pleasing to thee, not thou to thyself; and in that thou sufferest ill justly, He may not be un- pleasing to thee, but thou to thyself. For no small matter is it that thou shalt be well-pleasing to Him, when thou art displeased with thyself; whereas if thou art well-pleased with thine own self, thou wilt be displeasing to Him. 3. Attend to the third lesson, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comfor- ted.”1886 The work consisteth in mourning, the reward in consolation; for they who mourn in a carnal sort, what consolations have they? Miserable consolations, objects rather of fear. There the mourner is comforted by things which make him fear lest he have to mourn again. For instance, the death of a son causes the father sorrow, and the birth of a son joy. The one he has carried out to his burial, the other he has brought into the world; in the former is occasion of sadness, in the latter of fear: and so in neither is there consolation. That therefore will be the true consolation, wherein shall be given that which may not be lost, so that they may rejoice for their after consolation, who mourn that they are in1887 exile now. 4. Let us come to the fourth work and its reward, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”1888 Dost thou desire to be filled? Whereby? If the flesh long for fulness, after digestion thou wilt suffer hunger again. So He saith, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.”1889 If the remedy which is applied to a wound heal it, there is no more pain; but that which is applied against hunger, food that is, is so applied as to give relief only for a little while. For when the fulness is past, hunger returns. This remedy of fulness is applied day by day, yet the wound of weakness is not 267 healed. Let us therefore “hunger and thirst after righteousness, that we may be filled” with that righteousness after which we now hunger and thirst. For filled we shall be with that for which we hunger and thirst. Let our inner man then hunger and thirst, for it hath its own proper meat and drink. “I,” saith He, “am the Bread which came down from heaven.”1890 Here is the bread of the hungry; long also for the drink of the thirsty, “For with Thee is the well of life.”1891) 5. Mark what comes next: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”1892 Do this, and so shall it be done to thee; deal so with others, that God may so deal with thee. For thou art at once in abundance and in want—in abundance of temporal things, in want of things eternal. The man whom thou hearest is a beggar, and thou art thyself God’s beggar. 1886 Matt. v. 4 (5, Vulgate). 1887 Peregrinari. 1888 Matt. v. 6. 1889 John iv. 13. 1890 John vi. 41. 1891 Ps. xxxvi. 9. 1892 Matt. v. 7. 569 On the words of the Gospel, Matt. Chap. v. 3 and 8, 'Blessed are the poor…