Salem Witch Judge (44 page)

Those that shall be left alive at the Last Judgment. 1 Thess. 4:14, 15. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him—

The opposition is between the Godly deceased; and the Godly remaining alive, compared with 1. Cor. 15:51, 52. Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment—

Here [there] is no other change for Women than for Men. Both Men and Women shall be freed from sin, and the Corruption introduced thereby.

There are three Women that shall rise again; EVE, the Mother of all living; SARAH, the Mother of the Faithfull; and MARY, the Mother of our LORD. And if these three rise again without doubt all will. As for EVE she was created in the Image of God as well as ADAM. Gen. 1:27.
So God created man in his own Image, in the Image of God created him him; male & female created he them. Gen. 9:6. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. So that Eve was perfected and walked with God in Righteousness and true Holiness as the Saints shall do in Heaven, free from Sin and Sorrow. And when our first parents fell by their sinning against God, God provided a Coat for Eve as well as for Adam, and left her not to the miserable shift of her own Fig Leaves. For tho’ Eve had just cause to be ashamed of her Transgression, yet God had no cause to be ashamed of his Workmanship. And as Christ was sent to destroy the work of the Devil; so he will give a demonstration of His Power, Wisdom, and Goodness in raising up Eve and causing her to stand forever, Eve the mother of all Living, Lightfoot, Gen. 3. p. 690. [Latin quote from Lightfoot.]

Sarah, whom God chose to be the Mother of the Jewish Church, Sarah to whom God gave a new Name; Sarah so renowned in the Old Testament, and her Faith & Piety celebrated in the New. It cannot be that so many millions of her natural & spiritual children should obtain a Resurrection unto Life and Glory, and that she should be Left Behind. Her Son Jesus will not suffer it to be so. Mr. Perkins has these words upon Heb. 11:11. Saving Faith, and Consequently Salvation itself, is not proper to one Sex, but to both; Man, and Woman. The Woman indeed was the first that brought in sinne—And for that cause, grievous calamities, and much bitterness was laid upon that Sex, in bearing and bringing up children, and in subjection. In which regards they might think themselves forsaken of God for this fault. For the preventing whereof, the Apostle here, or rather the Holy Ghost by him, teacheth us that true Faith, and Salvation by this [illegible], belongeth to SARAH, as well as ABRAHAM; to Women as well as to men. p. 84. col. 2. [Quotation from Perkins on Heb.]

It is the concurrent opinion of Divines that Funerals have Respect to the Resurrection. They that follow Christians to their Grave, profess their Faith of their Resurrection from the dead. Now the first Funeral Recorded in the holy Scriptures is that of Sarah, which is very Considerable. Abraham was the principal mourner. Sarah handsels the Grave for Abraham himself, and the following Patriarchs. She died in Faith.

And by her Burial Abraham took Possession of the Whole Land of Canaan, the Type of Heaven. Of the most Renowned case of Machpellah ’tis said, Gen. 49:31. There they buried Abraham, and Sarah his wife; then they buried Isaac, and Rebekah his wife, and then they buried Leah. Gen. 25:10. There was Abraham Buried and Sarah his wife. Gen. 35. gives an account of the sole solemn burial of Deborah & Rachel, and Isaac.

These all died in Faith, not having received the Promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the Earth. For they that seeing such things, declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly if they had been mindfull of that country, from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned: But now they define a better country, that is, an heavenly: Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

In the book of Genesis containing the History of Two Thousand three hundred and Sixty Eight years, one whole Chapter is taken up in describing the Circumstances of Sarah’s Interment. We find but eight Funerals recorded in the Book, & five of these are godly Women, viz. Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, Debora & Rachel.

As for the blessed Mary the Mother of our LORD, for my part I had rather with the Roman Catholics, believe that she is in Heaven already; than imagine that she shall never be there. Never was there so Great & Honorable a wooing as Mary had; Whether we consider the Immensity & Greatness of the Person, The Holy Spirit, or the Superiority of the Ambassador the Angel Gabriel. Well might the Blessed Virgin upon mature Consideration, after the Example of Rebekah, speedily give her full Consent and say, Behold the Handmaid of the Lord, Be it unto me according to they Word.

Bp. Usher in his Emanuel speaks thus, That blessed Womb of hers was the Bride-Chamber, wherein the Holy Ghost did knit that indissoluble knot betwixt our human nature & his Deity. P. 5.

Our glorious Bridegroom will not demolish the Chamber, which He built & made & dearly bought & paid for, from whence He proceeded, but will Repair it with permanent & Wonderful Magnificence In Perpetuam Rei Memoriam. In the heavenly Choir she will indeed appear to be Blessed among Women, When Christ shall set her at his
Right Hand, as Solomon did Bathsheba his Mother.

Now God in his alwise Providence Raised Women from the dead as well as men; thereby signifying that they shall equally partake in the last Resurrection. The Fame of the Raising Jairus his Daughter from the dead is gon abroad not only into the Land of Judea; but into the whole world, into Asia, Africa, Europe, & America. Tis remarkable that this illustrious Story is Recorded in three of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, & Luke. And the Cure wrought on the Woman in the way, who had laboured under a Chronical Disease was a very suitable Prologue to this glorious Miracle. The Raising of Dorcas from the dead by the ministry of Peter, is at large recorded in the Ninth of the Acts, and the happy effect it had, v. 42. And it was known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. As God revealed to Manoah’s wife, Jud. 13, that she should bear a Nazarite; so He strengthened her Faith and honoured her in making her instrumental to encourage her husband [who was] overcome with fear, v. 23.

