­crite that passeth with him for a sincere Christian, and many an upright soul, because of his great infirmities is suspected by him, he doubts of him whether he be right or no.

5. Yet there are the fruits of this change which are brought forth by such as live after their Conversion. They can bring forth no­thing before, for where there is no grace, there can be no exercise of it; and if they dy immediately upon it, as it may be pre­sumed that some do, they are deprived of the opportunity to discover it in an holy life, and God will accept of the will, and not deny his own Grace which he hath cre­ated in them by his Almighty power; but if they are spared, and have a season allow­ed to them, they will more or less discover some encouraging symptoms of a work of God wrought in their hearts, by a life and conversation ordered according to the will of God, therein shewing forth the vertues of him that hath called them. They are regene­rated to this end; and the Spirit of God will aid them in it; and so far as we disco­ver any of these things, our hope will receive [Page 94] a lift from thence, to conclude that they have received the Grace of God, and that there­fore the well ordered and Everlasting Covenant is made with them; and the inferences which we shall draw from thence must needs be comfortable.

6. Hence, as these fruits are more or less apparent, so will the strength of our hope con­cerning them be more or less. This being the ground of the Evidence which affords to our hope its support, it can be no stronger than the ground is upon which it is built: and because this doth not shew it self forth in all alike, our hopes concerning them must have different degrees of clearness and comfortableness: concerning some therefore we can have but weak and faint hopes, and those that are mixt with a great deal of fear and suspicion; whereas in respect of o­thers they are strong, prevailing, comforting and satisfying hopes, which enable us to rejoyce in them, and rest with abundance of quiet upon our spirits, that it is now well with them, and that their Change is for the better. The particular application of these things will now follow.

1. There are some who have been Re­ligious from their very Childhood, and held on so until their death. They began early to seek after God, and have led a pious and exemplary life ever since, faithfuly serving of God in a careful and conscientious obser­ving of his commands; they have not on­ly [Page 95] been blameless, but patterns for others imitation: they have made a good Profession, and brought a great deal of Honour to God in their place and generation, their light hath so shined that men have seen their good works and glorified God for them: They have chear­fully both done and suffered for Christ: have been exceeding watchful over themselves, & taken a great deal of h [...]d in the discharging of a [...] relative and personal Duties incumbent on them, in obedience to God: and mean while have solemnly professed to renounce utterly all reliance upon themselves or their own righteousness, depending upon Christ a­lone for the acceptance of the [...]r persons and services: and they have lived very humbly as well as Conscientiously, When such as these are come to dy there is abundant Hope, concerning them, for they have all the disco­veries upon them, by which we are advanta­ged to Judge of mens being truly pious, and in a good estate: these are the visible Cha­racters which the Scripture gives us to look upon as the notes of good and Holy men, yea of such as are eminently so: they do there­fore command this Hope from us, they leave a precious name behind them, their very memory is blessed, and we have a good confidence concerning them; & tho it is not impossible but that men may dissem­ble Holiness so artificially as to impose up­on [Page 96] the credit of the Godly, and the dissimu­lation never be discovered in this life, yet we have no reason to suspect such as these, or to entertein doubts and jealousies in our minds about them, since there is nothing else to be seen by us in them, but what calls for our good opinion of them. Our Saviour Christ [...]rects us to Judge of them by their fruits Math. 7.16. they keep faith and a good conscience to our observation; and such as these are declared to be happy in their Death, Psal. [...]7.37. Take notice of the per­fect man, mark the upright for the end of that man is peace.

