bitters our present comforts, and incapacitates us for worshipping and praising God.

.

If it be asserted that these limitations are too precise to be universally applicable, and that, however true they may be as general rules, they will still admit of particular exceptions; who is there that will not plead his title to individual exemption? Who is there that does not fancy his own to be the weightier affliction? Who would not determine his to be the precise circumstances which would admit of excessive sorrow? The great mass of mankind are deceived by their general reception of particular precepts, as speculatively true, which they individually and practically disregard. Thus all men think all men mortal but themselves; they will yield their cordial assent to the sinfulness of human nature, provided their individual freedom from its pollution may be granted; they will acknowledge the danger of certain errors and temptations, to almost all others but themselves. Thus are they deceived, saying, "Peace, peace, when there is no peace;" they lose sight of the immediate connexion of their happiness with the exercise of constant obedience; they busy themselves in discovering the vices and exposing the errors of others, and applying appropriate remedies, while they forget their own heart.

To allow individual exemption from the in

fluence of these restraints, would be to render them perfectly inert; impartial investigation will evince the universality of their application. It may, indeed, be pleaded, that all your hope and joy was bound up and centered in the life of the deceased, that you were abundantly happy in his society, and that, while permitted to enjoy it, you knew no care or sorrow, and wished for no addition to your joy. Yet does not this prove the necessity of the affliction; even because of your inordinate attachment? Perhaps you will conceive that you have no comfort remaining, or you will regret that your friend is removed from a sphere of eminent usefulness, and will fondly imagine that his habitual preparedness for heaven rendered him peculiarly fitted for a longer residence on earth: you will deplore the very short time you enjoyed his society on this wilderness world, and the long and dreary night of mourning and solitude which you have before you.

It would be quite endless to attempt the enumeration of the infinitely varied pleas for immoderate sorrow which the different circumstances of individual mourners will elicit, or to expose the ingenuity by which a thousand protean forms of excuse are invented; yet we shall find that they all resolve themselves into the powerful principle of selfishness.

The desire of present freedom from pain is natural to man; "but should it be according to thy mind?"* Wilt thou, O vain man, contend with Him that formed thee? Wilt thou bring thy judgment into opposition with the decrees of Infinite Wisdom? Shall the short-sighted reasoning of mortality be placed in competition with the determinations of Omniscience? Shall thy blind and foolish self-love be opposed to the designs of Infinite Goodness, and mercy, and love? Wilt thou, a perishing creature, presume to give laws to Omnipotence, and to obtrude thy puny will against His who doth all things well; whose boundless presence fills every heart, and directs every event; who governs all things by his power, and without whose supervision not the smallest circumstance can come to pass? Reflect on the incongruity of such conduct; consider thy situation as his servant, and the perfections of the Almighty Disposer of all things. Seriously recollect, that impatience under his chastening hand is highly offensive. The allwise Jehovah afflicts with the most gracious design; his chastisements are sent on the kindest errands of love. What ingratitude to despise his correction, to murmur at his dispensations, and to be impatient for the removal of affliction

* Job xxxiv. 33.

before it shall have accomplished the end he has proposed! Surely, if we reflect on the compar atively minute section of our lives dedicated to this salutary discipline; if we appreciate the long intervals of ease and prosperity frequently allotted to us, the many comforts with which our darkest hours are interspersed, and the secure refuge from the storm which is provided for our safety and comfort; discontent and impatience will be banished from our bosom, every expression of immoderate grief will be hushed to repose, and our hearts will be animated by affectionate obedience to the will of Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being, and who is infinitely worthy to receive our humble adorations, and our highest ascriptions of praise.

53

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE ADVANTAGES OF SORROW.

A DISTINGUISHING feature of the Christian religion, is the state of trial and of suffering it involves; as the grand mean of perfecting the character of its disciples, bringing out their principles into active exercise, proving their sincerity, purifying their hearts, elevating their affections, chastening and improving their temper and dispositions, and as the prelude to that eternal rest and happiness which are reserved for the people of God, for those who are made perfect through sufferings.

It is indeed true, that religion's "ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are paths of peace." Yet it is equally true, that, to fallen man, the obedience it requires is repugnant, the duties it enforces are painful: and the sufferings inseparably connected with its exercise, so far from communicating peace, serve to excite the angry turbulence of our nature, and to fill the

* Prov. iii. 17.