128 SERMONS UPON 1 CORINTHIANS XV. 19.
tlie wo)-lJ have all llieir good things allowed by tlice iti this life ; here they have all riches, and plenty, and a numerous posterity, wealth sufficient not only to enjoy themselves, but to leave abundantly to their children ; Ijut I count myself abundantly provided for if I may have thy favour with a painful holy life here, and when I awake out of the sleep of death, may so see thee hereafter, as to be like thee ; I am satisfied with the ho])es of the vision and i'ruition of God.
[2.] Sometimes they compare temporal evil things with eternal evil things ; as a prison with hell, or the killing of the body with the casting the body and soul into hell-fire : Luke xii. 4, 5, ' Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear : Fear him which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell ; yea, 1 say unto you, Fear him.' Certainly it is more for our interest to fear displeasing God than dis- ])leasing men ; the utmost that men can do is to kill the body, and then their malice is at an end; but God can cast body and soul into •everlasting toi-ments. Every one would submit to a lesser evil to avoid a greater. When you must sin to escape trouble in the world, you run into eternal sufferings to avoid temporal. No wrath like the wrath of God ; no torment like the fire of hell.
[3.] Sometimes they compare temporal good with eternal evil ; as Mat. xvi. 26, ' What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? ' The plentiful life of worldlings with the for- feiting of the soul ; the pleasures of sin for a season with the pains of hell.
[4.] The fourth sort of comparison which the scripture directs us imto is temporal bad things with eternal good things ; and that is the €ase we have now in hand. Thus Eom. viii. 18, ' For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.' Sufferings for the present may be very great, but the glory that is revealed to us, and shall one day be revealed in us, is much greater ; as there is no compaiison between a little flea-biting, or the prick of a pin, with eternal ease and rest, or the trouble of entering by a strait gate or entry into a glorious palace : 2 Cor. iv. 17, ' For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' The sufferings of the present world are leves et breves, light and short; not in themselves, but in comparison with eternal life. In themselves they may be some of them very sharp and grievous, and some also very long and tedious ; but look, what a point is to the cir- cumference, that is time to eternity, and -what a feather is to a talent of lead, that are present evils to future glory and blessedness. All this is spoken to show that it is better to be miserable with the people of God than happy with his enemies, and that we should not be drawn away from Christ neither by the comfortable nor troublesome things we meet with in the world.
6. This happiness which Christ hath proposed is at the general resurrection, or Christ's coming to judgment; for that is the point which the apostle is now discoursing of. There is a distinction between the good and the bad at death, when ' the spirits of just men are made perfect,' Heb. xii. 23, and the spirits of the wicked are sent to prison,
SERMONS UPON 1 CORINTHIANS XV. 19. 129
1 Peter iii. 19. The soul dieth not with the body, but some go one way, some another; the souls of just men to God's palace of glory, where they are with Christ, and the souls of the wicked to the prison of hell. 13ut this retribution is not sufficient, for two reasons — because it is private, and doth not openly vindicate the justice and holiness of God ; and it is but on a part, the soul, and not the body.
[1.] Because it is private, and dispensed apart to every single person, man by man as they die. Certainly it is more for the honour of God to bring his judgment to light, as the prophet speaketh, Zeph. iii. 5, ' Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light.' Here the love of God towards the good, and the justice of God towards the wicked, is not brought into the clear light, nor at death ; neither the mouth of the pit is visibly opened, nor the glory of heaven exposed to view. But then this different respect is more conspicuous when the justice of God hath a public and solemn trium})h, and his enemies are branded with shame and ignominy, and the faith of his elect found to praise and honour, and the one are publicly condemned, and the other justi- fied by the judge sitting upon the throne : Acts iii. 19, ' That your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.'