The Beatitudes - Thomas Watson
The comforts belonging to mourners
Having
already presented to your view the dark side of the text, I shall now show you
the light side, `They shall be comforted'.
Where
observe:
1. Mourning
goes before comfort as the lancing of a wound precedes the cure. The Antinomian
talks of comfort, but cries down mourning for sin. He
is like a foolish patient who, having a pill prescribed him, licks the sugar
but throws away the pill. The libertine is all for joy and comfort. He licks
the sugar but throws away the bitter pill of repentance. If ever we have true comfort we must have it in God's way and method. Sorrow for
sin ushers in joy: `I will restore comforts to him, and to his mourners'. {Isa 57:18} That is the true sunshine
of joy which comes after a shower of tears. We may as well expect a crop
without seed, as comfort without gospel-mourning.
2. Observe
that God keeps his best wine till last. First he
prescribes mourning for sin and then sets abroach the
wine of consolation. The devil does quite contrary. He shows the best first and
keeps the worst till last. First, he shows the wine sparkling in the glass,
then comes the `biting of the serpent'. {Pr
23:32} Satan sets his dainty dishes before men. He presents
sin to them coloured with beauty, sweetened with
pleasure, silvered with profit, and then afterwards the sad reckoning is
brought in. He showed Judas first the silver bait, and then struck him with the
hook. This is the reason why sin has so many followers, because it shows the
best first. First, the golden crowns, then comes the lions' teeth. {Re 9:7,Re
9:8}
But God shows
the worst first. First he prescribes a bitter portion,
and then brings a cordial, `They shall be comforted.'
3. Observe,
gospel tears are not lost; they are seeds of comfort. While the penitent pours
out tears, God pours in joy. If you would be cheerful (says Chrysostom), be
sad. `They that sow in tears shall reap in joy'. {Ps
126:5} It was the end of Christ's anointing and coming into the
world, that he might comfort them that mourn. {Isa
61:3} Christ had the oil of gladness poured on him (as Chrysostom
says) that he might pour it upon the mourner. Well then may the apostle call it
`a repentance not to be repented of'. {2Co
7:10} A man's drunkenness is to be repented of; his uncleanness is
to be repented of; but his repentance is never to be repented of, because it is
the inlet to joy. `Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.'
Here is sweet fruit from a bitter stock. Christ caused the earthen vessels to
be filled with water, and then turned the water into wine. {Joh
2:9} So when the eye, that earthen vessel, has been filled with
water brimful, then Christ will turn the water of tears into the wine of joy.
Holy mourning, says Basil, is the seed out of which the flower of eternal joy
grows.
The reason
why the mourner shall be comforted is:
(i) Because mourning is made on purpose for this end.
Mourning is not prescribed for itself but that it may lead on to something
else, that it may lay a train for comfort. Therefore we sow in tears that we
may reap in joy. Holy mourning is a spiritual medicine. Now a medicine is not prescribed
for itself, but for the sake of health. So gospel-mourning is appointed for
this very end, to bring forth joy.
(ii) The
spiritual mourner is the fittest person for comfort. When the heart is broken
for sin, now it is fittest for joy. God pours the golden oil of comfort into
broken vessels. The mourner's heart is emptied of pride and God fills the empty
with his blessing. The mourner's tears have helped to purge out corruption, and
after purging physic God gives a julep. The mourner is ready to faint away
under the burden of sin, and then the bottle of strong water comes seasonably.
The Lord would have the incestuous person (upon his deep humiliation) to be
comforted, lest `he should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow'. {2Co 2:7}
This is the
mourner's privilege: `He shall be comforted'. The valley of tears brings the
soul into a paradise of joy. A sinner's joy brings forth sorrow. The mourner's
sorrow brings forth joy. `Your sorrow shall be turned into joy'. {Joh 16:20} The saints have a wet
seedtime but a joyful harvest. `They shall be comforted'.
Now to
illustrate this, I shall show you what the comforts are the mourners shall
have. These comforts are of a divine infusion, and they are twofold, either
here or hereafter.
They are
called `the consolations of God'; {Job 15:11}
that is, `great comforts', such as none but God can give. They exceed all other
comforts as far as heaven exceeds earth. The root on which these comforts grow
is the blessed Spirit. He is called `the Comforter', {Joh
14:26} and comfort is said to be a `fruit of the Spirit'. {Ga 5:22} Christ purchased peace, and
the Spirit speaks peace.