2. Others there be who have had a very great visible change wrought upon them. It may be they have spent a great part of their life in vanity and debauchery; they wasted away their youthful dayes in folly, and spent many of their riper years in notorious wick­edness; they lived in a woful neglect of Du­ty, and would not hearken to the Counsels give [...] them whether in private or in publick; they have fallen into gross and scandalous sins, such as Drunkeness Whoredom, Theft, Sabbath-Breaking, Scoffing at Godliness, &c. And they refused to be reformed, they would not bear to be reproved, but would rail, and revile at those that offered to check them in their Carreer's, But God at length met with them in their Career, and stopt them in it, [Page 97] knockt them down, as he did Paul, brought them to his foot, made them to taste the bitterness of their sin, humbly and through­ly to confess and bewail all their former fol­lies, and utterly to renounce them with their whole heart, and to betake themselves to him in Christ for pardon and healing: and hereupon there is a very notable change apparent in them to the observation of all they converse with; they do now as much hate their sins as formerly they delighted in them, and they a [...]re as eagerly set for the ways of God and Holiness, as formerly they slighted and abominated them; and are as zealously engaged to promote the interest of Christ in the world, as they sometimes were to serve the designs of Satan and their own lusts. An eminent instance of such an one was Man [...]sseh; see 2 Chron. 33. beg [...]n. com­pare, verse 15, 16. and though Paul were not a Debauch, yet he had been a virulent enemy of Christ, see what he saith of him­self, 1 Tim. 1.19. and yet afterwards be la­bour [...]d for Christ, more than all the Apostles, 1 Cor. 15.10. and indeed there is no one in the world that affords more matter for hope than such an one; there being so eminent a change brought about in him from one contrary to another; that it must needs be so much the more observable: and although it is not to be denied but that legal co [...]vi­ctions [Page 98] and terrors, may work a great moral change in a mans Conversation, without the product [...]on of a real saving change in his heart; yet it speaks to us as fair for it▪ as any one thing that we can know: the Church glorified God for Paul, when they heard what an alteration was made in him, Gal. 1.24. and such as these will be illust­rious instances of the rich Grace of God in the great day of Accounts: when therefore such persons dy, we may and ought to have strong hopes concerning them.

3. There are some who only lead a sober and civil life among men. They make no great o­pen profession of piety, they are not in their ca­riage and dep [...]rtment of themselves, zealous for the promoting of the interest of Religion, though they discover nothing against it, but shew a fa­vour for it; they live honestly and quietly a­mong men; they are neither drawn into d [...]bau­cheries with lewd men, nor to the strict duties of pie [...]y with Godly men; though they attend upon the commodities of Religion: thus they live, and thus they dy; there is very little can be said for them, and very little against them. Con­cerning such as these let these two things be observed.

1. Here is very little if any ground for a positive and concluding Hope concerning such as these are. And why? because there wants something that is positive for such an [Page 99] Hope to build upon: and such as the ground are, such the Hope must needs be. It is cer­tain that where there is no Saving Grace wrought in men, there is no Foundation of Salvation laid in them; and Grace, where­ever it is, is an active princ [...]ple: and [...] it be not alike active in all men, yet it can no further appear than we make the discovery of the actings of it, or of something that c [...]rries such a resemblance in it, that we [...] able to argue concluding and affirmatively concer­ning any: If we know nothing by them, it follows that we can determine nothing con­cerning them. Restraint from enormous sins, and doing of moral duties to men among whom they live, and maintaining of a form of Godliness & practised duties in the profes, sion of Religion, as, going to hear the word preached, reading the Scriptures and praying in the Family, and externally Sanctifying the Sabbath: though they are in themselves commendable, yet they are such common things among professors, that they speak ve­ry little positively, especially where in con­junction with them there is nothing made of any thing more than a kind of ind [...]ffe­rency.

2. Yet there is a considerable deal of a neg­ative Hope that may be entertained for such as these; in as much as they have had a great deal of Gods restraining Grace on them, and [Page 100] though that may be where there is no Sa­ving Grace, yet many times it is a fruit of such an inward principle: Besides, there is corruptton in the best, and that many times hath not only a great influence into but also much of Prevalency upon the natural temper or constitution which is in men. There are some constitutions in men, which will make a great deal of shew with a little Grace and there are others that can make but a very small appearance of a great deal: and if we give to men these allowances, which Christian Charity requires from one to ano­ther, we may lawfully Hope, that there might be the root of the matter in them, al­though they did not make so great a dis­covery of it as could have been desi­red.

