"He is Faithful that Promised."
"The days of thy mourning shall be ended."--ISAIAH lx. 20.
An End of Weeping.
Christ's people are a weeping band, though there be much in this lovely
world to make them joyous and happy. Yet when they think of sin--their
own sin, and the unblushing sins of a world in which their God is
dishonoured--need we wonder at their tears?--that they should be called
"Mourners," and their pilgrimage-home a "Valley of Tears?" Bereavement,
and sickness, and poverty, and death, following the track of sin, add to
their mourning experience; and with many of God's best beloved, one tear
is scarce dried when another is ready to flow! Mourners! rejoice! When
the reaping time comes, the weeping time ends! When the white robe and
the golden harp are bestowed, every remnant of the sackcloth attire is
removed. The moment the pilgrim, whose forehead is here furrowed with
woe, bathes it in the crystal river of life,--that moment the pangs of a
lifetime of sorrow are eternally forgotten! Reader! if thou art one of
these careworn ones, the days of thy mourning are numbered! A few more
throbbings of this aching heart, and then the angel who proclaims
"time," shall proclaim also, sorrow, and sighing, and mourning, to "be
no longer!" Seek now to mourn thy sins more than thy sorrows; reserve
thy bitterest tears for forgetfulness of thy dear Lord. The saddest and
sorest of all bereavements, is when the sins which have separated thee
from Him, evoke the anguish-cry, "Where is my God?"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON
WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"