How does the
Spirit comfort? Either mediately or immediately.
(i) Mediately, by helping us to apply the promises to
ourselves and draw water out of those `wells of salvation'. We lie as dead
children at the breast, till the Spirit helps us to suck the breast of a
promise; and when the Spirit has taught faith this art, now comfort flows in. O
how sweet is the breast-milk of a promise!
(ii) The Spirit
comforts immediately. The Spirit by a more direct act presents God to the soul
as reconciled. It 'sheds his love abroad in the heart', from whence flows
infinite joy. {Ro 5:5} The Spirit secretly whispers
pardon for sin, and the sight of a pardon dilates the heart with joy. `Be of
good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee'. {Mt 9:2}
That I may
speak more fully to this point, I shall show you the qualifications and
excellencies of these comforts which God gives his mourners. These comforts are
real comforts. The Spirit of God cannot witness to that which is untrue. There
are many in this age who pretend to comfort, but their comforts are mere
impostures. The body may as well swell with wind as with flesh. A man may as
well be swelled with false as true comforts. The comforts of the saints are
certain. They have the seal of the Spirit set to them. {2Co
1:22 Eph 1:13} A seal is for confirmation.
When a deed is sealed, it is firm and unquestionable. When a Christian has the
seal of the Spirit stamped upon his heart, now he is confirmed in the love of
God.
Wherein do
these comforts of the Spirit which are unquestionably sure, differ from those
which are false and pretended? Three ways:
First, the
comforts of God's Spirit are laid in deep conviction: `And when he (that is,
the Comforter) is come, he shall reprove (or, as the Greek word is, he shall
convince) the world of sin'. {Joh 16:7,Joh 16:8}
Why does
conviction go before consolation? Conviction fits for comfort. By conviction
the Spirit sweetly disposes the heart to seek after Christ and then to receive
Christ. Once the soul is convinced of sin and of the hell that follows it, a
Saviour is precious. When the Spirit has shot in the arrow of conviction, now,
says a poor soul, where may I meet with Christ? In what ordinance may I come to
enjoy Christ? `Saw ye him whom my soul loves?' All the world for one glimpse of
my Saviour!
Again, the
Spirit by conviction makes the heart willing to receive Christ upon his own
terms. Man, by nature, would article and indent with Christ. He would take half
Christ. He would take him for a Saviour, not a prince. He would accept of
Christ as he has `an head of gold' (Canticles Joh
5:11), but not as he has `the government upon his shoulder'. {Isa 9:6} But when God lets loose the
spirit of bondage and convinces a sinner of his lost, undone condition, now he
is content to have Christ upon any terms. When Paul was struck down to the
ground by a spirit of conviction, he cries out, `Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do?'. {Ac 9:6} Let God propound what
articles he will, the soul will subscribe to them. Now when a man is brought to
Christ's terms, to believe and obey, then he is fit for mercy. When the Spirit
of God has been a spirit of conviction, then He becomes a spirit of
consolation. When the plough of the law has gone upon the heart and broken up
the fallow ground, now God sows the seed of comfort. Those who brag of comfort,
but were never yet convinced, nor broken, for sin, have cause to suspect their
comfort to be a delusion of Satan. It is like a madman's joy, who fancies
himself to be king, but it may be said of `his laughter, it is mad'. {Ec 2:2} The seed which wanted
`depth of earth' withered. {Mt 13:5}
That comfort which wants `depth of earth', deep humiliation and conviction,
will soon wither and come to nothing.
The Spirit of
God is a sanctifying, before a comforting Spirit. As God's Spirit is called the
`Comforter', so he is called `a Spirit of grace'. {Zec 12:10} Grace is the work of
the Spirit. Comfort is the seal of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit goes
before the seal. The graces of the Spirit are compared to water {Isa 44:3} and to oil. {Isa 61:3} First, God pours in the
water of the Spirit and then comes the oil of gladness. The oil (in this sense)
runs above the water. Hereby we shall know whether our comforts are true and
genuine. Some talk of the comforting Spirit, who never had the sanctifying
Spirit. They boast of assurance but never had grace. These are spurious joys.
