for the Name of Christ maketh way for a greater degree in Glory If we suffer with Him we shall also reigne with Him 2 Tim. 2 vers 12. If we suffer with Him we shall be glorified together Rom. 8 vers 17. There is a noble word to this purpose 2 Cor. 4 vers 17. For our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory The Glory that our momentany Affliction worketh for us is eternal and the Weight of that Crown is eternally Weighty that can never be fully weighed Nay It cannot be told by Hyperbolee's heaped upon Hyperbolee's all these will come short of expressing the Weight thereof We finde in the Book of the Revel Chap. 7 veâ—…s 13 14 15 16 17. that there were some discernable from others and more remarkable having on a distinguishing rob as a peculiar livery in Glory They are said to have had White Robs and who were these Such as came out of great Tribulation They were made to wear on earth a red livery of bloud but now in glory they are shineing in white And it is added Vers. 15 c. Therefore are they before â—…he Throne of God and serve Him day and night in his Temple and He that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them any more for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of Waters And shall wipe away all teares from their eyes We shall now come to speak something in order to the improvement of these Truthes which we have confirmed First The faith of these Truthes would give a check unto several evils that we are too ready to comply with in a day of trial and discover unto us several things for which we are to check and rebuke ourselves as 1. Do not some finde an Antipathy at the cross working and striving in them even when the Cross is yet far off Do they not finde some aversness of soul therefrom Now this evil would meet with a check if these Truthes were beleeved No beleever findeth any aversness from faith but he is still desaring more and more of it and praying Lord increase our faith for he knoweth how excellent and necessary it is And now seing the grace and gift of Suffering is as we have shown in several respects above and beyond faith should they be unwilling to receive it if God shall be pleased to honoure them with that Might not the beleever hence say to himself are there any of the Gifts of God to be refused or rejected Are not all His Graces and Gifts excellent and lovely Why doth my heart then so much stand out against this How is it that I am not more in love with the Glorious Cross of Christ Especially seing it is an honour that isnot conferred on every one and an honourable Gift purchased by the precious blood of Christ that hath purchased nothing that will harme us or nothing but what is excellent and desirable Why then am I so little in love with suffering for the sake of Christ Ought I not to be ashamed of and displeased with my self upon this account Ought I not to check this aversness 2. The faith of this would give a check unto our readiness to shift the Cross when we are called to make ready for it and when it seemeth to be at the door For would we say what Shall we devise meanes to shift suffering for the Cause of Christ when He is calling us to it What shall we meditate a way of shifting and putting away such an honourable Divine Gift more excellent than faith in several respects What unsutable unworthy carriage must this be Is it a gift of God and such a gift of God and a gift given in the behalfe of Christ as purchased by His Merites and Death and shall we thus sinfully basely and unworthily shift it by our door and rather sinne than embrace it and make it welcome What a shame were this 3. The faith of these things would give a check unto our fool-hardiness and too rash adventuring on sufferings without a due call and as if our strength were able to carry us thorow Too many are too confident and promise too much upon their own Ability Parts Resolution and Strength as if the stood in need of no more and as if this Suffering for the sake of Christ were not a pure gift of Grace that must come down from above from the Father of Lights through Jesus Christ. Now the faith of these Truthes would check these thoughts Any that know what true faith is would be dissatisfied with such as would talk of it as a thing in their power and which they could put in Act when they pleased because they would know that such boasted of what they had not and that faith was not in their Power but was the special and purchased gift of God So would the right thoughts of this put us from ever thinking to venture on suffering in our own strength put us to look to Him from whom every good gift and every perfect gift cometh through Jesus Christ and waite on Him for it 4. The faith of this would likewise rebuke our readiness to fainte when we aer called to suffer or engaged in it and put a check to our saying Alas we will never win thorow this Sea of Affliction one day or other we shall shamefully fall and betray the cause and so come off with disgrace and would put us to look off ourselves and to look up unto the giver who giveth freely and to the Purchaser who will receive all that He hath purchased Must we not thus carry in order to faith when we beginne to feare that it shall fail us Do we not comfort ourselves with this That faith is the free gift of God and is purchased by Christ and is not of ourselves And why should we not do so in order to suffering which is also the free gift of God and is purchased by Christ When we are like to be discouraged with the thoughts of our own weakness and unfitness to contend with Horsemen and with the swellings of Jordan should we not look upon it as the gift of God whereby He can make us strong even when we are weak to the Glory of His free Grace And when we are discouraged with the thoughts of our unworthiness and thereupon inferre that God will never honour us with bearing faithful Testimony unto His Truth should we not in humility and in the acknowledgment of our own Unworthiness and Provocations look to Him as the great and free giver who giveth nothing because of our merites He gave us faith freely notwithstanding of our former Provocations and great unworthiness and may He not also give us this gift when He calleth us to the duty freely through
