[1.] It is not so long as it might be in regard of the enemy's rage : Zech. i. 15, ' And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease ; for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.' Satan and wicked men know no bounds when God sets them a-work to correct his people ; they go about it with cruel minds, and destructive intentions. God intended to correct and purge them : they intend to root out and destroy them.
[2] Not so long as it may seem to be in the course of second causes. In a natural way no end can be seen, when those that hate them seem to be fortified with a strong back of secular interests, and stand upon an immutable foundation : Mat. xxiv. 22, 'And except those days shall be shortened, there shall no flesh be saved ; but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.' Though they shall run out to the full length of the prophecies, yet as to the course of second causes they are notliing so long as they appear.
[3.] Not so long as the merits of our sins would seem to call for : Ezra ix,. 13, 'And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve.' Injustice it might be forever; as the punishments of the wicked in hell, these flames might never be quenched. The evil of one sin cannot be expiated in thousands of years ; but yet though our suffering be sharp and bitter, yet it is but shoit, not so long as sin would make it. God regents presently : Isa. xl. 1,2,' Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned ; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins;' not as if they had suffered more at God's hand than they have deserved, but they had endured so much as God deemed fit to be inflicted.
[4.] Love to God doth not count them long : Gen. xxix. 20, ' Jacob served seven years for Kachel, and they seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had to her.' All our afflictions and troubles are nothing
128 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
to love. Shall not we endure a few years affliction for our Christ, who lived a life of sorrows, and died a cursed death for our sakes ? Surely if we had any love to him, it would not be so tedious.
[5.] Not long with respect to our reward in heaven : Rom, viii. 18, ' For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not wortliy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us ; ' no more than a feather to a talent ; and 2 Cor. iv. 17, ' For our light affliction, wliich is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weiglit of glory ; ' it is but as drop of vinegar to an ocean of sweetness, a rainy day to an everlasting sun-shine. As the forty martyrs in Basil, that were put out naked in a cold winter's night, and to be burned the next day, comforted tiiemselves thus, saying, Apifivs 6 -yeiixCiv^ k. t. \. — Sharp is the cold, but sweet is paradise ; it is but a night's enduring, and to-morrow we shall be in the bosom of God.
[6] It shall turn to good. This is the comfort of the people of God, that all tliat befalleth them is either good or shall turn to good : Rom. viii. 28. ' All things shall work together for good to them that love God.' If we have but a little faith, we may know it for the present, and be assured of it before we see it ; and if we have but a little patience, we shall know it and find it by experience. All things work together for good ; singly and apart they may be against us, but omnia simul adjumenio sunt. Poisonous ingredients in a medicine, take them singly, and they are destructive; but as they are tempered with other things by the hands of a skilful physician, they prove wholesome and useful. So all things that befall us, are tempered and ordered by God for good. There is no beauty in a building till all the pieces be set together. We view God's work by halves, and then his providence i^eemeth to be against us ; but all together it worketh for our good. How for our good ? Sometimes for good temporal, usually for good spiritual, but certainly for good eternal.
(1.) Sometimes for our good temporal, or for our greater preserva- tion : Gen. 1. 20, ' Ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to biing it to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.* The Egyptians and Israel had wanted a preserver if Joseph had not been sold and sent into Egypt. If a man were to go to sea. in a voyage upon which his heart is much set, but the ship is gone before he cometh ; but afterwards he heareth that all that were in the ship were drowned; this disappointment is for good. Crassus's rival in the Parthian war, ■when he heard how that arn)y was intercepted and cut off by the craft of the barbarians, had no reason to stomach his being j-efu.sed. Many of us have cause to say Periissem, nisi periissem — We had suffered more if we had suffered less. In the story of Joseph there is a notable scheme and draught of providence. He is cast into a pit ; thence drawn forth, and sold to tlie Ishmaelites ; by them brought into Egypt, and sold again. What doth God mean to do with poor Joseph ? He is tempted to adultery by his mistress ; refusing the temptation he is falsely accused, sent to prison, kept for a long time in ward and duress ; all this is against him. Who would have thought that in the issue all this should have turned for his good ? that the prison had been the way to preferment ? that by the pit he should come to the palace of the king of Egypt, and exchange his party-coloui-ed coat for a royal