A36322:346
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.
For give me an answer, O my Soul, if that be not too much abundant Sorrow, that doth more hurt than good? and would be too much if it were for thy Sin, which for Sin, tho the greatest Evil, would be too much, when it doth more hurt than good? and doth it not do so, when it driveth to despair, keeps ⟨p. 219⟩off the Soul from Christ, and from hoping in his Merits, or God's Mercy: and is it not too much, when it is more for thy Dead than for thy Sin, for when thy Sorrow should bear its proportion to the Evil thou sorrowest for, and Sin is a greater Evil than the Death of thy nearest Relation, be thou thy self the Judge, if sorrow for the lesser evil be not too much, when it is more than that which thou hast for the greatest Evil?
Moreover, O my Soul, wilt thou not grant, that Sorrow is excessive, which causeth thy Thoughts to run into the Grave, and hinders them from ascending into Heaven? and to have many self-piercing and self-tormenting Thoughts of thy dead, for one serious and Heart-affecting Thought thou hast of the Living and Eternal God? and which makes thy Heart as cold in all thy Duties unto God, as the Body of thy dead Relation is in its Grave?
Besides, is not thy Sorrow too much, when it hinders thee from Spiritually rejoicing in God, and giving Thanks to him for all the Mercies, which in thy Sorrow thou dost overlook? Especially when let thy Condition be what it will as to Temporals, thou hast much more cause to bless God for Spiritual and Eternal Mercies, than to grieve for the loss of Temporals.
Besides, is not thy Sorrow too much, when it hinders thee from Spiritually rejoycing in God, and giving Thanks to him for all the Mercies, which in thy Sorrow thou dost overlook? Especially when let thy Condition be what it will as to Temporals, thou hast much more cause to bless God for Spiritual and Eternal Mercies, than to grieve for the loss of Temporals.