[3.] Temporal good with eternal evil. Many succeed well in a way of sinning here, live without any remarkable blast and stroke of God's
142 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeR. XXVI.
judgment; but how is it witli them in the otlier world? Momentum est quod delecfat, etemum quod cruciaL Heb. xi. 25, ' Tlie pleasures of sin are but for a season ; ' but tlie punishment of sin is for ever ; if ■we compare tiie pleasures of sin with the pains of hell, it may be a means to reclaim us from the sensual life. This short pleasure is dearly bought.
[4.] Temporal bad things, with eternal good things. T]\is here, and 2 Cor. iv. 17, ' For our light afflictions, wliich are but for a moment, worketh for us a f;xr more e.tcceding and eternal weight of glory.' A due sight of eternity will soon show us the smallness of all that we can suffer here ; and so our afflictions are not matters much to be stood upon, or accounted of; the comparison must be rightly stated, and weighed, and improved by proper considerations.
3. In this last comparison these things are considerable^
[1.] Our sufferings come from men, but our glory cometh from God; now as the agent is, so is the eflect ; man afflicts as a finite creature, but God rewardeth us as an infinite and eternal being ; man showeth himself in his wrath, and God in his love ; man in his anger : Isa. li. 12, 'M''ho art thou, that thou shouklest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man who shall be as grass ? ' Men soon perish and are gone, and the effects of their anger cease with them ; they can do no more than God pleaseth, and their time is limited ; they can rage no longer than God pleaseth. But as man showeth himself as man, God showeth himself as God. It is intimated in the general expression of the covenant, ' I will be your God,' — be such a benefactor as a God should be ; do us good so as becometh an infinite eternal power ; thence are those reasonings : Mat. xxii. 32, ' I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ; God is not the God of the dead, but of the living ; ' Heb. xi. 16, ' But now they desire a better country, that is an heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.' He will give us somewhat like himself ; now what comparison between the wrath of man and the bounty of God ?
[2.] Our sufferings are earthly, but our glory is heavenly. As the place is, so is the estate ; here both the good and evil is jiartial, but there both are complete ; for here we are in the way, there m fermino, in our final estate ; here a believer's spiritual condition will counter- balance all his outward troubles; his consolation exceed his afflictions : 2 Cor i. 5, ' For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consola- tion doth abound by Christ ; ' much more his eternal estate. For now we are but in part acquainted with God, but there he is all in all, 1 Cor. X. 28 ; here we see him in a glass, but there face to face, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. Here we have the earnest, there the whole bargain ; here a taste, there a full feast ; here the beginning, there the consummation.
[3.] Our sufferings are but short, but our glory eternal : 1 Pet. i. 6, ' For a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold tempta- tions ; ' the trouble is but of short continuance ; so 1 Pet. v. 10. ' He hath called yon to eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after you have suffered a while.' It is but a little time that we sufi'er; for God knoweth our spirits are soon apt to fail ; he considereth we are but dust. Indeed the Lord useth a difference with his children ; some have shorter trials,
VeR. 18] SERMONS UPON EOMANS VIII. 143
some longer ; but they are all but for a season. If they should last for our whole lives, they are but momentary, if compared with eternity. But it is not credible that our lives should be altogether calamitous; there is no instance either in scripture, or the records of time ; there are intervals of rest, and our enemies cannot trouble us, but when it is permitted of God. But if there were no intermission, yet this life itself is but for a moment, compared with eternity. If you consider that which in these afflictions we most dread, and beyond which the power of the most cruel adversaries cannot reach, death itself ; it is but for a moment ; in the twinkling of an eye we are in eternity ; death cometh in a moment, and it is gone in a moment ; after that, we enjoy eternal rest and peace. Therefore though in our way to heaven we should endure the most grievous calamities, yet since they are but short and momentary, we should submit to them, that we may enjoy so great a good as the vision and fruition of God. Toleramus hrevia, expectamus eterna ; the sufferings are temporal, the glory is eternal, because it dependeth upon the will of an immutable God, and the everlasting merit of a glorious Eedeemer : when either of these foundations fail, your blessedness will be at an end. But these can never fail ; and therefore our glory will be everlasting. Well then, the pain and suffering will be short ; within a little while you will feel it no more than if it had never been ; if the pain be remembered, it will be but to increase your joy.