The Whole Duty of Mourning and Preparing Ourselves for Death, Part 1 · Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. Of the Separation of Soul and Body, with other Memorials of Mortality, Practically Considered.
THE Divine Providence has ordained that at the Hour of Death, the Soul and Body shall be separated; and at this Separation, the Soul is conveyed away invisibly; no Man knoweth how nor whither: for no Humane Sense can discern the Spirit of Man ascending, Eccles. 3.21. for God in his unsearchable Council, orders his secret Will to be kept unrevealed from Humane Understanding. Now this secret manner of translating the separated Souls, by carrying some close Prisoners to endless Misery, and transporting others in invisible Chariots unto Eternal Glory, serves to warn and admonish us to remember the Evident Monuments of our Frailty: when secret Things are hidden from us by the Almighty, those which are Revealed, are the more to be observ'd by us, Deut. 29.29.
II. The Scriptures will inform us how some Persons, Men, or Angels, have vanished out of the sight of those they had convers'd with; and from thence we are to observe, that it is not requisite for us to know what they had heard and seen, or to pry narrowly into that which the Divine Wisdom has ordered to be kept from us, Luke 24.31, 32. Acts 8.39. Judg. 6.21, 22. Moreover God hath appointed that they should not be suffered to live, which attempted to converse with the Spirits of those which were departed from us, Lev. 20.27. 1 Sam. 28.8, 9. &c. But by all this, we are so much the more lead to observe the common visible Memorials of Mortality, shewed unto us in them that die before us.
III. Furthermore, it is to be observ'd, that when the Spirit is return'd away presently to God that gave it, yet the Body remains and returns to the Dust, from whence it was taken, Eccles. 12.7. If the Almighty by Death had taken away both Soul and Body, or if it had pleased him to take away all Men, as Enoch and Elias were, Heb. 11.5. Gen. 5.14. 2 Kings 2.11.17. or to bury all Men so as Moses was, Deut. 34.6. namely, so as their Bodies should be seen no more among Men; yet, even then, there were occasion enough to remember that wonderful great and final Translation; but now, seeing every Man departing this Life, leaves a part of himself on Earth among his Friends, yea, and that visible Part, even the Body, which was best known among Men; God by this frail Part of Man, that is left, gives us occasion to contemplate what is done with the immortal part; and to keep in Memory the Death past, to prepare us for the Death to come.
As Elias ascending to Heaven let fall his Mantle, for a Remembrance unto Elisha that took it up, 2 Kings 2.13. so we ascending, do let fall our Flesh, that hath been the Mantle of the Soul, under which it was veiled, and covered in the Days of our Mortality: Now by this Pledge, the dead warns the living to part from the love of Vanity, and to make ready for this Change, when the Soul departs more naked out of the World, than it came into it.
V. Besides, the Body is left behind, as a Pledge of our Corruption, to imprint into our minds the horrour of Death, through that putrefaction which soon invades it, when it is deprived of the Souls presence: had the Body remained only without Life, and retained its former Comeliness and Beauty, and not been liable to putrefaction, how then would their dearest Relations and Friends have choicely kept them, and lovingly embrac'd them: but now, by the divine appointment, the body is Sown in Corruption. 1 Cor. 15.42. the Royal Body of David sees Corruption, Acts. 13.36. the Body of Lazarus the Friend of Christ begins to Stink the Fourth Day, John. 11.39. the Fair Body of Sarah, whose Beauteous Countenance charmed Kings and Princes, she being dead must needs be removed out of the sight of her most Faithfull and Loving Husband, Gen. 23.4.
VI. And in such a degree hath Corruption prevailed, that some Bodies hath been forced to be buried very deep in the Earth, So noysome have they been, and soon putrefied; but though they are not to be looked upon with the Eye, yet they are the more to be thought upon, and our fading Estate to be Reflected on: by this Serious Reflection, Job humbled himself, confessing that Corruption was his Father; and to the worm thou art my mother and sister, Job. 17.14. and by this Consideration might be humbled the Proudest and most Ambitious Heart, when they Seriously Reflect how the Wormes breed out of their own Corruption, and surround their whole Carcasse, Isa. 14.11. these are the Laws and Ordinances of Death established by the Almighty, whereby he call us the more effectually to think of our End, not to pamper the Flesh, nor to take so much Care for our Bodies as we do for our Souls; according to this Example of God, who shews more respect, and love to the Soul by receiving of it into his Glorious Kingdom, whereas he suffers the Body to lodge in the Pit of Corruption. 1 Cor. 15.43.
VII. The Sequestration of the Body from the Place where the Soul is, and the Corruption of it being Separate, are mememorials wrought immediately by the Hand God: Now, besides these there is other after warnings of Death, effected by the providence of God, by the affections and respects of Men, that is paid to the Honour of the dead, and Comfort of the living: Now for the Honour of the dead, Holy Men of Old have shewed great Care to provide Sepulchers, Tombes, and Monuments for them; such was the Cave of Machpelah purchas'd by Abraham, Gen. 49.30.31. the Pillar on Rachels Grave that Jacob set up, Gen. 35.20. that continued so many Generations to Samuel's time, 1 Sam. 10.2. the Title on the Sepulcher of the Man of God, that Prophesied of Josias, 2 Kings. 23.17, 18. the Sepulcher of David, that continued twice Fourteen Generations, from David to the Apostles time, Acte. 2.29. having been preserved in the time of the Babylonian Captivity, even then when both City and Temple were destroyed: these in Scripture are called Memorials, Math. 23.29. John. 11.38. chap. 19.41. by which the Righteous are taught to Remember their latter end.