So it may be argued in this case, If the Lord had been minded to deny Women a share in the General Resurrection from the dead, He would not have provided and Recorded for us these preambulatory Resurrections.

Objection. Whether in glorified Bodies there will be any distinction of Sexes, some too curiously dispute.

Answer. Is it so? But can there be too much Curiosity employed in maintaining the Words and Works of GOD; and in preserving the beautifull Variety with which He has been pleased to adorn them? Mat. 10:30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered…. 2 Cor. 16:17, 18. Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their GOD, and they shall be my People, Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. ’Tis plain that ’tis the Everlasting Covenant that is here spoken of. As God is Almighty; so He is Eternal & Unchangeable. And He will have Sons & Daughters as like Himself as can be.

Obj[ection]. The Ancients are divided in their Opinions about it; but whether there will be a distinction, or no—

Ans[wer]. That is a shrewd thing indeed! But if we should wait till all the Ancients are agreed in their Opinions; neither Men nor Women would ever get to Heaven. I should have been glad if the learned Gentleman had mentioned the Ancients he refers to; that it might have been seen who & who are of a side: and then I am persuaded the voice of the standers by would have been Impar Congressus! It will not be easy to match the Sanctity, the Zeal, the Learning, the Natural Power & Industry of Tertullian, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine. And one might have hoped that the Translation of Augustine’s excellent Book, De Civitate Dei, into English One Hundred Years agoe would have proved a sovereign sufficient Antidote against this Poyson; and would have prevented this Wild-Fire of the British Apollo from being thrown about the Streets of our great City. [Quotations from Bp. Babbington on Gen. 23; De Vita Contemplativa; Ovid; and Deut. 4:16.]

Modern testimonies may be added to the Ancients. Office for the Burial of the Dead: This our dear Sister, as the constant practice is to read when a woman is buried. The Church of England is very full for this purpose, as appears by the order for the Burial of the Dead—the soul of our dead brother here departed; we therefore commit his body to the ground—in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal Life, throughout Lord Jesus Christ. For I am informed that when a Woman comes to be buried the form of words then is, Our dear Sister, here, we commit her body. I observe in later editions, the word Brother is printed in Italics, intimating I presume, that it is to give place to Sister when the Funeral of a Woman is solemnified. I could wish a mutatis mutandis had been prescribed the better to prevent the stumblings of Weak Brethren.

In like manner speaks the incomparable Apologist [Jewell], This our self-same Flesh, wherein we live, altho’ it die and come to dirt, yet at the last shall return again to Life, by the means of Christ’s Spirit…. [Quotations: Jewell, Apol., chap. 21; Usher, Sum of Christian Religion, p. 447; 1597 Confession of Faith of the Church of Scotland; Erasmus; and Decisions of the Synod of Dort, in Latin.] According to these Authorities ’tis past dispute, that in the Resurrection World, Mary shall enjoy her own Body; and John shall enjoy his.

And yet after all, if any Controversy shall be moved injurious to the Right of Women before ancient or modern Men, in my opinion their safest and surest way is to plead, that they are Coram non judice. ’Tis not what ancient & modern Divines, or Learned and Philosophical men say concerning the Freehold of the Moiety of Mankind; but what GOD says who is their Creator, and Redeemer and Sanctifier: To this their own Master, they stand, or fall. ‘Yea, they shall be holden up.’ (Rom. 14:4.) For GOD is able to make them stand. They are impowered to say, For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our Law-giver, the LORD is our KING, He will Save us. (Isa. 33:22.) And many of them [women] are such good Lawyers, & are of such quick understanding in the Fear of the LORD, and have entertained such an able, Faithfull, and Successful an Advocat; they have no reason to be afraid. The Heavenly Inheritance is inconceivably great & good wherein there are innumerable Conveniences, and no inconvenience. And it is no small Injury to have the Title to this Inheritance defamed or questioned. But seeing all is to be Tried & decided by the WORD of GOD, they need not be afraid with any amazement.

The first Statute brought against their Interest is mentioned by Augustine in the 17
^th
Chapter of his 22
^nd
book de Civitate Dei. Ephes. 4:13. Till we all come in the Unity of the Faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Peroratio. Courteous Reader. I have written these few Lines from a Detestation of that Sadducean argument, There shall be no Weddings in Heaven, [because] there shall be no Women there—and out of a due Regard to my dear Parents, my Mother EVE, and my immediat Mother, whose very valuable Company I hope shortly to enjoy, and through the (to me) unaccountable Grace of God, Recover an Opportunity of rendering them the Honour due to them according to the invaluable & Eternal obligation of the Fifth Commandment.

GENEALOGY

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Leo Collins, Samuel Sewall’s successor as deacon of a Boston church, opened up for me the depth of Sewall’s musical life. Several years ago Leo introduced himself to me as “a resident of John Cotton’s farm,” part of which was later Sewall’s. Leo taught me the melodies to which Sewall and his peers sang the psalms, and provided the musical examples that accompany the text. The other graphic accompaniments to the text, maps of the sites of Sewall’s life, were created by Kelly Sandefer and Jonathan Wyss, of Topaz Maps, in Watertown, Massachusetts.