A39690:62
A token for mourners, or, The advice of Christ to a distressed mother bewailing…
A token for mourners, or, The advice of Christ to a distressed mother bewailing the death of her dear and only son wherein the boundaries of sorrow are duly fixed, excesses restrained, the common pleas answered, and divers rules for the support of Gods afflicted ones prescribed / by J.F.
London: printed for Robert Boulter, 1674
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.
To this purpose the Apostle exhorts, Heb. 12. 5, My Son despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither faint when thou art rebuked of him. These are two extremes, despising, and fainting: when God is correcting, to say, I do not regard it, let God take all if he will; if my estate must go, let it go; if my children die, let them dye: this is to despise the Lords chastening: and God cannot bear it, that we should bear it thus lightly.
To this purpose the Apostle exhorts, Heb. 12. 5, My Son despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither faint when thou art rebuked of him. These are two extreams, despising, and fainting: when God is correcting, to say, I do not regard it, let God take all if he will; if my estate must go, let it go; if my children dy, let them dye: this is to despise the Lords chastening: and God cannot bear it, that we should bear it thus lightly.
There is also another extreme, and that is Fainting: if when goods are taken away, the heart be taken away, and when children dye, then the spirit of the Parent dyes also; this is fainting under the rod. Thou lamentest (saith Seneca) thy deceased friend, but I would not have thee grieve beyond what is meet: That thou shouldst not grieve at all, I dare not require thee; tears may be excused, if they do not exceed: Let thine eyes therefore be neither wholly dry, nor yet let them overflow; Weep thou mayest, but Wail thou must not.
There is also another extream, and that is Fainting: if when goods are taken away, the heart be taken away, and when children dye, then the spirit of the Parent dyes also; this is fainting under the rod. Thou lamentest (saith Seneca) thy deceased friend, but I would not have thee grieve beyond what is meet: That thou shouldst not grieve at all, I dare not require thee; tears may be excused, if they do not exceed: Let thine eyes therefore be neither wholly dry, nor yet let them overflow; Weep thou maist, but Wayle thou must not.