VIII. The Magnificent Tombes, and the Sumptuous Sepulchers are but so many Scaffolds, Stages, and Theaters of human Frailty, and so many Pulpits out of which our Mortality is Preached: and all the Graves of the Popularity are the Coffers of Death, the view whereof should instruct us to lay up our Treasure in Heaven: and thus though the touch of a Grave defiled the Body with a Ceremonial Pollution in the time of the Law, Numb. 19.16. yet the sight of a Grave may serve to cleanse the Soul, by a Spiritual Consideration of our latter End, even as the sight of the Leviathan being raised up, made Men Purify themselves, Joh. 41.25.
IX. The Grave being prepared for the Dead Corpse, then Men proceed with their Funeral Pomp and Exequies: the mourners go about the streets, and a great train of Relations, Friends, and acquaintance accompany the dead unto his Grave, and follow him that is going to his long home: Eccles. 2.5. this going a Procession to the Grave, is a Memorial to them of their own Condition, that they in their Course must die, and be carried forth in like manner: thus they are called of God to remember at such times: then have they special cause to remember, that Iron Chain of Death and Mortal necessity; by which the dead Person is said to draw all men after him, as there were innumerable before him, Job. 21.23.
X. Then are Men called to climb up the Mountain of Contemplation, from the height thereof to look about them from one end of the World unto the other, to behold the two great Gates thereof so often mentioned in Scripture, that stand always wide open, night and day; the one of entrance into the World, and the other of departure out of it. Job. 1.21. Eccl. 7.5.14, 15. 1 Tim. 6.7. there may they observe how many Thousands come every Hour Naked, Crying and Crowding into the World at their Birth, and as many Thousands every Hour of the Day and Night that depart Groaning, and Crowding out of this World at their Death; thence they see, how one Generation goeth, and another comes Successively, Eccles. 1.4. one draws on the one, and another drives on the other, and there is no Rest in this Race, but all run Uncessantly from the Oriental Gate, to the Western Port, even from the Womb to the Grave.
XI. And as it was ordained at the new Temple, that he which Entred at one Gate, must not return through the same, but go out at another, Ezek. 46.9. So here is no return, but every one hasts forward, and never ceaseth till they have past the Gates of the Grave: and by this Contemplation, when we see, and find our selves in the midst of the throng, carried on with others in the Swift Wing'd Chariot of Time, unto the Sun-Setting Gate of the World; we are hereby warned to use this fleeting World as though we used it not, and to think daily of that new Eternal World out of which there is no Gate of departure, when we are once entred into it; and therefore also to make strait Steps to our Paths, and so run that we may obtain.
XII. Having been at the Grave, and perform'd the last duty to the Deceased, we then return from the dead to the living, to the Friends of the dead, to Mourn with them, to Comfort them, and give them the Cup of Consolation; Rom. 12.15. Jer. 16.7.8. Gen. 37.35. 1 Chron. 7.22. John. 11.19. and in this action we have another Call to remember our End: and while we administer Consolation to others, we are to take an Exhortation our selves: Now, the house of mourning is the School of mortification; and therefore it is better to enter into it, than into the house of feasting: for there is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart, and so be made better in his heart, by the Consideration of the dead, and by the Sadness of the Countenances waiting on that Consideration; Eccles. 7.2, 3, 4.
XIII. When the Comforters of them that Mourn, are departed to their respective Habitations; yet still the Friends of the dead, even while they are on Earth, so often as they miss their departed Friends, and want the help and benefit, which they were wont to enjoy from them; so often are they call'd to remember Death, that caused such Separations; Lum. 4 18.20. and in this remembrance they are withal Warned to be prepared ready for Death, and not to be Conformed unto this World, from whence their Comforts are taken away: when the Shepherd takes up the young Lamb, the Ewe follows him of her self, and needs no calling nor driving: when the great Shepherd of the Sheep takes away the Souls of Young and Old, and of dearest Friends from one another, it is to Encourage them to run after the Lord, and to long after his Presence, in whom they shall find more then all this World can afford.
XIV. So often as we think of an indulgent Parent, or an intire Friend, that would have rejoyced with us, and assisted us; so often are we called to be stirred up in our desires to be with them; and especially to run after such a Shepherd, that hath laid down his Life for his Sheep, John. 10.11. Whom the Ewe should follow more then her Lamb; and whom our Soul should long after more then after our dearest Friends: thus this missing of Friends, and Separation from them, both is to some, and ought to be unto all, an effectual means to Separate their minds from the Earth, to loosen their hearts from the love of this Life, and to make them aspire after that perfect, and indissoluble Communion, into which their Friends are gone before.