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,…

Then Lord, I will no longer droop, but hope. Awake my Hope, and let my Sorrow give place to thee. Hope! Oh how sweet is this, how pleasant and delightful? If my Sorrow was as bitter as Gall, this Hope is as sweet as Honey: And this I do begin to feel, the more lively is my Hope of their joyful glorious Resurrection, the more my Sorrow doth abate, tho now for the present ⟨p. 236⟩they be the captives of Death. Indeed had it not been that I had got this Hope, my Heart would break with Grief, but through Grace I have obtained this good hope, and by it my Spirit is revived, my Sorrow is more moderate.

And having this Hope, my Sorrow is turned into desire, and longing for the Day and Coming of my Lord, that all that sleep in Jesus might awake, and their Immortal Souls be clothed with Immortal, glorious Bodies: Oh how much better do I find it, to groan with desires that they might live, and come up out of their Graves, than to groan through grief that they are dead, and cast into them? O Time, make haste and fly with greater speed, that this day of the Coming of the Lord, and rising of the Dead may come! It is approaching, it is approaching, it is nearer by every Day, by every Night, by every Hour that comes and passeth away. As time doth wear away, so let my Sorrow, as to its excess wear off, and that by my desiring instead of sorrowing.

And having this Hope, my Sorrow is turned into desire, and longing for the Day and Coming of my Lord, that all that sleep in Jesus might awake, and their Immortal Souls be cloathed with Immortal, glorious Bodies: Oh how much better do I find it, to groan with desires that they might live, and come up out of their Graves, than to groan thro grief that they are dead, and cast into them? O Time, make haste and flye with greater speed, that this day of the Coming of the Lord, and rising of the Dead may come! It is approaching, it is approaching, it is nearer by every Day, by every Night, by every Hour that comes and passeth away. As time doth wear away, so let my Sorrow, as to its excess wear off, and that by my desiring instead of sorrowing.