"Blessed are they that mourn:for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4).

To be a "mourner" in the sense of our text is to be deeply and tenderly affected by the
condition_especially the moral and spiritual condition_of others around us. For example:The
worldliness of true Christians; the manifest delusion of mere professors; the godless ways of those
who may be our near neighbors; our own deep sense of inability to witness for God in such a
scene; all these fill the heart with holy sorrow. At the same time, this holy sorrow, which is so
good and wholesome, and which leads to much prayer and dependence on God, must not be
mistaken for a low, complaining, discontented, mournful spirit in ourselves, which we may think
answers to this beatitude. Not so; those with such a spirit would be little likely to enter into the
sorrows of others, or mourn over the dishonor done to God and His truth in this world. They are
too much occupied with their own state of mind, and that which immediately concerns themselves.

We may, and ought_if we are poor in spirit and true mourners_to be bright and happy in the
divine presence where all is peace and joy, and yet have fellowship with the deep sympathies of
Him who was "a man of sorrows," in our journey through this world. And the more we know of
His Spirit, the deeper will be our sense of what is due to Him, and the keener will be our sorrow
when we see so many who set themselves against His authority, and use His goodness for the
display of their own pride and glory. But, wonderful grace, the Lord submits to being despised
and rejected still; and as a tinge of sorrow colored His path and characterized His sayings in this
world, so it must ever be with the godly while the world continues as it is. The Lord patiently
waits until His kingdom come in power and glory, and then His will shall be done on earth as it
is done in heaven. Could we at any moment unveil the world, what should we see? From the den
of poverty to the palace of luxury_one vast scene of human sorrow. This makes the Christian’s
heart, however bright and cheerful in the Lord’s presence, somber and sad in the presence of such
universal misery, knowing as he does its real source.

We must mourn over the fearful effects of sin and apostasy which meet us at every step. We walk
in the midst of ruins. Wrecks of every kind lie strewed around us. Blighted hopes, unexpected
calamities, with a multitude of little, secret sorrows, characterize the land in which we are
strangers and pilgrims. Like captive Israel of old, "by the waters of Babylon" we may "sit down
and weep," though we need not hang our harps on the willows; we are privileged to rejoice daily
in the blessed hope of the Lord’s coming, when we shall be fully and forever comforted.

To expand on this, how many have we seen floating down the stream of time as on a calm summer
day, dreaming only of worldly ease and prosperity, when suddenly the wind of adversity rises and
all is changed in a moment. Death enters; the head of the family is suddenly struck down; all is
desolate; nothing now is heard but the wail of the widow and fatherless. But do these things come
within the sphere of the Christian’s sympathies? Most surely they do, and must so long as we have
human hearts. But they are looked at in connection with the groaning creation, and lead us to
pray, "Come, Lord Jesus, come." Surely the Lord’s heart was touched with such a scene as this,
and may not ours be?

Nothing is more fitted to fill the heart with real sorrow than the immense number of mere
professors. And surely a responsibility beyond that which attaches to the mere worldling rests with
those who take the name and profess to be the followers of Christ. They will be judged by a
different standard. Many foolish virgins now mingle with the wise, and their lack of oil seems not
to be discovered until it is too late to buy (see Matt. 25). The door shut and the lamps out will
leave them in hopeless darkness and despair. This, alas! will be the portion of many who now hold
a high place in the professing church. But how difficult it is to reach this class; how difficult to
speak to them; how difficult to know which is which! All have lamps, but all have not oil. They
are self-deceived and may never be undeceived until, with awful surprise, they open their eyes in
hell, being in torment. Still, the spiritual eye can see that while much is made of mere externals,
very little is made of Christ and of that which is due to Him.

Again, the agony of mind peculiar to the sight of such a state of things, with the painful sense that
you can render no help, and can only testify against it by complete separation from it all, seeks
relief in sighs and groans before the Lord; you must be a mourner with Him in such a scene. And
what may draw forth a yet deeper sigh, you see among the mere professors those who really
belong to the Lord, but who refuse to separate either from the natural or the religious world.
Thus, loneliness in spirit is the inevitable path of a true mourner; his only friends are those outside
like himself. They mourn together.

The mourner must now retire into his secret chamber and breathe out his sorrow into the bosom
of his Lord. He must stand aloof from all this sad mixture of the church and the world, well
knowing that he will be judged as wanting in brotherly love, and uncharitably affected towards
other Christians. He will not have his sorrows to seek; but the Lord knows it all, and he shall be
comforted. The time is coming when he will enter into the joy of his Lord and reap the fruit of his
testimony for Him throughout eternity. "Blessed are they that mourn:for they shall be
comforted." Every tear that has been shed, every sigh that has gone up to God, every groan that
has been uttered in sympathy with a rejected Christ, are all treasured by Him as the memorials
of His own grace working in us, and will surely be held in everlasting remembrance.

The Lord grant unto my dear reader the true knowledge of Jesus, not -only as Saviour and Lord,
but as the Man of Sorrows, who went about doing good, though with the deep abiding sense of
rejection in His tender, loving heart. May we enter with our whole heart into the sympathies and
hopes of our blessed Lord as to this wide-spread scene of sin and sorrow, until He return to fill
it with joy and gladness. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."