4. Some there be whose conversation is good and commendable, and their profession is very desireable: only they stand off from holding Communion with the Church of Christ at the Lords Table: and under this circumstance they live and dy: and there are too many who so do, and this consideration becomes a stumbling block, and occasion of many heart searchings in their friends when they come to dy in this Condi­tion: and truly it is not without a great deal of reason: for out of doubt it is a duty in­cumbent on all adult persons living under [Page 101] the means of Grace, and making profession of the true Religion, not to rest satisfied without a due preparation for, and actual fellowship in all the ordinances of the Gos­pel: every one that is at years of discre­tion who turns his back upon a Sacra­ment, doth therin offer an open contempt to the Lord Jesus Christ. If he be not sit­ted for it, the sin lies at his own door, if he be and doth not come, how can he answer it? and therefore it must needs bring a cloud upon all his other profession, which will much darken it: and for a person to live and dy under the neglect of a known duty, and that of so great importance as this is, which Christ hath required every one that hath the least love for him, to attend upon in remembrance of him, hath not a little of reflection in it: many therefore, when they come to lie upon a Death-bed, have terrible agonies in their thoughts about it, and make little complaints against them­selves upon the account, promising that if ever God gives them a further opportunity they will reform it: and if persons do live without this Communion contentedly, and carelesly, it speaks as much against them, as all their other Religious Conversation can speak for them. But still there may be that which will give encouragement to our Hope [Page 102] concerning such as do dy in such a condition as this.

1. If their abstinence from this Commu­nion be not from contempt of the Ordi­nance, but a jealousie which they have con­cerning themselves, There are those that have upon them a deep sense that they want the benefit of this Ordinance, and that Jesus Christ hath made it their duty to seek after it; but they are possessed with a great deal of fear, they apprehend in themselves a great deal of unworthiness: and unfitness for such a thing as this; and they are a­fraid that if they should come they should abuse it, and thereby eat and drink their own Damnation: the danger of that afrights them, and they cannot tell how to get over it. Though this be sinful, yet it may be allowed by us to their infirmity, and that which they are striving against: yea it argues positively thus much, viz. that there is something of seriousness in these persons; and if God please to take them away before they can obtain to have their minds cleared and satisfied in this point, he knows how to pardon this infirmity to them.

2. If the Church Communion be clogged with unwarrantable terms. And such are all those that are not of Christs own in in­stituting, what plausible pretence soever they [Page 103] may carry in them. There are some which men cannot comply with, unless they will sin against the precept directly: and there are others which men can see no warrant for their being required of them, nor can they find a willingness in their own minds to do such things as Jesus Christ hath no where made their Duty; and this keeps them off. For the former, their abstinence is their commendation, and that man who can live without the Sacrament, rather than defile his conscience for enjoyment of it, commends his sincerity to the Consciences of others. For the latter, I would say: though I verily be­lieve that the terms of Communion are [...]n Ordinance of Christ, and must have a word of Institution to warrant them, and that accor­ding to the Gospel, Orthodoxy in the profes­sion of the Truths of the Christian Religion, under which is comprized a knowledge of these truths; and this attended with a Conversation that becomes the Gospel of Christ, is that which is the ground of our reputing them believers and receiving them into our fellowship: and whatsoever more is required as a [...]est is supra stat [...]tum; yet I also believe that there are some things, wh [...]ch, though not regularly re­quired, may with [...]ut sin be complied with, and never trouble him that doth so, either li­ving or dying: and it will be no comfort in a dying hour to think, I kept my self off need­lesly: [Page 104] but here also there is hope, where it is not done upon open Contempt.

3. They have given Testimony on their Death-bed of their sincere Repentance of such neglects, and sought to God for his forgiveness of them through Christ, herein they have manifested to us that they have tasted the bitterness of such a sin, and God knows how to pardon them, and we may Hope that he hath remitted it to them, and accepted of them in his rich grace.

5. There are some that dy with a great deal of Comfort, & professed Hope, & possi­bly assurance of their good estate, and joyful expectation of the Glory to be revealed in them. They are both ready and willing to dy, and speak very comfortably concerning their after estate in another world; and this gives abundance of encouragement and comfort to their friends, and they are often ready to solace themselves in it. But the ground of this Hope is warily to be conside­red. It is indeed a very desireable thing in it self, to stand by and hear our dying Friend testifying of a good hope, for a blessed eter­nity. But then that which must derive strength to our Hope from hence must be gathered, not from the meer confidence of such a profession made by them, but by put­ting other circumstances thereto: And [Page 105] there are these two more Especi­ally.

