8. *But let not the children of God, _the mourners in Sion_, be moved by any of these things. Ye whose eyes are enlightened, be not troubled by those, who walk on still in darkness. Ye do not walk on in a vain shadow: God and eternity are real things. Heaven and hell are in very deed open before you: and ye are on the edge of the great gulph. It has already swallowed up more than words can express, nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues, and still yawns to devour, whether they see it or no, the giddy, miserable children of men. O cry aloud! Spare not! Lift up your voice, to him who grasps both time and eternity, both for yourselves and your brethren, that ye may be counted worthy to escape the destruction that cometh as a whirlwind! That ye may be brought safe, thro’ all the waves and storms, into the haven where you would be. Weep for yourselves, till he wipes away the tears from your eyes. And even then weep for the miseries that come upon the earth, till the Lord of all shall put a period to misery and sin, shall wipe away the tears from all faces, and _the knowledge of the_ Lord _shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea_. SERMON XXII. UPON OUR LORD’S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. DISCOURSE II. MATT. v. 5, 6, 7. _Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy._ I. 1. WHEN _the winter is past_, when _the time of singing is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land_; when he that comforts the mourners is now returned, _that he may abide with them for ever_: when at the brightness of his presence the clouds disperse, the dark clouds of doubt and uncertainty, the storms of fear flee away, the waves of sorrow subside, and their spirit again _rejoiceth in_ God their _Saviour_: then is it that this word is eminently fulfilled, then those whom he hath comforted can bear witness, _Blessed_ or happy, _are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth_. 2. *But who are the meek? Not those who grieve at nothing, because they know nothing; who are not discomposed at the evils that occur, because they discern not evil from good. Not those who are sheltered from the shocks of life, by a stupid insensibility; who have either by nature or art, the virtue of stocks and stones, and resent nothing, because they feel nothing. Brute philosophers are wholly unconcerned in this matter. Apathy is as far from meekness as from humanity. So that one would not easily conceive, how any Christians of the purer ages, especially any of the fathers of the church, could confound these, and mistake one of the foulest errors of Heathenism, for a branch of true Christianity.