These comforts will leave men at death. They will end in horror and despair.
God's Spirit will never set seal to a blank. First, the heart must be an
epistle written with the finger of the Holy Ghost, and then it is 'sealed with
the Spirit of promise'.
The comforts
of the Spirit are humbling. Lord, says the soul, what am I that I should have a
smile from heaven, and that thou shouldest give me a privy seal of thy love?
The more water is poured into a bucket, the lower it descends. The fuller the
ship is laden with sweet spices, the lower it sails. The more a Christian is
filled with the sweet comforts of the Spirit, the lower he
sails in humility. The fuller a tree is of fruit, the lower the bough hangs.
The more full we are of `the fruit of the Spirit, joy
and peace', {Ga 5:22} the more we bend in
humility. St. Paul, a `chosen vessel', {Ac
9:15} filled with the wine of the Spirit, {2Co
1:5} did not more abound in joy, than in lowliness of mind. `Unto me
who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given..'.
{Eph 3:8} He who was the chief of the
apostles calls himself the least of the saints.
Those who say
they have comfort, but are proud; who have learned to
despise others and are climbed above ordinances; their comforts are delusions.
The devil is able, not only to `transform himself into an angel of light', {2Co 11:14} but he can transform
himself into the comforter. It is easy to counterfeit money, to silver over
brass and put the king's image upon it. The devil can silver over false
comforts and make them look as if they had the stamp of the King of heaven upon
them. The comforts of God are humbling. Though they lift the heart up in
thankfulness, yet they do not puff it up in pride.
Second, the
comforts God gives his mourners are unmixed. They are not tempered with any
bitter ingredients. Worldly comforts are like wine that runs dregs. `In the
midst of laughter the heart is sad'. {Pr
14:13} Queen Mary Tudor once said, if she were opened, they
would find Calais graven on her heart. And if the breast of a sinner were anatomised and opened, you would find a worm gnawing at his
heart. Guilt is a wolf which feeds in the breast of his comfort. A sinner may
have a smiling countenance, but a chiding conscience. His mirth is like the
mirth of a man in debt, who is every hour in fear of arrest. The comforts of
wicked men are spiced with bitterness. They are worm-wood wine.
'These are
the men who tremble, and grow pale at every lightning flash, and when it thunders are half-dead with terror at the very first
rumbling of the heavens.'
But spiritual
comforts are pure. They are not muddied with guilt, nor mixed with fear. They
are the pure wine of the Spirit. What the mourner feels is joy, and nothing but
joy.
Third, the
comforts God gives his mourners are sweet. `Truly the light is sweet'; {Ec 11:7} so is the light of
God's countenance. How sweet are those comforts which bring the Comforter along
with them! {Joh 14:10}. Therefore the love of God
shed into the heart is said to be `better than wine' (Canticles 1: 2). Wine
pleases the palate, but the love of God cheers the conscience. The `lips, of
Christ `drop sweet-smelling myrrh' (Canticles 5: 13). The comforts God gives
are a Christian's music. They are the golden pot of manna, the nectar and
ambrosia of a Christian. They are the saints' festival, their banqueting stuff.
So sweet are these divine comforts, that the church had her fainting fits, for
want of them. `Stay me with flagons' (Canticles 2: 5). In metonymy the name of
an accompanying thing is substituted for the thing meant. The `flagons' are put for the wine. By these flagons are meant
the comforts of the Spirit. The Hebrew word signifies `all variety of delights' to show the abundance of delectability and
sweetness in these comforts of the Spirit. `Comfort me with apples.' Apples are
sweet in taste, fragrant in smell; so sweet and delicious are those apples
which grow upon the tree in paradise. These comforts from above are so sweet
that they make all other comforts sweet; health, estate, relations. They are
like sauce which makes all our earthly possessions and enjoyments come off with
a bitter relish. So sweet are these comforts of the Spirit that they do much
abate and moderate our joy in worldly things. He who has been drinking spirits
of wine, will not much thirst after water; and that man who has once `tasted
how sweet the Lord is', {Ps 34:8} and has drunk the cordials
of the Spirit, will not thirst immoderately after secular delights. Those who
play with dogs and birds, it is a sign they have no children; such as are
inordinate in their desire and love of the creature, declare plainly that they
never had better comforts.
