The mourners cordial against excessive sorrow discovering what grounds of hope Gods people have…

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 ⟨p. 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 from the new Covenant. It is in that Covenant that the only foundation for fallen mans hope is laid: It is one Epithet 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 tenor 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 immortality