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even high gamers have been known to put an end to their existence through mere vexation. Sometimes it has been occasioned, through the loss, or the apprehension of losing the favour of man, or the empty honour of the world; and the chagrin has either preyed upon their spirits, so as to bring on incurable diseases, or they have laid violent hands on themselves. Such appears to have been the case with Ahithophel when his counsel was counteracted by Hushai. When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose and got him home to his house in his city, and put his household in order and hanged himself. (a) Here we see the sorrow of the world and its effects.

THE same may be said of Judas, when he saw our blessed Saviour was in the hands of his enemies, and that they had condemn ed him, and that he was likely to suffer, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood And cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. (b) Such is the sorrow of the world, and such are its effects; there was sorrow in both those rebels, but it was the sorrow of the world, and which wrought despair and death.

(a) Sam. xvii. 23. (b) Matt. xxxii. 3, 4, 5.

BUT, on the other hand, there is a godly sorrow, and such are called mourners in Zion; and whom our gracious Lord pronounced blessed, and declares they shall be comforted. Of this description we find David to have been. Look into the 6th, 38th, and 51st Psalms, the very language of which groans, even the attentive reader can feel it. Such a mourner was Hezekiah. Hear his plaintive language. Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter; I did mourn as a dove, O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me. (a) Of this discription of mourners we may very justly reckon the weeping Jeremiah. (b) Read over his lamentations, where every sentence is a tear, and the whole, like Ezekiel's roll, full of lamentation and woe. Of the same de scription we may reckon Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel. (c) These were true mourners in Zion. They hanged their harps upon the willows, and wept bitterly over the sins and miseries of their country. Nor must we forget, even poor weeping Peter; who though he had sinned grievously, yet he wept bitterly. Nay, the great apostle Paul was a man of tears; his cruelly persecuting the church had left such a scar, even in his pardoned soul, that he felt it to the latest moments of his life. And how did he weep

(a) Isa. xxxviii. 14.
(c) See Ezra ix

(b) Jer. ix. 1, 2. Neh. ix. Dan. ix.

and mourn over such as had sinned, so that he wrote in tears.

Now such are the mourners under consideration; their great object is before their eyes in him whom they pierced, that is, a crucified Saviour.

1. IF we had some dear friend who had undergone a long series of distress, of labour, poverty, pain and shame, terminated in a lingering, painful and cruel death, how should we feel ourselves? Would it not pierce us to the quick? But if we had been the cause of all that inconceivable anguish ; nay, had we in frantic madness been the actual perpetrators of those cruelties, what anguish and distress must ensue? How did Joseph's brethren reproach themselves for the barbarities inflicted upon an innocent brother? Verily, said they, we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us; and we would not hear: therefore this distress is come upon us. (a) Now they looked upon him whom they had pierced, and they mourned. The application is easy, only the comparison is far too weak. And indeed no comparison can fully illustrate the matter in hand, or adequately set forth the sufferings of him who bore our sins and carried our sorrows. Each believing soul may cry out,

(a) Gen. xlii. 21.

"Beneath my load he faints and dies,
"I fill'd his soul with pangs unknown;
"I caus'd those mortal groans and cries,
"I kill'd the Father's only Son."

2. ANOTHER cause of this mourning is that, they resisted the calls of the divine sufferer so long. They had been like the deaf adder which stoppeth his ears, and will not hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. It is true, the times of ignorance he winked it; yet they can accuse themselves of being wilfully ignorant, seeing they have had so many opportunities of instruction; yea, and checks, from the ever blessed Spirit, by which they might have been guided into all truth; but pleasure, or worldly care, or carnal company, or self-sufficiency, engaged their attention and kept them still in open arms of rebellion against him who died for them. They can but regret the time mispent, or worse than mispent; so that if they could weep tears of blood, the sorrow would be inadequate to the offence. O my dear hearers, and even my young hearers, let the time past more than suffice that you have wrought the will of the gentiles. Turn even now, to him with weeping and wailing, and supplication; rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to him who died for you. He, even now, stands at the door and knocks; if any man hear his voice and open the door he will readily enter in.

3. It is matter of godly sorrow that we

have served the friend of sinners no better, since we had some acquaintance with him. I doubt the greater part of us have loitered on our way, and are not so far on our journey as we might have been. May not that charge be justly applied, Of the rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. (a) Heavy charge! Forgotten him! who says, he cannot forget us! though a woman may forget her sucking child. Nay, but he has engraven the believing soul on the palms of his hands; and ought not that to nail our affections to his cross for ever!

BUT hearken, my brethren, what are the returns which you have made him? Perhaps coldness and indifference, attachment to the world and the things of the world: base ingratitude, heart-hardness, foolish wanderings, even in duty, and backwardness to that duty. Instead of thankfulness, murmuring; instead of mourning, trifling; instead of fervent zeal, sluggishness; and instead of brokenness of heart a carnal mind oft rising against purity of heart; so that not only the outward eruptions, but the inward state often gives pain till it is destroyed; and every thing brought in subjection to the Son of God; till he sits upon his throne making all things new.

In the mean time the souls of the righte

(a) Deut. ii,

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