Fourth, these
comforts which God gives his mourners are holy comforts. They are called `the
comfort of the Holy Ghost'. {Ac 9:31}
Everything propagates in its own kind. The Holy Ghost can no more produce
impure joys in the soul than the sun can produce darkness. He who has the
comforts of the Spirit looks upon himself as a person engaged to do God more
service. Has the Lord looked upon me with a smiling face? I can never pray
enough. I can never love God enough. The comforts of the Spirit raise in the
heart an holy antipathy against sin. The dove hates
every feather that has grown upon the hawk. So there is an
hatred of every motion and temptation to evil. He who has a principle of life
in him opposes everything that would destroy life. He hates poison. So he that
has the comforts of the Spirit living in him, sets himself against those sins
which would murder his comforts. Divine comforts give the soul more
acquaintance with God. `Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus.'.
{1Jo 1:3}
Fifth, the
comforts reserved for the mourners are `filling comforts': `The God of hope
fill you with all joy...'. {Ro 15:13}
`Ask...that your joy may be full'. {Joh
16:24} When God pours in the joys of heaven, they fill the heart and
make it run over. `I am exceeding joyful...'; {2Co
7:4} the Greek word is `I overflow with joy', as a cup that is
filled with wine till it runs over. Outward comforts can no more fill the heart
than a triangle can fill a circle. Spiritual joys are satisfying. `My soul
shall be satisfied as with marrow, and I will praise thee with joyful lips'. {Ps 63:5} David's heart was full, and
the joy broke out at his lips. `Thou hast put gladness in my heart'. {Ps 4:7} Worldly joys put gladness
into the face: `They rejoice in the face', {2Co
5:12} but the Spirit of God puts gladness into the heart. Divine
joys are heart joys. {Zec
10:7} `Your heart shall rejoice'. {Joh
16:22} A believer rejoices in God: `My Spirit rejoiceth
in God...'. {Lu 1:47} And to show how filling
these comforts are which are of an heavenly
extraction, the Psalmist says they create greater joy than when `wine and oil
increase'. {Ps 4:7} Wine and oil may delight but
not satisfy; they have their vacuity and indigence. We may say as Zec 10:2, `They comfort in vain.'
Outward comforts sooner cloy than cheer, and sooner weary than fill. Xerxes
offered great rewards to him that could find out a new pleasure, but the
comforts of the Spirit are satisfactory. They recruit the heart. `Thy comforts
delight my soul'. {Ps 94:19} There is as much difference
between heavenly comforts and earthly, as between a banquet that is eaten and
one that is painted on the wall.
Sixth, the
comforts God gives his mourners in this life are `glorious comforts': `Joy full
of glory'. {1Pe 1:8} They are glorious because
they are a prelibation and foretaste of that joy which we shall have in a
glorified estate. These comforts are an handsel and earnest of glory. They put
us in heaven before our time. `Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit, which is
the earnest of the inheritance'. {Eph 1:13,Eph 1:14} The earnest is part of the
sum behind. So the comforts of the Spirit are the earnest, the `cluster of
grapes' at Eshcol, {Nu
13:23} the first-fruits of the heavenly Canaan. The joys of the
Spirit are glorious, in opposition to other joys, which compared with these,
are inglorious and vile. A carnal man's joy, as it is airy and flashy, so it is
sordid. He sucks nothing but dregs. `Ye rejoice in a thing of nought'. {Am 6:13}
A carnal spirit rejoices because he can say this house is his, this estate is
his. But a gracious spirit rejoices because he can say this God is his: `For
this God is our God for ever and ever'. {Ps
48:14} The ground of a Christian's joy is glorious. He rejoices in
that he is an heir of the promise. The joy of a godly man is made up of that
which is the angels' joy. He triumphs in the light of God's countenance. His
joy is that which is Christ's own joy. He rejoices in the mystical union which
is begun here and consummated in heaven. Thus the joy of the saints is a joy
`full of glory'.
Seventh, the
comforts which God gives his mourners are infinitely transporting and
ravishing. So delightful are they and amazing, that they cause a jubilation
which, as some of the learned say, is so great that it cannot be expressed. Of
all things joy is the most hard to be deciphered. It
is called `joy unspeakable'. {1Pe 1:8}
You may sooner taste honey than tell how sweet it is. The most pathetic words
can no more set forth the comforts of the Spirit than the most curious pencil
can draw the life and breath of a man. The angels cannot express the joys they
feel. Some men have been so overwhelmed with the sweet raptures of joy that
they have not been able to contain, but as Moses, have died with a kiss from
God's mouth. Thus have we seen the glass oft breaking
with the strength of the liquor put into it.
