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,…

Q. 7. Is not your sorrow over-much, when it hinders you, and keeps you from rejoicing in God, from praising of him, and giving thanks unto him, for the mercies you have mixed with your affliction? Have not you more Mercies left, than you have lost? have not you greater Mercies continued, than are removed? is your Earthly Father dead? but have not you still a Father in Heaven? is your Wife dead? but is not your Soul married to Christ? and though the Conjugal Union ⟨p. 127⟩be broken by Death, yet doth not the Mystical Union betwixt Christ and you still remain? have not you the pardon of Sin, the favour of God, the sense of his Love, and Hopes of Heaven? seriously set these over against your Dead, and say, if you have not more cause to rejoice in God, and give him thanks for these, than you have to mourn for your Dead; and whether God doth not command you more, and give you a stricter charge for these to rejoice in him, than to mourn for your Dead? and consequently is the grand constant Duty you owe to God all the days of your Life; and are you so much indebted to your dead as you are to the Living God? Was their Life of so much worth to you, as your Relation to God is, and your Receivings from him? see your Duty, and cease from that which hinders your performance of it. Phil. 3.1. Finally, my Brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Whatsoever state you are in, serve God with joyful hearts. Phil. 4.4. Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again, I say, rejoice: Always rejoice in the Lord: What? wh•n my Father, or Mother, or Child, Wife, or Husband lieth dead in my House, or is newly lodged in the Grave? Is ⟨p. 128⟩it not alway you are commanded to rejoice? is there this Exception, when you have any Relation dead, that then this should be no Duty? Have not Christians always greater cause of rejoicing in the Lord, than they have of sorrow for Worldly Losses? is not holy joy in the Lord, and a thankful praising of God, the very Flower of Religion, and makes us most like the Angels and Saints above? but can you thus rejoice, and praise, and magnify God, and triumph in his Love and Grace, when you are overwhelmed with sorrow for the loss of Worldly Comforts? and is not that sorrow too much, that unfits you for this constant, standing Duty?