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where a Man is not allowed so much as to laugh, or to fay any thing but Frater memento mori, for feveral Years together. This would be to turn Society into a dumb Shew, to make Life a Burthen; and withal, to bring an ill Report upon the good Land of Promise, and to difcourage Men from the Chriftian Religion. But that which I ftand for is this, That we ought not fo to give our felves over to Secular Mirth and Jollity, but that we are ftill to remember that we are in the Vale of Tears; that there is a Time for Mourning, as well as for Rejoicing; and that this is that Time, now we are in our Exile, and in the midft of Dangers and Fears; and that therefore Sorrow muft fometimes have its Turn, as well as Joy; and that there is fucha Thing as Chriftian Mourning.

Nor need we be troubled, that we have discovered fuch an ungrateful Duty, fince there is a Beatitude annexed to it. But because, as was before remarked, all manner of Mourning will not come within its Compafs; it will concern us, in the fecond place, to confider who these Chriftian Mourners are. This, I think, cannot be refolved by any better Measure, than by confidering, what are the true and proper Causes why a Chriftian ought to mourn. Now to this I shall answer,

:

I. In General.

II. In Particular.

In General, I fay; that then a Chriftian mourns for a due and proper Caufe, when the Principle of his Sorrow is either Zeal for the Honour and Glory of God, or a Concern for the Good of Mankind: Nothing Iefs than this can either deferve his Sorrow, or derive any Virtue or Excellency upon it. So that, in fhort, Piety and Charity will be the two Principles, into which all true Chriftian Mourning must be at last refolved.

But because this may be exemplified in variety of Inftances, it will not be amifs to confider fome of the more remarkable of them. I answer therefore more particularly, That one very proper and reafonable Cause why a Chriftian fhould mourn, is, the Confideration of Sin. For a Man to confider feriously, what a great and ftrange kind of Evil Sin is; how contrary to God; to his Nature, to his Will, to his Commands, to his Goodness, to his Juftice, to the wife Order of his Grace and Providence, and especially to the great Mystery of Godliness: Then to confider, how contrary it is to Man; to his Nature, to his Reafon, to his Rational Inftincts and Inclinations, to his inward Peace and Satisfaction; and laftly, to his Intereft, both Temporal and Spiritual, Private and Publick, Present and Future: Then again,

2V.p.65.

to confider, how prone we are to commit it, and that we our felves are the Authors of this Proneness: And Laftly, How much of this great, ftrange Evil there is in the World; how Iniquity abounds, and the Love of many waxes cold; that the whole World, as 5. St. John fays, Joh. 5. 19. lies in wickedness; o that there are but few that pretend to any Strictness or Regularity of Living, and yet fewer that discharge their Pretenfions truly and fincerely. I fay, For a Man to confider all this, to confider it feriously and thoroughly, must needs be a fad Scene of Contemplation, and fuch as will justly call for his Sorrow and Mourning. It was fo to God himself, who is brought in by Mofes as grieved at his very Heart, for the Abundance of Wickedness which he beheld in the Old World. And I question not, but that, among the bitter Ingredients of our Lord's Paffion, this was none of the leaft; to foresee that there would be fo many, who by their final Impenitence, and perfevering in Wickednefs, would receive no Benefit from it. And, if we may judge by Proportion, the Angels in Heaven, who rejoice at the Converfion of one Sinner, do alfo mourn and lament for the irreclaimable Wickedness of fo many Millions as are in the World. 'Tis a Thing worth our Confidering, and worth our Lamenting. And therefore fays the Pfalmift,

Pfal.

Pfal. 119. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, becaufe men keep not thy law. And again, It grieveth me when I fee the tranfgreffors. This is a vertuous and laudable Sorrow, as proceeding from a good and noble Principle, from Piety and Charity: And he that mourns upon this Confideration, is a true Chriftian Mourner.

Again, Secondly, Another very proper and reasonable Cause, why a Chriftian should mourn, is the Confideration of the Miseries of Human Life. 'Tis a moit deplorable thing, to confider what a deal, and what Variety of Mifery, there is in the World at once. Many Things muft concur, to make us tolerably happy; but one Thing alone is oftentimes enough to make us very miferable. And how unhappy then muft Human Life be, among fuch a Multitude of Evils as are incident to it! I fhall not go about to re-count or defcribe them: They are too many to be number'd, and too various to be reduced to any Method. This only I fay, That should a Man, by fome compendious Device, have an united Profpect of the Miseries of the World, as our Saviour, by the Devil's Artifice, had of the Glories of it; 'twould be the most dismal Landscape that ever was drawn, or can be imagined. 'Twas for this that fome of the Ancients reckoned an early Death among the greatest Bleffings of Heaven. Quem

D 3

Quem Dii diligunt, Adolefcens moritur, The Favourite of the Gods dies young, fays the Comedian. But Solomon goes farther, Ecelef. 6. and prefers an untimely Birth before a Man that has spent many Years in this World. To be fhort; Such is our Condition here, that we fee, God has not thought fit to truft us with the leaft Fore-knowledge of what is coming upon us, left, like Men upon a deep Precipice, we fhould be amazed, confounded, and fall down at the dreadful Profpect. And if the private Circumstances of each fingle Man's Life be fo black and difconfolate, that 'tis thought fit he fhould fee no farther than he goes; what fhall we think of the Miseries of all Mankind put together? If any thing be worth our Sorrow, certainly this is. Our compaffionate Saviour wept over the approaching Ruin of perifhing Jerufalem: And Thall not a Chriftian mourn for the Miferies of the whole World? We fuspect the Good Nature of him that can endure to fit out a deep Tragedy with dry Eyes: And can we ftand and look upon a miserable World without mourning? There are some Men of Rocky Hearts, and impaffible Tempers, that could stand by, and see the whole World in Flames without any Concern, were but their own little felves fecure from the Ruin. And this fome are pleased to call Philofophy. But certainly, Chriftian Charity, that

obliges