Eighth, these
comforts of the Spirit are powerful. They are strong cordials, strong
consolation, as the apostle phrases it. {Heb
6:18} Divine comfort strengthens for duty. `The joy of the Lord is
your strength'. {Ne 8:10} Joy whets and sharpens
industry. A man that is steeled and animated with the comfort of God's Spirit,
goes with vigour and alacrity through the exercises
of religion. He believes firmly, he loves fervently, he is carried full sail in
duty. `The joy of the Lord is his strength'. Divine comfort supports under
affliction: `Having received the Word in much affliction, with joy'. {1Th 1:6} The wine of the Spirit can
sweeten `the waters of Marah'. They who are possessed of these heavenly
comforts can `gather grapes of thorns', and fetch honey out of the `lion's
carcass'. They are 'strong consolations' indeed, that can stand it out against
the `fiery trial', and turn the flame into a bed of
roses. How powerful is that comfort which can make a Christian glory in
tribulations! {Ro 5:3} A believer is never so sad but he can rejoice. The bird of paradise can sing in the
winter. `As sorrowing, yet alway rejoicing'. {2Co 6:10} Let sickness come, the sense
of pardon takes away the sense of pain. `The inhabitant shall not say, I am
sick'. {Isa 33:24} Let death come, the
Christian is above it. `O death, where is thy sting?'. {1Co
15:55} At the end of the rod a Christian tastes honey. These are
'strong consolations'.
Ninth, the
comforts God's mourners have are heart-quieting
comforts. They cause a sweet acquiescence and rest in the soul. The heart of a
Christian is in a kind of ataxy and discomposure,
like the needle in the compass; it shakes and trembles till the Comforter
comes. Some creatures cannot live but in the sun. A Christian is even dead in
the nest, unless he may have the sunlight of God's countenance. `Hide not thy
face from me, lest I be like them that go down into the pit'. {Ps
143:7} Nothing but the breast will quiet the child. It is only the
breast of consolation quiets the believer.
Tenth, the
comforts of the Spirit are abiding comforts. As they abound in us so they abide with us. `He shall give you another
Comforter that he may abide with you for ever'. {Joh
14:16} Worldly comforts are always upon the wing, ready to fly. They
are like a land-flood, or a flash of lightning. `They will oftentimes pass away
and glide from thy closest embrace'. All things here are transient, but the
comforts with which God feeds his mourners are immortal: `Who hath loved us and
given us everlasting consolation'. {2Th
2:16} Though a Christian does not always have a full beam of
comfort, yet he has a dawning of it in his soul. He always has a ground of hope
and a root of joy. There is that within him which bears up his heart, and which
he would not on any terms part with.
Behold, then,
the mourner's privilege, `He shall be comforted'. David who was the great
mourner of Israel, was the 'sweet singer of Israel'. The weeping dove shall be
covered with the golden feathers of comfort. O how rare and superlative are
these comforts!
But the
question may be asked, May not God's mourners lack these comforts? Spiritual
mourners have a tide to these comforts, yet they may sometimes lack them. God
is a free agent. He will have the timing of our comforts. He has a self-freedom
to do what he will. The Holy One of Israel will not be limited. He reserves his
prerogative to give or suspend comfort as he will; and if we are awhile without
comfort, we must not quarrel with his dispensations, for as the mariner is not
to wrangle with providence because the wind blows out of the east when he
desires it to blow out of the west; nor is the husband-man to murmur when God
stops the bottles of heaven in time of drought; so neither is any man to
dispute or quarrel with God, when he stops the sweet influence of comfort, but
he ought rather to acquiesce in his sacred will.
But though
the Lord might by virtue of his sovereignty withhold comfort from the mourner,
yet there may be many pregnant causes assigned why mourners lack comfort in
regard of God and also in regard of themselves.
