In the words there is an elegant antithesis, or opposing of our future estate to our present. Here is ' affliction/ there ' glory ; ' here a ' light affliction,' there a ' weight of glory ; ' here ' momentary affliction,' there ' eternal glory/ In our affliction there is both brevity and levity ; it is a light affliction, and it is but for a moment ; in our future glory there is solidity and eternity.
1. Solidity and excellency, ' a far more exceeding weight of glory,' /cad' v7repfio\r)v et? i>7rep(3o\.r)v fidpos So^?, a weight of glory accord- ing to excellency unto excellency. Glory is called a weight, because the same word, chahod, which signifieth a weight, signifieth also glory ; and weight addeth to the value of gold and precious things ; as the more massy and weighty a crown is, the more it is worth. And it is said to be ' a far more exceeding,' &c. All words are too weak to express heaven's happiness, and therefore he heapeth expression upon expression. The expression single is used, Rom. vii. 13, kcl& v7rep/3o\r)v, ' That sin might become out of measure or ' exceeding sinful ; ' but here it is doubled, ' a far more exceeding.'
2. Eternity, dtdoviou fidpo<; So^? ; this is opposed to the momen- tariness of our affliction. Both properties suit with God's infiniteness and
372 SERMON UPON 2 CORINTHIANS IV. 17.
eternity. In the other world God will give like himself, becoming an infinite and eternal power.
Doct. That the hope of eternal life, which shall follow upon our present afflictions, should make them seem as nothing to us, or as matters not much to be accounted of.
For see here how the apostle doth — (1.) Lessen the afflictions of our present condition ; (2.) Greaten heavenly things ; (3.) Showeth how the one is the fruit of the other, in the word ' worketh ; ' (4.) Who are the persons.
I. He taketh off the tediousness of our present afflictions, that we may not faint under them : 'Our light affliction, which is but for a moment.' There is the evil expressed, ' our affliction ; ' the evil less- ened, it is 'light ' and 'but for a moment.'
1. The evil expressed, ' our affliction.' Mine and my brethren's in the ministry, and all christians', for there is a like reason of all. God will have all tried and exercised one way or another ; and the most eminent most tried : Eev. vii. 14, ' These are they who are come out of great tribulation.' Tribulations, and great tribulations, are the way to glory to them whom God loveth most. Jesus Christ himself ' drank of the brook in the way,' Ps. ex. 7, and was made low before he was exalted. And the members follow the head by a conformity of suffering : ' And we must all through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of heaven,' Acts xiv. 22. We are all obnoxious to the hatred of the world, which will vent itself in reproaches, calumnies, and persecutions ; this is the will of God. His only-begotten Son, whom he so dearly loved, was not free. By this hard and rough way will he lead us to glory and immortality. Our business is not to alter God's decrees by seeking an exemption from crosses, but to consider how we may be supported under them. Neither let any think the worse of glory, or that the happiness of God's people is less worth, because tribulation is the way to it. Surely the way to heaven, with all the tribulations which accompany it, is far better than an easy life in this world with God's curse.
2. The evil is lessened. Our afflictions are leves et breves, light and short. The highest way of comforting the afflicted which philosophy could aspire unto was this, that if afflictions were great, they were short; if long, light; meaning thereby, that if their afflictions were grievous, they would shorten their lives ; if of long continuance, by bearing they learned the better to bear. But here both light and short too in respect of our glorious reward, which being infinite, maketh them light, and being eternal, makes them short.
[1.] Our affliction is light. There are degrees in our troubles ; some are more grievous, others more light and easy ; some escape and get to heaven at a cheaper rate than others ; but the afflictions of all are light. The Holy Ghost doth here assure us of it ; for at first view they seem hard and burdensome, but if you consider them more inti- mately, they are soft and easy. The afflictions of the godly are not light in themselves, but either —
(1.) Comparatively, in respect of the excellency and infiniteness of the heavenly glory. So Rom. viii. 18, ' I reckon that the sufferings of the present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory which
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shall be revealed in us.' The trouble is nothing to the recompense, nor the cross to the crown ; no more than a feather to a talent of lead. The good and evil of the other world are truly great, but the good and evil of the present world are slight and inconsiderable. This is evident, because we are ignorant and incredulous of falling by the beginnings of either. A wounded spirit or the comfort of a good conscience, these are things we have experience of ; we know not exactly what our future condition will be, but the hopes and fears of that estate are very affective. The fears of eternal torment which are found in a guilty conscience show that all the sufferings of the world are but a flea-biting to that woe and anguish which abideth for the impenitent : Prov. xviii. 14, ' The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear ? ' The salve for this sore must come from heaven ; so the joys of a good conscience, which are ' unspeakable and glorious/ 1 Peter i. 8, show the happiness of the other world to be exceeding great; for if the foretaste be so sweet, the hope and expectation so ravishing, what will the enjoyment be ? All the pleasures of sense are but a May- game to it. Now turn the tables, and compare the troubles of obedi- ence with the pleasure and glory of our reward, or, on the other side, the pleasures of sin with the pains of hell, and then you will conclude that all the evil that can seize upon us here for our faithfulness to God is light and easy.