Circumstances the time of Affliction may appear as nothing 6. This time of Affliction may appear to be short in respect of the Comfort and Support which the Lord may bestow upon them in the Affliction His Presence and Company may so sweeten the Lot that the time may as it were steal away and scarce be observed what is a whole Years Affliction when God is pleased to shine in love upon the soul dureing that time Good Company will make the Journay seem short and the way good which otherwayes would be tedious Now the Lord is pleased sometimes so to manifest Himself as to fill His People with Joy and this so sweetneth the trouble and cutteth the time short that many Years seem but a few dayes 7. The time may be accounted short in respect of the rich recompence of reward that is coming If we should lay this in the ballance with an hundred Years Bondage and Affliction what would all these Years of trouble seem to be but as the trouble of a moment when it is past Therefore when Paul taketh a view of the exceeding and eternal weight of Glory which was coming all the Afflictions in this earth appeared as nothing in his eyes the transcendent Glory incomprehensible Excellency of the one eateth away the duration of the other to a thing of nothing 2 Cor. 4 ver 17. It is with the Beleever in this case as it was with Iaeob when he was serving for Rachel Seven Years enduring of the cold frost by night and the heat by day seemed unto him but as a few dayes For the love he had to her Gen. 29 vers 20. The thoughts of the rich and upmaking reward that faithful Sufferers have to look-for will cause a long time of sad Affliction seem short 8. The time of Affliction is so short that it is as nothing in comparison of Eternity the exceeding and eternal weight of Glory will make the Afflictions light momentany What is the whole of time unto Eternity Is there any comparison betwixt what is finite what is Infinite Seing then the whole of time is not as a moment of time to all eternity what can the longest duration of Affliction be but as an inconsiderable part of that inconsiderable whole VVhat do those who are up before the Throne think of the many Years of their Trouble and Persecution here below Are they think we calculating it by Years or by Dayes or by Houres Oh no all of it is with them comprized within the Circle of a small inconsiderable point These and the like particulars being duely pondered and considered it will appear how the longest time of Affliction that we can have here is but short inconsiderable And it is our not weighing and laying of these things to heart which maketh our trouble seem so long Thirdly VVe come now to speak of the Christian and Edifying Improvement of this Consideration which is by fixing it in our heart as a sure truth that the time of Affliction is indeed but short And had we the faith hereof rooted in our souls we would be in case to carry Christianly under Afflictions For the faith hereof would produce several sweet and useful Effects in our hearts seasonable and profitable for such a time Such as these following 2. The fixed apprehension of this that the time of trouble is but short would fortifie the Soul of a Beleever against the false suggestions of the Devil which he maketh much use of at that time to disquiet their hearts and make their lives bitter He will laboure to perswade them that God looketh on them as Enemies otherwise He would not continue their heavy Affliction so long and thus tempt them to question their Interest in God But the faith of this truth would enable the Beleever to answere this Objection and to repel this Temptation by saying His anger is but for a moment His face will not alwayes be hid this blast will go over and therefore I have no cause to call my Interest in question upon this account 2. The fixed faith of this would keep the Beleever from questioning the promises upon the account that the Lords Dispensations did seem to threaten a long lasting trouble and a sad life of Affliction for a long time Temptation it is true will then say God hath forgotten to be gracious He will be favourable no more His faithfulness faileth for ever But the Soul beleeving this Conclusion will say what a poor insignificant ground is that for me whereupon to call the faithfulness of God in question If the trouble were lengthened out â—…et longer all the time is but short it will soon have an end 3. The faith of this will contribute much to hold up Hop 's Head When the afflicted Person through the Power of Temptation is made to cry-out O! This Trouble will never have an end this perplexity and exercise is but growing and what shall I do Then hope beginneth to fail and when hop faileth the soul sincketh But now when this Consideration is seriously thought upon and the soul is made to say all the time of Affliction which his Children meet with here is but short it will not alwayes last it is but for a moment yea and for a very short moment then hop is made to lift up its head for the man will be ashamed to quite his hop and despond who knoweth that the storme will quickly be over and be but like a may-shoure 4. The Faith of this will help unto the exercise of Patience when we look upon the trouble as that which will not end or must be of long continuance our courage departeth our spirits fail and we storme and grow Impatient But when we by faith look thorow the thick and black side of the dispensation and see the end of the calamity nigh at hand the moment posting away how sweetly will we lay our necks under the yoke and set our faces against the storme and hold on our Journay How patiently will we bear the Indignation of the Lord when we know that it will be over within a moment We will be ashamed to quarrel or complaine when we know that a period shall quickly be put thereunto The Apostle told the Hebrewes Heb. 10 36. that they had need of patience And to encourage them unto Patience he tels them that within a little while yea a very little while He that should come would come and would not tarry vers 37. 5 The faith of this will help unto Constancy and Stedfastness When we once conceive and apprehend that our trouble shall be of long endurance we grow weak and unable to stand out against temptations and are ready to say because this storme will not soon blow over it is best to row to a lee shore and comply with the sinful courses of the time Whereas did we see and beleeve that the storme would not endure long but be quickly gone we would be encouraged to ride it
