The price at which the volume is offered, considering the superior style of its typography, and the additional expense of embellishment, will be sufficient proof that gain is not the author's object. He has printed it in a handsome form, and at a cheap rate, with the hope that it may be adopted, as a suitable present to the bereaved, by those who desire to offer a delicate expression of their Christian sympathy. And should it obtain frequent access to the House of Mourning, and be rendered useful there, in imparting just views and right principles, the end he has proposed will be fully answered. CONTENTS. SYMPATHY, its nature and sources; its objects, mankind, especially sincere Christians-Its occasions-Its subjects - Scripture examples - Qualifications for its right exercise-Its beneficent effects-Particular application to cases of Sorrow the effect of sin-Bereavement the greatest of earthly sorrows --The circumstances of the bereaved, especially as they attach to the affections, the memory, the faculties of imagination and association-Salutary influence of well-regulated sorrow-When sorrow is excessive and sinful...... As they relate to himself—Attention to Divine intimations -- Reflection Contrition and return-Reconciliation to God, its way, means, and effects- Submission and acquiescence-Vigilant sanctity of future life-As they relate to others-His family, more distant friends-As they relate to the dead-Respect The natural tendencies of bereavement -Their effects in conjunction with convictions of sin, pungent sense of guilt, and dread of its consequences- Application of God's method of grace-Activity of the mourner's mind in discovering occasions of self-reproach, and aggravations of distress, particu- larly those which refer to the spiritual state of the departed General benefits of affliction- Preparing the heart for holy impressions-- Aiding the progress of piety-Checking sinful propensities, and reclaiming the wanderer-Inciting to prayer-Preventing particular sins-Giving exercise and improvement to religious affections-Divesting the world of its blandishments— The Divine supremacy-Our own deserts -Our circumstances contrasted with those of others -Our afflictions compared with our mercies-Examples of suffering saints, especially that of the suffering Redeemer-Our ignorance of the tendency and future results of affliction-The brevity of the Christian's Revelation sheds light on the future-Death not the extinction of mind- The condition of believers after death one of comparative happiness and intellectual improvement-God, the Christian's perpetual source of happiness - The connexion still subsisting between the pious on earth, and the blessed Happy re-union with departed saints-Mutual recognition-The inter- mediate state, one of advancing knowledge, holiness, and happiness-The resurrection completes the blessedness of believers-The deliverance of creation SYMPATHY; OR THE MOURNER ADVISED AND CONSOLED. INTRODUCTION. SYMPATHY is a duty binding on every human being, and when properly discharged, is of great practical benefit. It is, in the region of mind, what the law of gravitation is in the region of matter; it links man to his species, and makes the happiness of another his own. It arises out of the constitution of our nature, and the several relations in which we stand to each other in our social and collective capacity. The bare narration of distress excites our tender commiseration, and prompts us, so far as our ability extends, to communicate relief. We can neither read nor hear of the losses of others, and the deep grief into which they are unexpectedly plunged, without having the softer chords of the heart touched and moved. How much more are our sympathies awakened, and our charities called forth, by the sight of distress! We approach the B sick bed with an air of soft and melting pity; we patiently listen to the tale of neglected, pining poverty; we mingle our tears with mourning relatives, as they surround the grave of their departed friend; and, in the presence of the bereaved, we maintain a becoming silence, or speak in a subdued tone, and breathe a chastened spirit. The sympathies of nature, drawn forth by scenes of sorrow and objects of distress, are refined and exalted by religion. They receive a fresh and holy impulse, and are directed to nobler and more spiritual uses, from those new principles which are implanted in the hearts of such as are the happy recipients of divine grace. In the Christian, they are not dead to the woes of suffering humanity; nor are they inactive in leading to the adoption of means for the melioration of the wretched temporal condition of our fellow-creatures. He is grieved for the affliction of Joseph; he deals out his bread to the hungry, listens to the widow's prayer, and wipes away the orphan's tears; and he is "pained in his very heart" for the sorrows which he cannot relieve. And yet, viewing all natural evils as the just consequence of sin, and only to be lightened by the influence of genuine piety, he feels most for the moral condition of his species, sighs over their ruin, and labours for their salvation. Nor is the sympathy of the Christian that sentimental, sickly feeling, which will weep at the representation of calamity, and the recital of fictitious woe, while it has no tears to shed |