1. If there be a good agreement between their life and their Death. For us to hear one that hath lived in all good Conscience, and hath approved himself faithful unto God in his generation, now at last bearing a full Testimony to the love of God to him, in his life, and rejoycing in Christ his Saviour, and the expectation of his Glory at his death, singing with Good Simeon, Luk. 2.29.30. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation. This is a precious and Heart-Ravishing thing and gives abundant cause of boasting Hopes concerning such an one. But to hear one that hath lived wickedly, vainly, profanely, all his days, that hath neglected duties to God and men, never testified any love to Jesus Christ and his ways all his life long, while he enjoyed health, and strength, and opportunity, nor yet so much as witnessed Godly sorrow and repentance for his formerly mispent life. On his sick-bed▪ Talking of his Comforts and Assurances, and discoursing of Death and Eternity with a Sedate and Composed frame, is a most Asto­nishing thing, and so far from strengthning, that it weakens, nay let me say it extinguish­eth the Hopes of any considerate Christian concerning such an one: and serves to fill him with doubts and despairing fears about [Page 106] him. We read of those who▪ despise God in their lives, and yet have no bonds in their death, and he looks just like one of these▪ and this looks like the effect of a seared con­science, accompanied with the delusions of Satan.

2. If it be accompanied with a Suitable Frame of Spirit, When this professed con­fidence is waited upon with great self abase­ment, and self abhorrency, with adoration of, and admi [...]ation at the riches of free Grace which hath appeared in the giving of Him this Hope; acknowledging his utter unworthi­ness of it, and ascribing i [...] all to the undeser­ved mercy of God in Jesus Christ, extended to him who was as bad as others, and had done nothing to merit this, but the quite contrary: here is good matter of thinking well of, and rejoycing with such an one; Whereas when men draw their comforts, and satisfying conclusions from themselves: they thank God they have loved him always, they have kept his Commandments from thei [...] youth, they never sinned as these and those have done, and the result of all centers in what they have been and done, and they seem to rest upon their own Righteousness, or only upon the general notion of Gods mercy, and his good will to mankind, and they there­fore conclude that he will have mercy upon them, these confidences are poor and shallow, [Page 107] and may be exprest by an unjustified Phar [...], Luk. 18.11. with 14.

6. There are some that dy in a Cloud. They labour of a great deal of doubting and jealousy, and fear about their own everlast­ing estate, by reason of which disquietment they cannot dy with that willingness, and chearfulness, and resignation unto [...]od, that many others do: they are wofully afraid of mistakes, presumptions, false and deceiving Hopes, and this terrifies them, and indeed, this cannot but afford grief and trouble to those that sit about them: But yet it may be no impediment to our good Hopes concerning them, whiles there are other substantial argu­ments to fortify them withal, for.

1. Actual Assurance proceeds from the joynt witnessing of the Spirit of God with our Spirit, Rom. 8.16. till therefore he seals, and confirms, and testifies to our evidences, we shall for all them remain in suspense. A man may have really in him the things which accompany salvation, and have also such a discovery made to him, of their being in him, which he dares not to deny, and yet be much afraid of himself, suspect a mistake, and question whether they be not counter­feit: his confident and comfortable perswa­sion of the truth and reality of these things depends upon the confirmation given by the Spirit of God to his soul: but this not­withstanding, [Page 108] his State is mean while as safe and secure, as if he had the greatest sa­tisfaction about it, though it be not so clear to him; he shall as certainly be saved as another, though he be not so well satisfied in himself concerning it; where God gives Grace, he will without fail give Salvation.

2. The Spirit of God is soveraign in the giv­ing in this Testimony of his to the soul. He acts in it according to his own Wisdom and good pleasure. Gracious Souls have, in their life­time felt of his with-drawing this witness from them upon these and those occasions, yea some­times the most holy and consciencious men may be without it, they may fear the Lord, and o­bey the voice of his Servant, and yet sit in darkness and see no light, Isa. 50.10. and the same holy wisdom of his may see meet to sus­pend it at their death, as well as any other time; for who shall prescribe or set limits to him, who is not to be taught or directed by the creature, nor giveth to us an account of his acti­ons.

3. Hence, if such an one hath liued like a Christian, and so as becomes Godliness. This can be no ground of weakning our Hope about their everlasting welfare: his latter [...]nd shall be peace for all this: though we observe nothing but doubts and fears, yet he shall find to his eternal joy, that the very moment in which his soul de­parts from his body, he is put out of all his fears, [Page 109] and when it falls among the Blessed Life-guard of Glorious Angels, who are sent to bring him home to the Kingdom, and lay him in the B [...] ­some of his Blessed Redeemer, he shall then know himself happy: we may believe that God hath gracious ends in this thing, to humble him, and to do him good by it.