1. In regard
of God: He sees it fit to withhold comfort that he may raise the value of
grace. We are apt to esteem comfort above grace,
therefore God locks up our comforts for a time, that he may enhance the price
of grace. When farthings go better than gold the king will call in farthings,
that the price of gold may be the more raised. God would have his people serve
him for himself and not for comfort only. It is an
harlot love to love the husband's money and tokens more than his person. Such
as serve God only for comfort, do not so much serve God, as serve themselves of
him.
2. That God's
mourners lack comfort, it is most frequency in regard of themselves.
(i) Through mistake, which is twofold. They do not go to the
right spring for comfort. They go to their tears, when they should go to
Christ's blood. It is a kind of idolatry to make our tears the ground of our
comfort. Mourning is not meritorious. It is the way to joy, not the cause.
Jacob got the blessing in the garments of his elder brother. True comfort flows
out of Christ's sides. Our tears are stained, till they are washed in the blood
of Christ. `In me peace'. {Joh 16:33}
The second mistake is that mourners are privileged persons,
and may take more liberty. They may slacken the strings of duty, and let loose the reins to sin. Christ has indeed
purchased a liberty for his people, but an holy
liberty, not a liberty for sin, but from sin. `Ye are a royal priesthood, a
peculiar people'. {1Pe 2:9} You are not in a state of
slavery, but royalty. What follows? Do not make Christian liberty a cloak for
sin. `As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness' (v 16).
If we quench the sanctifying Spirit, God will quench the comforting Spirit. Sin
is compared to a `cloud'. {Isa 44:22}
This cloud intercepts the light of God's countenance.
(ii) God's
mourners sometimes lack comfort through discontent and peevishness. David makes
his disquiet the cause of his sadness. `Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why
art thou disquieted within me?'. {Ps 43:5}
A disquieted heart, like a rough sea, is not easily calmed. It is hard to make
a troubled spirit receive comfort. This disquiet arises from various causes:
sometimes from outward sorrow and melancholy, sometimes from a kind of envy.
God's people are troubled to see others have comfort, and they lack it; and now
in a pet they refuse comfort, and like a forward child, put away the breast.
`My soul refused to be comforted'. {Ps
77:2} Indeed a disquieted spirit is no more fit for comfort, than a
distracted man is fit for counsel. And whence is the mourner's discontent, but
pride? As if God had not dealt well with him in stopping the influences of
comfort. O Christian, your spirit must be more humbled and broken, before God
empty out his golden oil of joy.
(iii) The
mourner is without comfort for want of applying the promises. He looks at sin
which may humble him, but not at that Word which may comfort him. The mourner's
eyes are so full of tears that he cannot see the promise. The virtue and
comfort of a medicine is in the applying. When the promises are applied by
faith, they bring comfort. {Ho 2:19
Isa 49:15,Isa
49:16} Faith milks the breast of a promise. That Satan may hinder us
of comfort, it is his policy either to keep the promise from us that we may not
know it, or to keep us from the promise that we may not apply it. Never a
promise in the Bible but belongs to the mourner, had he but the skill and
dexterity of faith to lay hold on it.
(iv) The
mourner may lack comfort through too much earthly-mindedness; by feeding
immoderately on earthly comforts we miss of heavenly comforts. `For the
iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and I hid me'. {Isa
57:17} The earth puts out the fire. Earthiness extinguishes the
flame of divine joy in the soul. An eclipse occurs when the moon, which is a
dense body, comes between the sun and the earth. The moon is an emblem of the
world. {Re 12:1} When this comes between,
then there is an eclipse in the light of God's face. Such as dig in mines say
there is such a damp comes from the earth as puts out the light of a candle.
Earthly comforts send forth such a damp as puts out the light of spiritual joy.
(v) Perhaps
the mourner has had comfort and lost it. Adam's rib was taken from him when he
was asleep. {Ge 2:21} Our comforts are taken away
when we fall asleep in security. The spouse lost her beloved when she lay upon
the bed of sloth (Canticles 5: 2, 6).
For these
reasons God's mourners may lack comfort, but that the spiritual mourner may not
be too much dejected, I shall reach forth `the cup of consolation', {Jer 16:7} and speak a few words
that may comfort the mourner in the want of comfort. Jesus Christ was without
comfort, therefore no wonder if we are. Our comforts are not better than his.
