The mourner directory, guiding him to the middle way betwixt the two extreams, defect, excess of sorrow for his dead to which is added, The mourners soliloquy / by Thomas Doolittle ...

CHAP. XVII. After their meeting with the Lord, THEY shall be with HIM for EVER. Com∣fort from all Recollected.

SHall not a believing Prospect, that those that sleep in Jesus, shall awake and live with the Lord for ever, make some abatement of our sorrow? or rather turn it into Joy in the hopes thereof? This is the last, and highest and most Soveraign Remedy, the Apostle giveth in this place against Excessive Sorrow, say∣ing, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Short words, but matter of lasting, everlast∣ing Joy: Soon said, but not so soon under∣stood, for indeed they contain more than we can conceive, and none know so well as they that are with him: Yet that we may have a relish of this Remedy, and a taste of this Spi∣ritual Comfort, for the correcting of extra∣vagant Sorrow, let it be enquired,

1. With whom it is that these must be? with the Lord: and what it is to be with him?

2. Who they are here meant that shall be with the Lord? We.

3. How long? for ever. Blessed shall they be, whoever they be, that thus shall be with the Lord for ever.

1. It is the Lord himself with whom these shall be: And to be with him is the summ of all our Hopes, the end of all our Prayers, and the top of all our Happiness. The Misery of the Ungodly and Impenitent when raised, judged and condemned, is, that they must depart from the Lord, and be in flaming fire, and then with Devils. The Happiness of the Godly then acquitted and absolved, will be to be called to come to the Lord, and to go with him into Glory, and there abide and remain with him. Mat. 25.34, 41, 46. Then shall the King say to them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World. 41. Then shall he say also to them on the left hand, Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. Some are called to come to him, the others commanded to depart from him; some to be with Him, the rest to be with Devils, therefore those are declared to be blessed, the other accursed; for 46. These shall go away into everlasting Punishment, but the Righ∣teous into Life Eternal. Do we believe these

things, or do we not? All these things are spoken of Men when raised from the Dead, and judged and sentenced, and the Sentence put into Execution; and do not you by Faith see with whom they shall have their abode that now do sleep in Jesus? enjoying the bea∣tisick Vision, living in the comfortable, glori∣ous and immediate Presence of God the Fa∣ther, of Christ the Redeemer, and of the Eternal Spirit their Sanctifier. Now your Thoughts run to the Grave, look down into it, and you see them with Worms and with Rottenness, and therefore sorrow: Let your Thoughts run as far as the day of Christs com∣ing, and then suppose you look for them in the Graves, you will not find them. The Voice will be, They are not here, for they are ri∣sen, come see the places where they lay. Where are they? Look up, they are gone to meet the Lord in the Air, and whither are they next to go? to be with the Lord: And is there nothing in the belief of all these things, not only to asswage Sorrow, but also to beget great Joy? but because we are of so little Faith, therefore we are of so much Sorrow?

2. Who are these that are to be with the Lord? What we doth the Apostle mean? whom doth he say this great thing of? of all those that shall be caught up in the Clouds, to meet the Lord in the Air. Who are they? those that shall be alive, and remain, when the Lord

shall come: Together with them. Who are they? the Dead in Christ that did rise first, before the Living were changed; so then it com∣prehends those that slept in Jesus, and shall be raised, and those Believers that shall be found alive, and changed, and caught up to∣gether into the Air to meet Christ, who will adjudge them to Everlasting Life, and so af∣ter that shall be with Christ in Glory. Are these the Dead we Mourn for? and why? because they are dead in their Gr••ves, and with the dead: but have we no F••ith in this Word of the Lord. If we hav••, let us set their Resurrection over against their Death, and Heaven over against their Gr••v••s, and their being with the Lord hereafter over a∣gainst their present being with the Dead, and try if a firm, and lively acting Faith will not bring to us greater Joy, than Sense now fills us with disquieting Sorrow: Or shall we walk by Sense, and not by Faith? Sense tells us, they are in the Grave, there our Eyes saw them laid; and doth not God tell us, they shall be with him? and have not we Faith to believe him? and if we have, cannot we rejoyce in the Hope thereof, but sor••ow on, as if we had no such Hope? Do we sit and ponder upon the loathsomness and darkness of the Grave, and weep while we ponder, that our Dead are there? and cannot we sit and meditate upon the holiness, happiness, and

the shining Glory of Heaven, and rejoyce that our dead shall live, and dwell in that glo∣rious Place hereafter? especially when we consider they then shall be with the Lord, so as before they never were. Admit their Souls are now with Christ, yet their Bodies are not: It is but one part of them that now is Glorified; but the Day is coming, and it hasteneth, that all Believers, and all of every one, the Body as well as the Soul, shall be with the Lord. Did Paul judge it far bet∣ter to depart, that his Soul may be with Christ, tho he left his Body to the Grave, and was it the matter of his Desire? Phil. 1.23. And shall not we judge it to be best, that we and ours shall be with Christ, both in Body and Soul; and since it shall be so, make it matter of our Joy, tho for the pre∣sent it is not so? for tho it be to come, and so is the Object of Desire and Hope, yet Faith should look upon it as sure as if it were pre∣sent, and so make it the ground of our Joy: As sure as their Bodies are now in the Grave, so sure they shall be with the Lord in Hea∣ven. What ails us we cannot rejoyce in the one, as sorrow for the other, especially when the one is a greater Good, than the other is an Evil?

