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,…

16 Q. Would not you have been as loth to leave them behind you, as now you are sorrowful they are gone before you? And will you be pleased neither way? Would you have died all together? You are sorrowing now for Wise and Children, because removed by Death; and if God had laid you upon a dying Bed, ⟨p. 208⟩then your trouble would be for them, if alive, because you are like to be taken from them, and say, What will my small Children do if I die? And what will their Mother d• when their Father leaves the one • Widow, and the other Fatherless? I could have been glad if God would have spared my Life, to have seen them well brought up. It is hard for you to say which would be less trouble to you, to leave them behind you, or have them go before you. But if you have that which you had rather have, why do you so sorrow, when you have that which is best for the rest of your Family.

17 Q. Do not you know that all your Family have sinned; and that therefore they have all deserved to die? Why then do you sorrow so much for one captivated by Death, when you should be admiring the Patience of God, and praising him for his Mercy that so many are continued in Life?

18 Q. Is not this Ingratitude to God, that the loss of one should make you unsensible of the many Mercies of your own Life? Is all gone in one? Look about you, and you will see the abundant goodness of God to you, in your outward. Accommodations in this World, many spiritual Blessings, as Pledges of Eternal Glory, and will you bury your Thankfulness for these in the Grave of your dead?