A36322:296
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,…
The mourner directory, guiding him to the middle way betwixt the two extremes, defect, excess of sorrow for his dead to which is added, The mourners soliloquy / by Thomas Doolittle ...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 ...
London: printed by J.A. for Tho. Cockeril, 1693
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
and since it shall be so, make it matter of our Joy, tho for the present it is not so? for tho it be to come, and so is the Object of Desire and Hope, yet Faith should look upon it as sure as if it were present, and so make it the ground of our Joy: As sure as their Bodies are now in the Grave, so sure they shall be with the Lord in Heaven. What ails us we cannot rejoice in the one, as sorrow for the other, especially when the one is a greater Good, than the other is an Evil?
and since it shall be so, make it matter of our Joy, tho for the present it is not so? for tho it be to come, and so is the Object of Desire and Hope, yet Faith should look upon it as sure as if it were present, and so make it the ground of our Joy: As sure as their Bodies are now in the Grave, so sure they shall be with the Lord in Heaven. What ails us we cannot rejoyce in the one, as sorrow for the other, especially when the one is a greater Good, than the other is an Evil?
3. The Eternity of their abode with the Lord in Body and Soul from the Second Coming of Christ, should assuage our Sorrow for the short space ⟨p. 197⟩of time their Bodies are to remain in the Grave. While Children Live, we think how long is it since they were born? When Persons in a Conjugal Relation continue together, sometimes they reckon how many years since they were Married? and these are pleasant Thoughts: But alas! Death comes and makes a Change, and snatcheth away the Children, and breaks the bond of Marriage, and then after a while the Enquiry is, How long hath my Child, or Husband, or Wife been dead? and these are sorrowful Thoughts: But is there no Remedy, no relief against them? What if you ask, when our Dead that sleep in Jesus shall be raised, how long shall they be with the Lord? How long! inconceivably longer than they shall be in the Grave. How long shall they be in the Grave? not for ever: Blessed be God, they shall not be there for ever. How long shall they be with the Lord? for Ever: Eternal thanks unto our God, they shall be with him for ever.