A36322:349
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.
Add to this, O my Soul, and then judge, that thou grievest so much for thy Dead, ⟨p. 220⟩that thou hast left off sorrowing for the Miseries of the Church of God; and losest much of thy little remaining Time, wherein thou hast many Duties to perform, many Graces to get, and more degrees thereof, many sins to mortify and subdue, many Temptations to resist, a deceitful Heart to watch and search, Children and Servants to instruct and teach, and holy preparations to be made for Death, and another Eternal World, and while thou sorrowest, all these are neglected. Is it not too much?
Add to this, O my Soul, and then judge, that thou grievest so much for thy Dead, ⟨p. 220⟩that thou hast left off sorrowing for the Miseries of the Church of God; and losest much of thy little remaining Time, wherein thou hast many Duties to perform, many Graces to get, and more degrees thereof, many sins to mortifie and subdue, many Temptations to resist, a deceitful Heart to watch and search, Children and Servants to instruct and teach, and holy preparations to be made for Death, and another Eternal World, and while thou sorrowest, all these are neglected. Is it not too much?
By this time, and from these Evidences, O my Soul, art thou not convinced that thy sorrow for thy dead hath been, and still is excessive sorrow? that thou hast and dost transgress the bounds of Christian Moderation, and thereby offend thy holy Lord, wrong thy self, discredit that Religion thou dost profess, discourage the good, and cast a stumbling-block in the way of the ungodly, and wilt thou still proceed herein? Canst not thou sensibly feel the stroke of his hand, and yet patiently submit unto his will? How long wilt thou thus be cast down, how long wilt thou thus be disquieted within me? Is thy Relation fallen asleep, and are thy Graces slumbering? Is thy Faith as dead in thy Heart, as thy Relation is in the Grave? Shall Nature work thus strongly in thee, and Graces so feebly? If natural Affections be ⟨p. 221⟩