12G THE LIFE OF FAITH.
i. 11, ' Stvengtheiied with nil niig:lit, uccoruing- to liis £:lorious power, unto all patience, witli long-suliering; and joyiulness.' There is a gra- dation : the power of God doth not only strengthen us to patience, but to all patience. We may have patience in some afflictions, and not in others. Those may bear loss, perhaps, that cannot bear affronts or dis- graces. Long-suffering is patience extended. Not only the weight of afflictions is considerable, but length ; we may tire under a long afflic- tion. He goeth on to joyiulness. We may endure a heavy affliction, and endure it long, but yet go drooping and heavily under it ; but God will give strength to bear it cheerful l}-
5. The affliction shall not always last ; y^ea, it shall be very short. His wrath on the church abideth but for a little moment -' Isa. xxvi. 20, ' Come, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee ; hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the in- dignation be overpast.' A moment is the smallest part of time ; that point of time that is but indivisible, we call a moment. Now the time by which misery is set forth is called a moment, yea, a small moment, which is a great comfort to us. Our afflictions are bitter but short. If it be distress of conscience ; God ' will not always chide : ' Ps. ciii. 8, 9, ' The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy ; he wdll nof always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever.' He will not pursue the dry stubble. If it be Satan's rage, ' he hath great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time/ Rev. xii. 12; dying beasts bite shrewdly. Pains of body cannot last long : Phil. iii. 21, 'Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.' Church distresses will at length be over. All our toil and labour, it is but till dust return to the du.st, during the pre-eminence of enemies, or when rulers are unfriendly : Ps. cxxv. 3, ' For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.' The rod is the ensign of power. Do not murmuringly cry. How long ? within a little while we shall be as well as heart can wish. Let us therefore humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God : Hosea vi. 1,2,' Come and let us return unto the Lord , for he hath torn and he will heal us ; he hath smitten and he will bind us up.' The afflictions of the church are from God, and his hand ; and so the healing must come alone from him. But when ? — ' After two days he will revive us ; in the third day he will raise us np.' It may seem long to sense, but it is short to faith. As Christ's death lasted but for a while ; the church hath her resurrection as well as Christ. Nay, but one day ; Ps. XXX. 5, ' Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.' If we m;dce a right reckoning, our suiferings are very short; so Isa. xvii. 14, 'And behold at evening-tide trouble, and before the morning he is not ; this is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.' A tempest wdiirleth and roareth in the night , but when the sun ariseth in its strength, it is gone,
Ohj. But common sense and experience is against this.
Ans. So it contradicts all matters of faith. But to clear it, how it is long and how it is short.
1. How it is long.
[1.] It is long because of present smart ; it is irksome to sense.
THE LIFE OF FAITH. 127
Men in a fever reckon lionrs, and quarters, and minutes. Winter nights, to one that sleepeth not, seem tedious in the passing ; tbougli when they are past, they are as a thing of nothing : Ps. xc. 4, ' A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the. night.' A child would fain pass over his hard lesson.
[2.] It is long, because of our earnest desire of the blessings hoped for. To an hungry stomach the meat seemeth long a-dressing: Prov. X. 26, ' As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the slug- gard to them that send him.' The least delay to earnest expectation is tedious — ' Hope deferred maketh the heart sick,' Prov. xiii. 12.
[3.] We measure things by a wrong rule, not by the standard of scripture computation. The longest time to eternity is nothing : Ps. xc. 4, ' A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday.' What the ])oint or prick in the centre is to the circumference, that is time to eternity. Sopienti nihil magmmi est, cut nota est ceternitatis mag- nitudo — He that is acquainted with the vastness of eternity accounts nothing great.
2. How it is short.