Godly Mourners Shall be Comforted
J. Burroughs. Luke 6:21 Blessed are you that hunger now: for you shall be filled. Blessed are you that weep now: for you shall laugh. 1. There is a foolish mourning, in which men and women are not blessed — that is, they mourn they know not for what. 2. A natural mourning; when there is a mourning merely because nature is pinched, and some evil hath befallen it, and you go no further. This hath not a blessedness in it. 3. A worldly mourning; worldly sorrow causes death; to mourn for the loss of worldly things as the great and the chief loss of all. This is not blessed, it causeth death; and — 4. An envious mourning; when men mourn and are grieved for the good of others. Surely this is not blessed, but cursed. 5. And there is, further, a devilish mourning; when men and women mourn that they cannot have opportunity to satisfy their lusts. 6. And lastly, there is a hellish, desperate mourning; when men and women mourn in despair. This is hellish, and not blessed. These mourners are not blessed. And then all those that mourn in a gracious way. You will say, When doth one mourn in a gracious way and manner? Now, the ground of the blessedness ariseth, first, from the mourning itself; secondly, from the promise.Surely it is a blessed thing to be such a mourner. 1. Because that the lower our hearts are in our subjection to God in this mournful condition, the higher are our respects to God that brings us into this condition. 2. A mourning condition, when it is ordered by grace, it is a means of much good in the soul; it is that that takes away the rankness in the hearts of men. As weeds grow very rank in summer time, now in the winter the frost nips the weeds and keeps them under; but if it be a long frost it kills them. 3. It is that that delivers from many temptations. You think that jollity and bravery is the only happy life, but know there are a great many more temptations in that life than in a mournful condition. 4. They are blessed that are in a mournful condition, because God hath chosen for them that mourning condition in the most seasonable time. You know when a man is sick, then bitter things are more seasonable than sweet. Now we are all sickly poor creatures, and it is a great mercy of God in this time of our lives to choose for us a mournful condition — bitter things rather than sweet and luscious things. 5. And then especially here in this text, because they shall be comforted; it is but to make the comforts sweeter unto thee when they do come. You know that when a man would build a structure, a stately building, the stones that he intends principally to build withal are hacked and hewn, that so they may be comely and fit for his building; but as for other stones, they are not regarded as those that are thus polished which he intends to lay.So it is an argument that the Lord hath great things for thee, great comforts for thee; He is now preparing thee in this thy mournful condition for great comforts. 1. They shall be comforted. When? Why, they shall be comforted when the wicked shall be sorrowful (Isaiah 65:13). 2. And then, you shall be comforted; there is a time when the Lord will communicate unto you the choicest of His mercies. Now the Lord communicates Himself, but in a very small and little way in comparison to what He doth intend. And this comfort that the mourners shall have, shall be, first, a pure comfort. We have something that is sweet, but there is a great deal of mixture with our sweet. And then they are spiritual comforts. Their comforts shall come more firstly in their souls, and so they shall have comfort to their bodies by way of the eradiation, as I may so say, of the comfort that they shall have to their souls. 3. Divine comforts they are that they shall have — that is, all comfort is from God one wet or other, but from God more immediately. Here we have our comforts at second or third or fourth hand, but now there shall be comfort that shall be from God more immediately. And such comforts as are from the very nature of God Himself — that is, such comfort as God is comforted in, such joy as God joys in, and God joys with them in 2:4. It is a full comfort, "Ask and you shall have, that your joy may be full." 5. And then it shall be a strong comfort (Hebrews 6:18). 6. An eternal consolation; so yon have it in 2 Thessalonians 2:16; in 2 Timothy 2:11. As we read concerning Egypt, as there were more venomous creatures there than in other countries, so there was in no country more antidotes to cure them than in theirs. So, though religion may bring sorrow and trouble, yet there is nothing brings more cure and more help. (J. Burroughs.) Parallel Verses KJV: Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. WEB: Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.