They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Ver. 5. They that sow in tears] Whether ministers (as some restrain the sense), who serve the Lord with many tears and temptations, Acts 20:19, but see little fruit; or others, who sow in the tears of affliction and compunction for sin, the cause thereof; his foecunda sine dubio messis indulgentiae orietur, saith Arnobius, these shall certainly reap in joy pardon of sin, Isaiah 1:16, power against it (these troubled waters cured the soul, as the tears of vine branches cure the leprosy), increase of grace. The lily is sown in her own tears, saith Pliny; so is grace: the olive is most fruitful when it most distilleth; so here, These April showers bring on May flowers, and make the heart to be like a watered garden, besides an access of glory; for they that weep with men shall laugh with angels; their tears shall be turned into triumphs, their sadness into gladness, their sighing into singing, their musing into music, &c. See Matthew 5:4. This the proto-martyr foresaw, and therefore (Bernbus de St Stephano),
Ibat ovans animis, et spe sua damna levabat.