3. The Eternity of their abode with the Lord in Body and Soul from the Second Coming of Christ, should asswage our Sorrow for the short space

of time their Bodies are to remain in the Grave. While Children Live, we think how long is it since they were born? When Per∣sons in a Conjugal Relation continue toge∣ther, sometimes they reckon how many years since they were Married? and these are plea∣sant Thoughts: But alas! Death comes and makes a Change, and snatcheth away the Children, and breaks the bond of Marriage, and then after a while the Enquiry is, How long hath my Child, or Husband, or Wife been dead? and these are sorrowful Thoughts: But is there no Remedy, no relief against them? What if you ask, when our Dead that sleep in Jesus shall be raised, how long shall they be with the Lord? How long! in∣conceivably longer than they shall be in the Grave. How long shall they be in the Grave? not for ever: Blessed be God, they shall not be there for ever. How long shall they be with the Lord? for Ever: Eternal thanks unto our God, they shall be with him for ever.

But we sit and think, it will be a long, a long, a very long time that they shall be in their Graves, and no man knows how long, and for this Sorrow fills our Hearts: Doth it? think again when they shall be raised. How long shall they be with the Lord? a long, a long, a very long, not time, but Eternity, and no Man can conceive how long it will be. And when you have thought of as many years

as you may imagine they may be in their Graves, all of them will not amount to so much as one hour, if compared with that Eter∣nity in which they shall be with the Lord. Concerning their being in the Grave, you may see an end, for an end of their being there will be: Concerning their being with the Lord, you can conceive no end, for there is no end to be conceived, for they are to be with him for ever; in the Grave for a time, and after that with the Lord of Glory in a State of Glory for ever! For ever! O blessed word! shall they come forth of their Graves after a while, and be with the Lord for ever? O happy, happy, for ever happy are their saved Souls above, that shall live in the presence of their Lord for ever. Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord, for when they shall live again (which sh••ll surely be) in their Bodies uni∣ted to their Souls, they shall be with the Lord for ever: This will be the Joy of their Joy, that they shall enjoy their Lord for ever: This will be the Life of their Life, that with their Lord they shall have everlasting Life: This shall be the Crown of their Crown, that it shall be Incorruptible, as they then shall be both in Body and Soul: It will be the Hell of Hell, that the Damned must be there for ever: It will be the Heaven of Heaven, that their being with the Lord therein shall be for ever; without this their Joy would not be

pure Joy, but mixt with fears of losing of it; without this their Joy would not be full, for the Thoughts, it would not always last, would diminish their Joy, and if diminished, it could not be full; without this their Joy would not be constant Joy, but there would be stops, and gaps, and intermissions in their Joy, and they would have their fits of Sor∣row, and turns of Grief. Now they would rejoyce because they are with the Lord, and anon they would grieve because they are not to be with him for ever, and so they would be miserably happy, and sorrowfully joyfull, which is not the happiness and Joy of Heaven, which for degrees is full, for duration ever∣lasting; full, because they are with the Lord, everlasting, because they shall be with the Lord for ever. Methinks I hear their trium∣phant Songs, their Holy Admirations: O what is the difference betwixt these Bodies now, and what once they were! Behold the Glory of this Place, how far different it is from those Graves where we did lye, and are now delivered from! We were in our Graves for a time, that time is out, its past and gone, and we are with the Lord, for ever, we are with the Lord for ever! O this is it that is she Crown of all, we are with the Lord for ever! In this Eternity there is no Nights and Days, no Weeks, and Months, and Years, here is no Death and Graves, and end, for we shall be with the Lord for ever!

ƲSE. What is the Use of all? what should it be, but what the Apostle makes of it? v. 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words: What words? Review them, and Re∣collect what hath been said upon them.

(1.) As sure as Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, so sur••ly our dead shall rise; Comfort your selves, and one anoth r with these words.

(2.) Those that shall be found alive, shall not prev••nt them that are asleep, but the Dead shall be raised before the Living shall be changed; they in their Graves shall have the preceden∣cy and preheminence before the Living, and tho the one are dead, and the other living, yet the Dead shall be made Immortal and In∣corruptible before the Living: Comfort your selves, and one another with these words.

(3.) Rather than the Dead shall lye in their Graves for ever, Christ as soon as the appointed time is come, will Himself in his own Person come, and with a shout, with the Voice of the Archangel, and sounding Trum∣pet call them out of their Graves, and they shall hear, and shall come forth: Comfort your selves, and one another with these words.

(4.) When the Dead in Christ shall be rai∣sed, and the Living changed, they shall all be caught up together in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air, and shall there be acquitted and ab∣solved, and adjudged to everlasting Life; there∣fore

comfort your selves, and one another with these words.

(5.) After this they shall go into the high∣est Heavens in Body and Soul, to be with the Lord for ever; wherefore comfort your selves, and one another with these words.

Now upon the survey of the whole matter, what have you most cause for, your Sorrow, or your Joy? What if yours do not live with you? is it not better that they died in the Lord, than to live [as such] with you? what if they are in the Grave for a while, and af∣ter that shall be with the Lord for ever? Cease Excessive Sorrowing, and encourage, and comfort your selves, and one another, (as the Death of any requires) with the live∣ly Belief, the joyful Hopes, and often men∣tion of this most Blessed Time and State.