expired for as long as the righteous are in hazard of putting forth their hands unto iniquity because of the continuance of the trouble we may eye this promise that the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon their lot this ground will alwayes endure and so the promise bearing this Ground and Reason in its bosome will continue likewise in force We must not then say that Afflictions on the Godly shall never have an end unless we would withall destroy this promise Therefore we may conclude that the People of the Lord shall not be the rest of the burden of the Word of the Lord as it is said of Damascus Zech. 9 1. 4. We are also told in Scripture That the Heaviness of Affliction is but for a Season 1 Pet. 1 6. wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a Season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations The word rendered for a Season in the original signifieth a little present now to show that this Season is but short a present now without any considerable duration If this were beleeved we could not be crying-out as we are too ready to do Oh will those dayes never be at an end we would see that the little inconsiderable present now or point of time would quickly be over See Revel 6 11. 5. The Scripture tels us of a little while Heb. 10 37. for yet a little while and He that shall come will come c. The expression is mostemphatick in the Original cannot well be rendered to the full as if he had said yet a little how little how little As if it could not be expressed how little the time was to be This little while or appointed time as it is called Habb 2 .3 will soon be over 6. The Scripture pointeth it out to be a very little while Esai 10 25. for yet a very little while and the Indignation shall cease c. In the Original there are two words both of them signifying a little time or a very little time and so it is as much as if he had said a very little little time Sure that time cannot be long which is so short that the shortness of it cannot be expressed Is it not then strange that when the Spirit of the Lord cannot to speak so get words to express the shortness of the duration of their trouble they on the contrary cannot get words sufficiently to express their sense of the length of the time 7. We finde it called by a definite number Ten dayes Revel 2 10. And ye shall have tribulation ten dayes Whereby the shortness of the duration of that tribulation is expressed not that the trouble was to continue just ten dayes but to signifie that it was not to continue long but a short inconsiderable time which the Lord had determined and limited punctually to a day Tribulation will not last alwayes Ten dayes will put a period to it 8. If this be too long we have it expressed as yet much shorter even a night which is no long time Psal. 30 5. Weeping may endure for a night c. The dark disconsolat weeping time will not endure long the few houres of a night will put an end to it It is but a night and a night that hath the dawning of a day following it We should be ashamed then to think or say that our Trouble and Affliction will alwayes last we never saw a night yet but it had a morning of a new day following it 9. If this should yet seem too long we have it denominated from a shorter time as an hour Revel 3 10. there is mention made of an hour of temptation that was to come on all the earth Our Lord sure would hereby confute our errour of construeing the time to be too long when He doth of purpose mention such short measures of time An hour will soon be at an end the few minuts thereof will swiftly post away 10. Nay if this should seem too long we have it expressed by a shorter duration viz. of a moment Ps. 30 5. for his anger endureth but a moment And what can be shorter than a moment Is there any measure of time shorter than a moment And yet by this is the duration of the Anger of God against His Children in afflicting of them expressed Why then should we account that an age which the Lord calleth but a moment So Esai 54 8. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment The word rendered moment signifieth cutting or dividing and so importeth the shortest cutting or division of time The Apostle speaketh thus of it also 2 Cor. 4 17. Our light Affliction which is bâ—…t for a moment The Apostles expression is singular there is a lightness of Affliction and that lightness is but a momentany lightness Now weightiness or lightness is not measured by time yet the Apostle in a most emphatick manner doth so here to shew us that all the weight of the Affliction in comparison of the glory that is coming is meer lightness or is so light that it cannot be measured with the least of weights and therefore he saith it is but a momentany thing like a feather falling on a mans hand and immediatly blown away againe It can be nothing then but shameless unbeleef that saith the time is long 11. Nay which is yet more as if this duration were yet too long it is expressed by a little moment Esai 26 vers 20. As if it were a little part of the least division of time if there be any moment less then another that is the right name of the duration of the Troubles and Afflictions of His People So Esai 54 vers 7. It is called a small moment And can we imagine how it can be less If the People of God had the measuring of the time of their trouble in their own hand could they give it any shorter duration than this Could they imagine a shorter When the Spirit of the Lord expresseth it thus We should be ashamed to think it too long But it will be objected and this is the Second thing I am to speak to That the Lords ordinary dispensation with His people in all ages seemeth to contradict this for ordinarily if not alwayes we see that the Afflictions of His People are of long continuance did not Israel wander Fourty Yeers in the Wilderness After they came into Canaan did they not serve the King of Mesopotamia Eight yeers Iudg. 3 8. and the King of Moab Eighteen vers 14. and the King of Canaan Twenty Yeers Iudg. 4 3. the King of Midian Seven Yeers Iudg. 6 vers 1 Were they not captives in Babylon Seventy Yeers not to mention their being now Non-churched above sixteen hundreth Yeers How then can this time be called and accounted so short For clearing of this we shall propose these few things following to Consideration 1. The time of the Affliction of His people may be accounted