4. Though such cannot express that boast­ing confidence which others can, yet they may discover to our charity as much grace as others do. They may under this very cloud and darkness, express their endeared love to the Lo [...]d Jesus Christ, their earnest longings to see his face and be with him, their humble sense of their own unworthiness of his mercy, Justifying of him in this very dis­pensation of his unto them; their entire hatred of sin, and their deep self loathing by reason of it: their insatiable desires after Christ, and everlasting communion with him, the earnest breathings of their souls after more holiness, and whatsoever else is the proper fruit of Saving Grace in the Souls of Gods Children: and the observation of these things will give us a better founda­tion to build our hopes in respect to them upon, than the great confidence which many do express; because it is from such things as these are, that we fetch our arguments to perswade us that that is right and not deceiving.

[Page 110]7. Some that have lived soberly in their Child-hood, have afterwards been drawn into leud courses, and would not hearken to counsel, neither of their Godly Parents, nor faithful Ministers, till God came to lay them upon a sick and Death-bed, and then they have had terrible awakenings and Con­victions, and made solemn confessions both to God and man, taken shame to themselves earnestly begged of God for pardon, and possibly also have testified some hopes that they have conceived hereupon of mercy and acceptance with God, and we have occasion to take notice of several such cases as these are; and concerning our Hopes about such, I would offer these two things.

1. They cannot be so strong but that they must needs be attended with no small fears too▪ [...] this is not without reason: they cannot be so prevailing because we had not the opportunity to see the trial of the sin­cerity of this repentance of theirs. The terrours of Death, and the apprehensions of eternity just now to be entred into, and the consideration of the dreadful miseries of ungodly men, may well put men into ter­rible agonies, and bring their sins to remem­brance, and make them to vomit up their morsels which before lay indigested upon their Consciences, drive them to making Confessions, to begging of pardon, and war­ning [Page 111] of others, in particular their Compa­nions to beware of the like; and yet this may be but a legal work: we have seen some that under the terrors of Death have done the like, and yet recovering again, they Re­turned to their vomit, and wallowing in the mire; and that God should make it a com­mon thing to give Repentance unto life up­on a Death-bed, to such as despised his Grace all their lives before, is a thing scarce­ly to be thought of.

2. Yet may we have some support to our hearts under this. To be sure it it is a thou­sand times better to see a sinner dye under the sense and burden of his sins, bitterly be­wailing of them, than in a senceless stupid frame, as too many are observed to do; and not only so, but though we may not dare to assert a frequency of this manner of applica­tion, lest sinners should be encouraged to de­lay until then: so we may not deny a Sove­raignty to the Grace of God, extendible hi­therto, that he can take his own time, and if it be at last who shall forbid him? yea and farther than so too, for God also hath some­times done such a thing, there is instance for it in the Scripture, that so all our hopes may not uttterly be cut off▪ from encouraging us about such as those over whom when they are ready to depart we stand with bleeding Hearts: the very example of the Thief upon [Page 112] the Cross, whose dying repentance was ac­cepted, declares it to be possible: and God is able to glorify his Grace more peculiarly by Saving of such an one who is born out of time, and called into his Kingdom, after the eleventh hour is current. And farther more if such an one hath been a Child of a great many prayers, and tears, and heart-breakings, if it be such an one unto whom you have been very faithful in Duty? and for whom you have been very impor­tunate with God that he would turn him, and though you have with grief and sorrow taken notice how he hath slighted your Counsels and trampled upon your reproofs, yet this hath not made you leave off doing your duty, to him, or to be willing to let God alone upon his account, but made you the more urgent and earnest; you may well Hope that God is now at last come to an­swer your prayers and endeavours, and sig­nalize his grace to them, by plucking them out of the fire which they were just drop­ping into.

8. Some there be who have spent their days in wickedness, and have given no Te­stimony at all either at or before their death of their Repentance, either God hath taken them away by some sudden stroak, in a speedy and violent death, they have gone in a moment to the grave; or they have [Page 113] fallen into some violent sickness, which hath at once bereaved them of the use of their understanding, and they have died distracted without any the least capacity ei­ther of receiving counsel, or of giving glory to God by a free and humble confession of their sins: or, with Nabal, they have lain like a stone, and had no sense at all of any spiritual thing upon them. Such instances also there are not a few; and the Friends of such may well enquire, what Hope can we have?

