Wifdona the Strength of the Mind. Io3 What I have faid on this head, (heweth SE R M. in a great meafure the ftrength of the wife IV man againft forrow, fo that it will not be neceífary to infift upon it ; we have no more to do than alter the fcene, to transfer the calamities of life from the profpet to the incumbency of them ; and that which fup- ports the mind againft the one, will be alfo a relief againft the other. The reafons why afflicting occurences are often fo (hocking to men that life finketh un- der the burden and pineth away in mifery, are, that we over-value the good things of which they deprive us ; for in proportion to the affec- tion of defire, fo will the grief always be ; and becaufe they are inflamed with an appre- henfion of God's wrath, and the conciouf- nefs of guilt maketh them to be confidered as penal infli &ions of his juftice, on which account deliverance is defpaired of, Nay, the melancholy view of the mourner is lengthned out to the utmoft duration of his being, that is, to eternity. Againft all this, religious virtue is the fovereign and univerfal relief; it reprefenteth a more fubftantial en- joyment to counterballance the prefent pain, a reconciled God and an approving confcience, as a perpetual fpring of joy, and an eternal H 4 weight
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