A

TRIBUTE OF SYMPATHY,

ADDRESSED TO

MOURNERS.

BY W. NEWNHAM, ESQ.

What sorrow was, thou bad'st him know:
And from his own, he learn'd to melt at other's wo.
GRAY'S Ode to Adversity.

Happy the man who sees a God employed
In all the good and ill that chequer life;
Resolving all events, with their effects

And manifold results, into the will

And arbitration wise of the Supreme.

COWPER.

First American, from the Sixth London Edition.

NEW-YORK:

PUBLISHED BY swords, stanford, and Co.

No. 152 Broadway.

-03477

HARVARD ESTET

DEC 23 1902
LIBRARY

S. A. Green,

NEW-YORK:

PRINTED BY EDWARD J. SWORDS,
No. 8 Thames-street.

PREFACE.

WHEN an Author ventures to communicate his reflections to the Public, it is surely required of him, that he at least should be convinced of the necessity as well as the value of what he has to offer. Candour demands that he should be actuated by no sinister or unworthy motive; but that the governing principle of his conduct should be a simple desire to convey instruction or amusement to mankind at large. And when he ventures to select the same field of moral observation and inquiry that others have previously chosen; when he professes to believe there yet remain many beauties unexplored in the same tract, and indulges the hope that he can throw a new and more pleasing light on truths which others have investigated before him; it is justly asked on what ground he rests his claim to public attention, and why he conceives it necessary to add another to the countless multitude of ephemeral productions.

To the question, why the author has resolved on publishing his sentiments, he would briefly reply, that his determination has arisen from the firm conviction that such a work was still a desideratum to the mourner. Sustaining this character himself, by the removal of his nearest and dearest relatives, he was induced, in his hours of solitude, to seek that sympathy, instruction, and support, which his situation required, from the pen of those who had written professedly on the subject. It is true, that much which is kind, and useful, and excellent, is to be found in these little books; but it is equally true, (at least so it proved in his own case,) that no one, nor indeed all combined, are exactly suited to the wants and fears, the cares and sorrows, of the genuine mourner. He would desire fully to appreciate the valuable labours of those who have preceded him, but still he would consider "A Tribute of Sympathy, addressed to Mourners," as desirable; and with parental fondness he would conceive the present little work calculated, in some measure, të supply the existing deficiency.

During a season of sorrow the mind is softened, and prepared to receive the instruction which may be derived from its present circumstances. But to gain access to the heart, to engage the attention, and awaken the judgment to the arduous duties which the afflicted are invited to perform, it is necessary that their sorrows

should be soothed, that their anguish should be respected, their feelings participated, their anxieties allayed, and their distress alleviated. The eye suffused with tears is incapable of perusing and deriving advantage from the intrinsically excellent, but frigid declamations of the uninterested observer. The wounded heart must be healed, and the tearful eye must first be dried, by the tenderest sympathy, ere it can attend to the lessons of instruction. The troubled bosom must be calmed, before it can be animated with the genial glow of resignation to the will of God, or be enabled to appropriate the important truths conveyed in this gloomy and mysterious providence; before it can appreciate the duties connected with its situation, or realize the prospects of mercy and comfort with which it is surrounded. And since the mind, oppressed with care, will very soon become fatigued with simple argumentative disquisitions, in which, oftentimes, it can scarcely feel an interest; it is devoutly to be wished, that truth should be conveyed in a style so pleasing and so chaste as to engage the understanding, while it wins its way to the heart. And though the author laments most sincerely that his situation, and constant professional engagements, disqualify him for the task of gratifying the refined taste of individuals, who may possibly honour him with a perusal of his work; yet he trusts that he has in some measure