He who was the Son of God's love was without the sense of God's love. The
mourner has a seed of comfort: `Light is sown for the righteous'. {Ps 97:11} Light is a metaphor put for
comfort, and it is sown. Though a child of God does not have comfort always in
the flower, yet he has it in the seed. Though he does not feel comfort from God yet he takes comfort in God. A Christian may be high in
grace and low in comfort. The high mountains are without flowers. The mines of
gold have little or no corn growing on them. A Christian's heart may be a rich
mine of grace, though it be barren of comfort. The mourner is heir to comfort,
and though for a small moment God may forsake his people, {Isa
54:7} yet there is a time shortly coming when the mourner shall have
all tears wiped away, and shall be brim full of
comfort. This joy is reserved for heaven, and this brings me to the second particular.
'They shall
be comforted'. Though in this life some interviews and love tokens pass between
God and the mourner, yet the great comforts are kept in reversion. `In God's
presence is fullness of joy'. {Ps 16:11}
There is a time coming (the daystar is ready to appear) when the saints shall
bathe themselves in the river of life, when they shall never see a wrinkle on
God's brow more, but his face shall shine, his lips drop honey, his arms
sweetly embrace them. The saints shall have a spring-tide of joy, and it shall
never be low water. The saints shall at that day put off their mourning and
exchange their sables for white robes. Then shall the winter be past, the rain
of tears be over and gone (Canticles Ps
2:11, Ps 2:12). The flowers of joy shall
appear, and after the weeping of the dove `tine time of the singing of birds
shall come'. This is the `great consolation', the Jubilee of the blessed which
shall never expire. In this life the people of God taste of joy, but in heaven
the full vessels shall be broached. There is a river in the
midst of the heavenly paradise which has a fountain to feed it. {Ps 36:8,Ps
36:9}
The times we
are cast into, being for the present sad and cloudy, it will not be amiss for
the reviving the hearts of God's people, to speak a little of these comforts
which God reserves in heaven for his mourners. `They shall be comforted'.
The greatness
of these celestial comforts is most fitly in Scripture expressed by the joy of
a feast. Mourning shall be turned into feasting, and it shall be a
marriage-feast, which is usually kept with the greatest solemnity. `Blessed are
they which are called unto the marriage-supper of the Lamb'. {Re
19:9} Bullinger' and Gregory the Great understand this supper of the
Lamb to be meant of the saints, supping with Christ in heaven. Men after hard labour go to supper. So when the saints shall `rest from
their labours', {Re
14:13} they shall sup with Christ in glory. Now to speak something
of the last great supper.
(i) It will be a great supper in regard of the Founder of
this feast, God. It is the supper of a king, therefore sumptuous and magnificent.
`The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods'.
{Ps 95:3} Where should there be state
and magnificence but in a king's court?
(ii) It will
be a great supper in regard of the cheer and provision. This exceeds all
hyperboles. What blessed fruit does the tree of life in paradise yield! {Re 2:7} Christ will lead his spouse
into the `banqueting house' and feast her with those rare viands, and cause her
to drink that spiced wine, that heavenly nectar and ambrosia wherewith the
angelic powers are infinitely refreshed.
First, every
dish served in at this heavenly supper shall be sweet to our palate. There is
no dish here we do not love. Christ will make such 'savoury
meat' as he is sure his spouse loves.
Second, there
shall be no want here. There is no want at a feast. The various fullness in
Christ will prevent a scarcity, and it will be a fullness without surfeit,
because a fresh course will continually be served in.
Third, they
who eat of this supper shall `never hunger more'. Hunger is a sharp sauce. The
`Lamb's supper' shall not only satisfy hunger, but
prevent it. `They shall hunger no more!'. {Re
7:16}
(iii) It will
be a great supper in regard of the company invited. Company adds to a feast, and is of itself sauce to sharpen and provoke the
appetite. Saints, angels, archangels will be at this supper. Nay, Christ
himself will be both Founder and Guest. The Scripture calls it `an innumerable
company...'; {Heb 12:22} and that which makes the
society sweeter is that there shall be perfect love at this feast. The motto
shall be `one heart and one way'. All the guests shall be linked together with
the golden chain of charity.
