whom chastisements do not bend, judgments will break where a lesser trial fails to soften and subdue the heart, greater evils are often sent, and those, too, in rapid succession, to accomplish the desired end. On the other hand, to lose our courage-to abandon ourselves to sinful distrust and despair, is to cherish unworthy thoughts of the character and government of God, and to abandon our confidence in his unchangeable wisdom and love. We forget that,

as the Father of our mercies, he maintains, in the whole human family, a system of judicious and salutary discipline; that all the strokes of his hand are intended as correctives for sin, or incentives to holiness; and that the love of the world, and an overweening attachment to life, can only be subdued in us by the sad experience of their vanity and nothingness. So far, therefore, from questioning the divine goodness in affliction, halting in the march of Christian duty, or casting away our confidence, which hath great recompense of reward, we ought to encourage ourselves in the Lord our God, and wait the development of his will. To despise the chastening of the Lord is practical atheism; and to faint when we are rebuked of him is sinful distrust.

CHAPTER II.

THE MOURNER'S DUTIES.

But O, it had a most convincing tongue,

A potent oratory, that secured

Most mute attention: and it spoke the truth

So boldly, plainly, perfectly distinct,

That none the meaning could mistake, or doubt;
And had withal a disenchanting power,
A most omnipotent and wondrous power,
Which in a moment broke, for ever broke,
And utterly dissolved, the charms, and spells,
And cunning sorceries of Earth and Hell.

POLLOK.

WHEN the Almighty speaks to us in his providence, it is our duty intently to listen and implicitly obey. Every afflictive dispensation of his hand is designed to co-operate with the methods of his grace; and by giving to us a practical proof of the evil of sin, the frailty of man, and the vanity of the world, to direct our attention to the great remedy which the gospel exhibits for human woe, engage us in the ardent pursuit of our soul's salvation, and fill us with the bright hopes of a glorious immortality. When he speaks by the stroke of death, the tone which he

assumes is deep and powerful; and, breaking through the silence which broods over the dead, and uttered from the dreary solitude of the grave, it is fearfully solemn, and awfully impressive. If, on mere animated nature, “the voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of Majesty; breaking the cedars, dividing the flames of fire, shaking the wilderness, and making the hinds to calve;" how ought it to awaken the attention, and excite the emotions, of every human heart! The prophet, in denouncing the judgments of God on his ancient people, the Jews, enjoins them, "Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it."

Too many, alas! stop their ears against the revealed intimations of the Divine will and the loud admonitions of Divine providence. The Almighty speaks once, yea, twice; but they observe not the work of the Lord, neither regard the operation of his hands. The revolution of day and night, the changing seasons, the vicissitudes of life, the ravages which disease and time are making on their own constitution, together with the dying beds and opening graves of many with whom they were distantly acquainted, have reminded them of their frailty and mortality, and have urged them to seek another home, provide a more perfect life, and secure a more enduring habitation. And, when these have failed to break their slumbers and disturb their golden dreams, death has entered their domestic circle, severed their dearest bonds, and destroyed their fairest comforts,

and sometimes in a manner the most sudden and unexpected. Still the sleep into which sin has thrown them is so profound, that they can see the companion of their social hours removed, and the flower of their hopes cut down, without entertaining one fear of their own safety, or putting forth one exertion to flee from the wrath to come. They consider death as the necessity of nature, rather than the just consequence of sin; as the close of present sufferings, rather than the commencement of a new and untried state of existence.

And even among the number of those who are impressed with the scenes of death, and whose minds are disposed to reflection, how many are there who dissipate serious thought, and quench convictions, by avoiding retirement, mixing in society, engaging the eye with new scenes, and the heart with new objects, plunging into the fascinating pleasures of the world, or the engrossing pursuits of business! Such a course is often suggested to the mourner, by ill-judging and mistaken friends. Ignorant alike of his real malady, and of the sure relief which the gospel has provided, they direct him to false and dangerous remedies, which, like stimulants administered to the patient in a raging fever, may give him artificial strength, and disorder his imagination, but will fatally prey on his moral constitution, and terminate in all the horrors of the second death. A man cannot always be in society; fresh scenes will soon become familiar, pleasure will satiate, and

business fatigue; and when the element which has given an unnatural buoyancy to the spirits has been removed, they sink to a depth of uneasiness and despondency proportionate to the undue elevation which they had reached. It is not in the power of any earthly good to give peace to the troubled mind. Whoever seeks happiness in any other way than that of reconciliation to God, and the enjoyment of him as our highest good, observes lying vanities, and forsakes his own mercies: he sows the wind, and reaps the whirlwind.

"Who sought it else,

Sought mellow grapes beneath the icy pole;
Sought blooming roses on the cheek of death;
Sought substance in a world of fleeting shades."

It is, therefore, the duty of the mourner, while the hand of the Lord is heavy upon him, and the wound which has been inflicted is still fresh and bleeding, to avoid that society which may divert his attention from the concerns of the soul and eternity, and conscientiously to abstain from the unnecessary cares of the world, and much more from the beguiling pleasures of life. The season of bereavement is one of deep humiliation, serious reflection, anxious inquiry, and diligent improvement and whatever tends to divert the mind from these important exercises will ensnare and endanger the soul. Home retirement - the closet

the

domestic circle-receiving the occasional visit of a the ordinances of the sanctuary

Christian friend