Blessed are they that mourn

And thus the scripture is fulfilled: "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4). For it is easy to believe that, though sorrow may go before this witness of God's Spirit with our spirit, and indeed must, in some degree, while we groan under fear and a sense of the wrath of God abiding on us, yet as soon as any man feels it in himself, his sorrow is turned into joy (John 16:20).

Whatever his pain may have been before, yet as soon as that hour has come, he remembers the anguish no more (John 16:21), for joy that he is born of God. It may be that many of you have sorrow now, because you are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, because you are conscious that you do not have this Spirit, that you are without hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).

But when the Comforter has come, then your heart shall rejoice. Yes, your joy shall be full (John 16:24), and that joy no one takes from you (John 16:22). "We rejoice in God," you will say, "through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement (Romans 5:11), by whom we have access into this grace," (Romans 5:2) this state of grace, of favor, of reconciliation with God, "in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

You, Saint Peter says, whom God has begotten again to a living hope, "are kept by the power of God to salvation (1 Peter 1:5). In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through many kinds of temptations (1 Peter 1:6), so that the trial of your faith may be found to praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7). In him, though now you do not see him, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8).

Unspeakable indeed. It is not for the tongue of man to describe this joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17). It is hidden manna (Revelation 2:17), which no one knows except the one who receives it. But this we know: it not only remains, but overflows, in the depth of affliction. Are the consolations of God small (Job 15:11) with his children, when all earthly comforts fail? Not so. When sufferings most abound, the consolations of his Spirit abound much more, so much that the sons of God laugh at destruction (Job 5:22) when it comes, at want, at pain, at hell, and at the grave. They know him who has the keys of death and hell (Revelation 1:18), and will shortly cast death and hell into the bottomless pit. They hear even now the great voice out of heaven, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Revelation 21:3). And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying (Revelation 21:4). Neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things have passed away.