(iv) It will
be a great supper in regard of the holy mirth. `A feast is made for mirth'. {Ec 10:19} At this supper there
shall be joy, and nothing but joy. {Ps
16:11} There is no weeping at a feast. O what triumph and
acclamations will there be! There are two things at this 'supper of the Lamb,
which will create joy and mirth. First, when the saints shall think with
themselves that they are kept from a worse supper. The devils have a supper
(such an one as it is), a black banquet. There are two
dishes served in, weeping and gnashing of teeth. Every bit they eat makes their
hearts ache. Who would envy them their dinner here, who must have such a
supper? Second, it will be a matter of joy at the 'supper of the Lamb', that
the Master of the feast bids all his guests welcome. The saints shall have the
smiles of God's face, the kisses of his lips. He will lead them into the wine cellar, and display the banner of love over them. The saints
shall be as full of solace as sanctity. What is a feast without mirth? Worldly
mirth is flashy and empty. This will be infinitely delightful and ravishing.
(v) It will
be a great supper for the music. This will be a marriage supper, and what
better music than the Bridegroom's voice, saying, `My spouse, my undefiled,
take thy fill of love'. There will be the angels' anthems, the saints,
triumphs. The angels, those trumpeters of heaven, shall sound forth the
excellencies of Jehovah, and the saints, those noble choristers, shall take
`down their harps from the willows', and join in consort with the angels,
praising and blessing God. `I saw them that had gotten the victory over the
beast, having the harps of God, and they sing the song of Moses and the song of
the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways thou king of saints...'. {Re 15:2,Re
15:3} O the sweet harmony at this feast! It shall be music without
discord.
(vi) This
supper is great in regard of the place where it shall be celebrated, in the
`paradise of God'. {Re 2:7} It is a stately palace.
Stately: for its situation. It is of a very great height: {Re
21:10} for its prospect. All sparkling beauties are there concentred, and the delight of the prospect is propriety!
That is the best prospect, where a man can see furthest on his own ground: for
its amplitude. This royal feast shall be kept in a most spacious room, a room
infinitely greater than the whole firmament, one star whereof (if we may
believe astronomers) is bigger than the whole earth. Though there be such a
multitude as no man can number, `of all nations, kindreds, people and tongues',
{Re 7:9} yet the table is long enough
and the room spacious enough for all the guests. Aulus
Gellius in his thirteenth book, makes this to be one
of those four things which are requisite to a feast--'a fit place'. The
empyrean heaven bespangled with light, arrayed with rich hangings, embroidered
with glory, seated above all the visible orbs, is the place of the
marriage-supper. This infinitely transcends the most profound search. I am no
more able to express it, than I can span the firmament, or weigh the earth in a
pair of balances.
(vii) It will
be a great supper in regard of its continuance. It has no end. Epicures have a
short feast, and a long reckoning, but those who shall sit down at the heavenly
banquet, shall not rise from the table. The cloth shall never be taken away,
but they shall always be feeding upon those sweet junkets and delicacies which
are set before them. We read that King Ahasuerus made a feast for his princes
that lasted `an hundred and fourscore days'. {Es
1:4} But this blessed feast reserved for the saints, is `for ever'. `At thy right hand there are pleasures for
evermore'. {Ps 16:11}
For your
consolation, consider how this may be as Bezar stone
to keep the hearts of God's people from fainting! `They shall be comforted'.
They shall sit with Christ `upon the throne', {Re
3:21} and sit down with him `at the table'. Who would not mourn for
sin that are sure to meet with such rewards! `They shall be comforted'. The
marriage-supper will make amends for `the valley of tears'.
O saint of God, you who are now watering your plants and weeping bitterly for
sin, at this last and great feast your `water shall be turned into wine'. You
who now mortify your corruptions, and `beat down your body' by prayer and
fasting, shall shortly sup with Christ and angels. You who refused to touch the
forbidden tree shall feed upon `the tree of life in the paradise of God'. You
impoverished saint, who have scarce a bit of bread to eat, remember for your
comfort, `in thy father's house there is bread enough', and he is making ready
a feast for you, where all the dainties of heaven are served in. O feed with
delight upon the thoughts of this marriage-supper! After your funeral begins your
festival. Long for suppertime. `The delay is long which separates us from our
honey-sweet joys'. Christ has paid for this supper upon the cross, and there is
no fear of a `reckoning' to be brought in. `Wherefore comfort one another with
these words'.