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,…

Moreover, consider, O my Soul, whose State thou hast more reason to lament and bewail, thine own, or the state of the Soul of thy Relation that was converted and sanctified, that did repent and believe, before Death made the separation betwixt thee ⟨p. 225⟩and her, or betwixt her Body and her Soul? Dost thou not believe that her Soul being absent from her Body, is now present with the Lord? and being so, is perfectly freed from all sin, sorrow, Temptation, Inclination to sin, and from a possibility of sinning? and is possessed of all good, filled with all Joy, perfect in the Knowledge of God and Christ, and in Love to, and Delight in all the Persons in the (to us) unsearchable Trinity? Whilst thou thy self art grieving, groaning under the Burden of remaining sins, conflicting with Satan and the Powers of Darkness, clogged with the Flesh, and ensnared with the Allurements and Affrightments of this evil and deluding World? Thou in a state imperfect and Militant, the Soul of thy Relation in a state perfect and Triumphant? Is it not thy frequent Doubts and Fears whether thou lovest God, and whether God loveth thee, with a differencing, special and peculiar Love? Are they not thy often Complaints, that thou hast but little Enjoyment of God and Communion with him in his Ordinances, and sometimes none at all? That thou seekest God but canst not see him, and searchest for him but canst not find him? That thou goest from Meditation to Prayer, from Praying to Hearing, from Hearing to attending upon •im at his Table, and after all, thy sorrowful ⟨p. 226⟩saying is, I sought him whom my Soul loveth and longeth for, I sought him, but I could not find him? That thy Sin had interposed betwixt thy God and thee, and caused him to hide his Face from thee? Were not these the Complaints also of thy Relation, while with thee, and didst not thou endeavour to satisfy her grieved and disconsolate Spirit, by reason of Gods frequent withdrawings from her Soul, and labouredst to resolve her Doubts, to remove her Fears, and to answer all the Objections she did make about the Sincerity of her Love to Christ? And is her separated, saved, glorified Soul now above all these Doubts, and Fears, and Jealousies? Is it now above Hope, and Desire, because possessed of what it hoped for, and desired after? Is it now perfectly Loving, and delightfully Praising of its Lord and Saviour?