[2.] A fervent love, arising out of the sense of our obligations to God, that we do with all readiness of mind set ourselves to do his will, levelling and directing our actions to his glory. ' Love is strong as death, and many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it,' Cant. viii. 6, 7. This love will neither be bribed nor frightened from Christ.
[3.] A lively hope, that doth so long and wait for glory to come, that present things do not greatly move us, either delights : 1 Pet. i. 8, ' Whom having not seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory ;' or the terrors of sense : Rom. viii. 18, ' For I reckon that the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.'
Doct. 3. That those that come out of eminent conflicts are usually delivered by God in a glorious manner.
Christ was a pattern of this : ' The devil leaveth him, and behold angels came and ministered unto him.' When God delivered his people, after a long captivity, he delivered them with glory, and some kind of triumph, when he turned the Egyptian captivity : ' They borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment. And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required ; iuid they spoiled the Egyptians,' Exod. xii. 35, 36, So, in the Baby- lonian captivity, Cyrus chargeth his subjects, in the place where the Jews remain, to furnish them with all things necessary for their journey: Ezek. i. 4, ' And whosoever remaineth in any place, where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the freewill-offering for the house of God, that is in Jerusalem.' So, in a private instance : Job xlii. 10, 11, ' And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends : also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his
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sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house, and they bemoaned him, and com- forted him over all the evil that the Lord had brouj^ht upon him ; every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.' It is said, ' The Lord turned the captivity of Job/ because he had been delivered to Satan's power till the Lord set him at liberty again, and then all his friends had compassion on him, even those that had despised him before relieved him. So Isa. Ixi. 7, ' For your shame you shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion ; therefore in their land they shall possess the double, ever- lasting joy shall be unto them.' They should have large and eminent honour, double honour for their shame, such a reparation would God make them for all the troubles and damages they had sustained. So, in an ordinary providence, God raiseth up comforters to his servants after all the injuries done them by Satan's instruments. And so also in spirituals ; the grief and trouble that cometh by temptation is recom- pensed with more abundant consolation after the conquest and vic- tory ; and God delighteth to put special marks of favour upon his people that have been faithful in an hour of trial. Now God doth this : —
1. To show the world the advantage of godliness, and close adher- ing to him in an hour of temptation : Ps. cxix. 5Q, ' This I had, because I kept thy precepts.' And Ps. Iviii. 11, 'So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous, verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.'
2. To check our diffidence and murmurings under trouble. Within a while and God's children will see they have no cause to quarrel with God, or repent that they were in trouble. For sometimes God giveth not only a comfortable but a glorious issue. There is nothing lost by waiting on providence ; though we abide the blows of Satan for a while, yet abide them ; God is, it may be, preparing the greater mercy for you : Isa. xxv. 9, ' And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God ; we have waited for him, and he will save us : this is the Lord ; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.' Aiilictions are sharp in their season, but the end is glorious.
Use. Do not always reckon upon temporal felicity, refer that to God, but do as Jesus, who, in his sharp trials, Heb. xii. 2, 3, ' For the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.' There is a sure crown of life : James i. 12, ' Blessed is the man that en- dureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.' That is enough to content a Christian, the eternal reward is sure. In this world he shall receive with persecution an hundred-fold, but in the world to come eternal life : Mark x. 29, 30, ' There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or flither, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive an huudred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the world to come eternal life.'