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King's high-way, out of the covenant? However much in the dark I may be about particular providen ces, and singular afflictions, till all things are cleared up above, yet, in general, I shall welcome whatever may loose me from this world, and bring me nearer God.

MEDITATION XCVII.

THE GLORIOUS FRUITS OF SANCTIFIED AFFLICTION.

June 4, 1759.

Two things render affliction either easy or intol

erable, to wit, its kind, and continuance. If it be ponderous and crushing, and withal continual; this makes affliction break all the bones, and wound the very spirits. But when it is light, and over in a moment, which is the case with all the afflictions that befal the sons of God, I wonder why or how I can complain. But how astonishing beyond expression must it be, that this light and transitory load of affliction should work for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!

Truly I have no reason to cry out of my troubles and trials, since they work more good for me than now I can conceive. And little do I think, while grappling with my afflictions and fears, what they are procuring for me in the highest heavens; God having so connected the seed-time of tears with the harvest of glory, that they who sow weeping, shall reap with everlasting joy. Would I grudge to carry a stone for a day or two, if assured that when I laid it down, I should receive a crown of gold? Why, then, repine under my afflictions?

But, again, what proportion is there between the cross and the crown, the trial and the triumph, the affliction and the comfort, the burden of grief and the exceeding weight of glory? No more than between the glorious Giver and glorified receiver. Here our afflictions own the creature as the instrument, and sometimes have their origin in imagination; here they are light, and they are transitory; but the glory above is massy and weighty, is permanent and eternal, and is the immediate gift of God, neither by nor from the creature.

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Moreover, affliction works for our good, even here : For, 1. To the saints, it bears, as it were, its own reward in its bosom, yielding to all that are rightly exercised therewith the peaceable fruits of righteousness. It deadens the pleasures of sense, and gives the soul a relish for spiritual things; yea, it divorces the soul from the creature, and draws it near to God. 2. There is no proportion between all that can befal the saints in this state, and that joy wherewith they shall be comforted in the better life. none of the sons of men do all afflictions meet at one and the same time; Job's case came nearest it, but at all times he had the exercise of his reason, and the testimony of a good conscience, with an invincible faith in God, which made him conquer even while he seemed to fall. The afflictions, then, of saints, are verily light; but their future glory is a weight filling every power, replenishing every faculty, overflowing the whole soul, and satisfying every desire. Now, in all the sons of God, the heirs of glory, every heavenly gift, every blessing of love, every degree of felicity, every beam of glory, centres, meets, and rests for ever. Therefore, there is no proportion between their

sufferings and their consolation. 3. Affliction is of no continuance; the apostle elegantly expresses it by a moment, which of all times is the shortest. And indeed though the affliction were severe and very ponderous, yet this lightens it much, and that it is over and gone in a moment, no sooner felt than fled, to return no more; but the exceeding weight of glory, to screw up their felicity to the highest degree, is also eternal.

But some may think, How can affliction be thought either light, or but for a moment, since, for their part, it is all they can do to support under the pressure and weight of their many adversities? And as to their being over in a moment, they rather think with Heman, "that they are afflicted, and ready to die from their youth up;" or, with Asaph, that they are "plagued all the day long, and chastened every morning."

But, as to the first, no afflictions befal the saints that can destroy their frame, though they may dissolve the union between soul and body. Yea, though the outward man be crushed, and seem to perish, yet it is to our advantage, for thereby the inward man is renewed day by day, and grows up in strength unto eternal glory. And this mitigation arises from the divine sympathy of him, who in all their afflictions is afflicted. Moreover, how often does the joy that God pours into the soul, in the time of affliction, overbalance and downweigh all the sorrow that arises from them.

And, as to the second complaint, of continuance ; as a moment bears no proportion to one's life, so our whole life bears no proportion to the eternity of glory which shall take place, when the hour-giass of time

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has not a sand left, and cannot be turned.
ment stays not, and when gone cannot be remember-
ed; for even millions put together make but a dura-
tion, which, when past, is only like a tale that is told.
Now, life consists of so many moments, therefore a
moment bears some proportion to our life, though
very small; but eternity is not composed of life-times
or ages, therefore the whole life bears no proportion
to eternity. That which endures but for a while may
be divided into the smallest denomination, but what
continues for ever cannot be broken down into num-
bers. Now, is it much to pass through the shallow
stream of affliction, that can rise but to the ankles,
in order to plunge into the pleasures of his right
hand, which are a great river, even waters to swim
in ? Can any child of heaven quarrel with the kind-
ness of God, who makes light and momentary afflic-
tion work for them a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory?

Take courage, then, my soul, and be strong; look into God's dealing with thee, for his ways can stand the strictest search, as through them all, even in the afflicting hand, fatherly kindness and eternal love shine forth. Now I see what I never saw before, that afflictions sanctified are indulgences, and trials the special gifts of heaven. And I do not wonder that all the saints are, I say not punished, but privileged with them, of one kind or another; since they here keep sin low, and for them accumulate eternal weights of glory in the other world. My not looking into the ways of divine wisdom, and to the extent of the promises, has made me have very odd thoughts of afflictions; and, concluding them to be the signs of divine displeasure, I have been ready to question my interest in God, and difficulted how to understand the word of

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truth. But now I see, that though sometimes he sends afflictions to chastise his saints for sin, and curb their carnal affections (and how kind is it thereby to punish sin, and prepare them for glory, and glory for them!) yet, that at other times he sends them to improve the soul, and exercise every grace in his saints. Why, then, do not I, like the great apostle of old, glory in tribulation, which, where grace is in exercise, sets all the wheels of the soul in motion; tribulation working patience; patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope, being no way ashamed to confess her confidence in him who has shed his love abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, gives a heavenly boldness. Should I then be disconsolate, because some fogs dwell on the eye-lids of everlasting morn, which, when the sun arises, shall never more be seen? Should any shades in this early twilight give sorrow, which are to be swallowed up in the brightness of eternal noon? A little patience, and I am past every one of my troubles, and possessed of all the transports of perpetual day.

Even from the vastness of my affliction and sorrow here, solid joy may rise; for if affliction sometimes almost crush me, and I am sometimes like to fall under it, ought I not to consider, that this weight of glory shall far, very far, exceed the present burden? Now, if the one be so much, how much more, infinitely much more, will the other be! Yea, it shall be such, that were I not replenished with immortality, and upheld by the Most High, I should fall under the insupportable emanations of divine glory. But I shall be all might for that happy state, where, to my sweet experience, I shall learn, that my light afflictions, which was but for a moment, wrought for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!

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