A36322:126
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 if you are not sure he is not displeased with you under such a Rod, should not you sorrow lest he should be displeased? Is the displeasure of God so small a thing in your Eye, that the fear of it should not be ground of your Sorrow? And say, what if God should be angry with me in what he hath taken from me? What if my Father should be displeased, and the Death of this Relation be the fruit of it? Is not here ground to sorrow as a Christian, as well as a Man?
The loss of a good Husband, or Wife, Father, Mother, or Child, is a burden heavy to be ⟨p. 75⟩born; but the loss of the favour of God is greater, and his displeasure presseth more hard upon a Soul sensible of it; and therefore prays, O Lord, if thou rebuke me, let it not be in thine anger; if thou chasten me, let it not be in thy sore displeasure, Psalm 6.1. The loss of a Relation is a Rebuke, it is a chastening, and it may be in anger and displeasure; when it is so, Sorrow for God's displeasure as Christians, as for your own Affliction as Men.
3. When you Sorrow more for the loss of your Temporal Good by the Death of your Relation, than for the Spiritual Advantage you might have gained by the continuance of their Lives; You sorrow too much as Men, but too little as Christians. You may sorrow for the one, as well as for the other; but you should not sorrow so much for the one, as for the other, because the one is better than the other, and the loss of the one a greater loss than the other. By their Death you sustain the loss of some outward Comforts for your Body, and loss of some inward Advantages for your Soul; as now they can instruct and teach you no more, they can pray with you, and for you, no more, they can help you to answer your doubts about your Spiritual State no more, nor give you Arguments against your own Corruptions, or Satan's Temptations any more, nor reprove you for your Sin, nor comfort you under your Afflictions,