'They shall obtain joy and gladness': but had they not had it on their
heads as they marched? Yes; but at last they have it in perfect measure
and manner. The flame that burned but dimly in the heavy air of earth
flashes up into new brightness in the purer atmosphere of the city.
And one part of its perfecting is the removal of all its opposites.
Sorrow ends when sin and the discipline that sin needs have ended. 'The
inhabitant shall not say: I am sick; the people that dwell therein
shall be forgiven their iniquity.' Sighing ends when weariness, loss,
physical pain, and all the other ills that flesh is heir to have ceased
to vex and weigh upon the spirit. Life purges the dross of imperfection
from character. Death purges the alloy of sorrow and sighing from joy,
and leaves the perfected spirit possessor of the pure gold of perfect
and eternal gladness.