The mourner directory, guiding him to the middle way betwixt the two extremes, defect,…The mourner directory, guiding him to the middle way betwixt the two extreams, defect,…

2. The Knowledge and Belief of the state of the separated Soul. Their Souls are with Christ Triumphant in Heaven, while their Bodies are sleeping in the Grave; and these Souls he will bring back with him when he comes.

3. The certainty of the Resurrection of the Dead by the Re-union of the same Souls with the same Bodies, and so Christ will bring the entire Man with him at the day of Judgment. Thus the Hope in the Text, is the Hope of the Resurrection of the Dead, and confirmed by the next words.

4. The Antecedent, Concomitant, and consequent Circumstances of the Resurrection. That ⟨p. 140⟩is what shall go before, what shall accompany, and what shall follow after the raising of the dead; and all these are laid down in the following part of this Chapter, which is a Spring and Fountain of Living, Lively Comfort against excessive sorrow for the dead: And methinks I feel it already to begin to work: It warms my Heart, it doth begin to burn within my Breast: My Affections move, and it seems to me that my sorrow is turning into joy, and my heaviness into rejoicing, and am put to a stand, whether now I shall call my Tears for my dead, Tears of Sorrow or of Joy. Have we been sorrowing because she is dead? Methinks I cannot but joy that she sleeps in Jesus: Have we been mourning because the Body is in the Grave? Oh how delightful is it to me to think upon such good grounds, that the Precious and Immortal Soul is above in yonder glorious Heaven, in the presence of the Father, and Redeemer, and Comforter, and in the innumerable company of Angels and saved Souls, perfectly Holy and Happy for ever? Have we been so much troubled because the Body did fall at the parting stroke of death; methinks my trouble is allayed when I am considering and certainly sure that it shall rise and fall no more; Is it an aggravating sorrow to look back upon