Concerning such as these it must needs be confessed, that their fears are very great and amazing, and their hopes can be but very small: but yet give me leave to offer these rules to be considered.

1. It is the duty of all such silently and submissively to adore the Divine Soveraignty, God is free in the dispensing of his grace, and he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy; and it is too much boldness for the Chil­dren of men to call him to give an account of any of these matters. It is recorded con­cerning Aaron, that when his two elder Sons were slain by a fire from Heaven, in the very act of offering strange fire unto God, that he hold his peace, Lev. 10 3▪ and of Eli, that when the most dismal threatning of the fear­ful destruction of his two wicked Sons was delivered unto him, he said, It is the Lord, [Page 114] let him do what seemeth him good, 1 Sam. 3.18 David indeed was excessive in his mourning for his fondling▪ Absalom, but he met with a sharp rebuke for it: God hath required it of us as a great duty, to fall down before him and worship him in the most severe of his dispensations towards us.

2. Not only is Gods absolute Supremacy, but his Righteousness to be acknowledged by us in such a case. Though the thing be terrible, yet he hath done nothing but what is just and equal in what he hath done; no­thing but what we had reason to live in continual expectation of: he hath warned us of, and threatned such things as these, that such as go on boldly in their trans­gressions and will not be reclaimed, shall pe­rish, and that quickly too; Prov. 29.1. He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy; he hath declared that strange Judg­ments do wait for, and shall fall upon such refractory ones as these: and they that will live wickedly under all the means of grace, and strivings of Gods Spirit with them from time [...]o time, have a great deal of reason to look for Gods Hand to overtake them every day, and when it doth thus fall out, it is no new or strange thing. God is holy in all these ways of his, and just in all these doings.

[Page 115]3. Such providences do loudly call us to a more serious and deep reflection upon our selves and our own ways. This is a crying voice from God unto us, to put us upon the taking of a more str [...]ct account how we have carried our selves towards God, and towards them too: whether we have not given him provocation by some grievous sin so to smite us, and whether we have not been greatly negligent in the doing of our duty towards them, when we had the opportunity and many fair advantages for it. This should humble us low before God, and put us upon the renewing of our Repentance, and peace with him; and by thus doing we shall have hope concerning our selves, that such an aw­ful Providence as this is, shall work for our good; and so it shall turn also to our account, and make us the more careful to our selves, and over others, who are yet within the reach of our using the means with and for the bringing of them to obtain salvation.

4. It may be no little relief and support to the spirits of Gods Children even at such a time as this is, to be able to say that they have been faithful in doing of their duty to such. If whilst they were with us, and we had the oppor­tunity, we prayed earnestly for them, carefully endeavoured to set before them a pious exam­ple in all the duties of Religion, and godly con­versation; if we have taken unwearied pains [Page 116] with them in counselling, reproving, restraining them, according to our best discretion, and as we have had opportunity; it will be a great relief unto us; for God will acknowledge our sincerity, and our labour shall not be lost, nor our prayers return empty.

5. We do not know what God may have done for them by a secret work in the interim. This is not to be doubted of▪ but that he can do his work suddenly; though woe to them who will boldly run the risque of such a thing. But he may have had mercy upon them, inter pon [...]em & fon [...]em, it is not impossible but that his spirit may have wrought in them ef­fectually; though if he have, it is not fit­ting that it should be known by us, lest the [...]e should be a shameful abuse made of it; yet the thing is not in it self an impossibility: and though it can be but a very languishing one, yet where there remaineth a who knows? hope is not without all relief.

6. And if we are those that fear God (and it is of no other that I am now speak­ing) it will but a little while before we shall be fully satisfied. If we should go mourning to the grave under the remem­brance of such a thing as this is, yet it should be a support to us under that mour­ning; so as that it may not sink us, & dis­tract us in the work God calls us to, to consider, that when we come to the King­dom, [Page 117] and shall there have all our weaknesses and imperfections done away, we shall then take everlasting satisfaction in all that God hath done; and the eternal glory which he will have by every one of the Children of Men, will be matter of our endless praises: and the hope of this should not be despised by us, in the deepest dumps that we are oppressed with all, by reason of such stupen­dous Judgments of God.

The Doctrinal handling of this Truth ha­ving been so much practical, the particular application may be very briefly dispatched: Here then,