Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
SO much of sorrow is entailed on fallen man, that his path through life is not improperly called, a vale of tears. But it is not to the ungodly only that this portion is allotted : the man who is regenerate still finds much occasion to weep ; and if he have reasons for joy peculiar to himself, so also has he for grief. The Israelites, when restored from their captivity in Babylon, felt, as well they might, that the mercies vouchsafed to them were exceeding great. The very heathen that surrounded them were constrained to acknowledge this. But, when they came to their own land, and saw the desolations that were spread on every side, and reflected on the time and labour that must be employed in rebuilding their city and temple, on the opposition they were likely to meet with in their work, and on their utter incapacity to restore either the city or temple to their former grandeur, they might well weep. They were, however, encou- raged with the divine assurance, that God would be with them in their labours, and prosper their endea- vours ; and that, if they were content to " sow in tears, they should reap in joy;" yea, that every one of them who should " go forth, weeping, and bearing precious seed, should doubtless come again with re- joicing, bringing his sheaves with him."
But we must not confine ourselves to the immediate occasion on which these words were written. They refer to every one that is engaged in raising a spiritual temple to the Lord : and they assure to him a happy issue to his exertions.
To elucidate the subject, we shall consider, I. The events here connected —
Between seed-time and harvest there is in the minds of all a necessary connexion ; and as in the natural world the action of sowing has always a reference to that of reaping, so it has also in the spiritual world.
The seed which the Christian sows is " tears" —
[What other can he sow, when he looks back upon the transgressions of his former life ? How he, from the first mo- ment that he began to act, lived in rebellion against his God !