Thirdly, To make it serious. Sorrows gather the soul together, and make it more itself : a man cometh to himself in his grief. Usually God taketh this course with his people ; though they begin in the flesh they end in the spirit. Sorrow maketh reason to stand still. Solomon speaketh of bethinking themselves in the land of tlieir afflic- tions, 1 Kings viii. 47. Jolly persons are slight, never think upon anything. Those that wallowed in pleasures did put far away the day of the Lord, Amos vi. 3. Till the prodigal was tamed by outward grief and want, he never had thoughts of returning. They that did not grieve when God struck them, Jer. v. 3, refused to receive correc- tion. The more sorrowful the mind is, the more serious. Sorrow drieth up all those swimming thoughts and pleasing imaginations by which men drive away their time and divert tlieir care ; and there- fore there is a great deal of benefit comes by it; it puts the soul in an advantageous way of receiving good.
Fourthly, This would double the affliction, not to grieve for such things as nearly touch us. To break the bent and course of nature is daugerous ; affections, when strongly stirred, must have their exei-cise, for fear of greater harms. It is an case sometimes to mourn ; strangled grief chokes the heart. 1 Sam. xxv. 37, Nabal's heart became as a «tone within him when he heard tidings that mightily affected him ; it had been better he had wept and mourned, as chirurgeons first let the sore soften before they begin to draw it. Job ii. 13, Job's friends said not a word to him the first seven days, ' for they saw that his grief was great;' they Ice sorrow have its course for a while. Stop floods in their full career, and they rage and swell ; when the death of a near friend hsth opened the sluices, let the waters play a little in the channel till it be calmer; passions spend and tire themselves in their exercise ; grief is sometimes eased by the expression of it. There
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is reason too for it, if that of Cardan be true, that a heavy lieart is eased by nothing so much as by sighs and tears ; because tears empty the liead of some vapours with which it is surcharged, and sighs lighten the heai't of some fuliginous damps that oppress it. These are nature's offers for ease ; you see the reasons.
2. What grief and sorrow this is that God alloweth and approveth. Wliat is sinful grief I shall show you in the next point : here what is lawful and required.
I answer — Not every sorrow, for there is XvTrr) Trpo? ddvarov, as well as 7r/909 debv, a godly sorrow and a worldly sorrow : 2 Cor. vii. 10, ' Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of : but the sorrow of the world worketh death.' In the general it must be a godly sorrow. In these respects : —
[1.] You must see somewhat of God in the affliction. It is a motive this on both, hands, both to sensibleness and patience, that it is from God : Heb. xii. 5, ' My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,' because it is from God. A man slights every ordinary chance, but when it is from God, then it worketh more effectual upon the spirit. As we see in the case of the Philistines, 1 Sam. vi. 9. If that stroke that happened upon them were a chance, they would trouble themselves no further about it, but if it were from the God of Israel, they would advise about sending home the ark.
[2.] It must be serviceable sorrow, to set you the nearer to God. Sorrow is of the nature of those things that are required, not for them- selves, but 7rpo<f dWo, for some farther thing. You must not rest in your sorrow, but make use of it, that it may work kindly, employ it about the work of the sanctuary. Do not cherish your affections for their own sakes, but so as they may be helpful to the soul. Do not go about to still the affection, to think that is all that is required ; let it do the soul service, and be glad you have your hearts under such an advantage. You know how Joshua served the Gibeonites ; he did not slay them, but condemned them to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for the sanctuary. Grief and sorrow, well managed, will make a good drawer of water for the sanctuary. Make your sorrow your servant now to draw water for you, to make you smart and bleed for a good use and purpose. There is a gracious promise to them that sow in tears : Ps. cxxvi. 5, ' They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy/ Now we are in tears, but we do not sow tears ; tears are not seed, we have not the crop. But what shall we do to make them seed ? Spirit- ualise them, make them spiritual tears ; let the water run in a holy channel, and then, like the waters of the sanctuary, they will be heal- ing waters. The death of a friend, though never so dear to us, will never cause any but carnal tears ; they minister a good occasion of mourning, but they do not minister a cause and ground of mourning ; it is good to distinguish between the cause and the occasion. At such a time God calleth for more than ordinary sensibleness and sorrow ; but not because he hath declared his pleasure concerning our friends ; that is murmuring, not mourning. We should take this occasion in- deed, but our sorrow should work upon a spiritual ground and object.