2. Here is ' a far more exceeding weight of glory ' opposed to ' light affliction.' Things excellent we count weighty ; small, light. What is better than that heavenly good which is offered to the faithful followers of Christ ? It is good to consider a little what it is.
[1.] All evil will be then removed. There is no sighing, no sorrow- ing there : Kev. vii. 17, ' God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.' Three things do trouble the saints, and none of them will be in heaven. One is sin, and the frequent interruption of God's service ; but there will neither be sin nor temptation, neither devils nor corrupt nature. We are all pure and holy there, the glorious church is without spot and wrinkle, Eph. v. 27. A second is the frequent interruption of a sense of God's favour. We have both clouds and sunshine here, now God lifts up the light of his countenance, and we are cheered ; but then he hides his face from us, and we are troubled. But there the communion is constant, the day is without night, and an ever- lasting sunshine without clouds : Eev. vii. 15, ' They are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.' There is perpetual service and perpetual enjoyment ; neither is our work inter- rupted, nor our blessedness. The third thing which troubleth the saints is outward persecutions, wants and straits. None of these do follow the saints into heaven. Oh what a happy time will this be, when there will be no crying out of the body of death, no complaint of violence and oppression, no mourning after a withdrawn God !
[2.] All good will be then enjoyed. The great object of our eternal blessedness is God. We enjoy him fully, familiarly, and constantly. Our nearness to God is greater, our communion more full. To our felicity three things are necessary, a prepared faculty, a suitable object, the conjunction of both these. In the state of glory all these concur. The faculty is more prepared as we are purified and clarified from the dregs of carnal sense ; the object is manifested and dispensed in the greatest latitude, for there God is all in all ; the conjunction is more intimate between this object and faculty. Our conjunction here is by faith and imperfect love, there by clear vision and perfect love : ' He
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that is joined to the Lord ' by faith and love ' is made one spirit/ 1 Cor. vi. 17. Oh, but what a conjunction will this be, when we shall be joined to the Lord by sight and perfect love ! Our sight clear, 1 Cor. xiii. 12, vision shall then succeed to faith, and possession to hope. Surely then our fruition must needs be greater, and the soul be filled with all the fulness of God. It is hard to speak of the state of heaven till the great voice call upon us to come up and see what God has provided for us. But in short, vision makes way for assimilation : 1 John iii. 2, ' We shall see him as he is, and be like him ; ' as iron, by lying in fire, becomes as it were all fire. Assimilation makes way for satisfaction : Ps. xvii. 15, ' I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeDess.' The soul is then at rest ; it hath enough in having God, and seeing, and loving, and being made like to him.
3. This glory is eternal, in opposition to our momentary affliction. If we desire to prolong this life, which is obnoxious to divers calamities, how much more should that life affect us, which shall be fully happy, and never have end ? Surely an immortal spirit must look after an eternal happiness. All the honours of the world, which dazzle men's eyes, are vain and slippery. The riches which captivate their hearts are un- certain and perishing; and the pleasures which enchant them pass away as a wind, or, if they should continue, the relish of them will be gone. Death will put an end to them, though they often fail most men before. But this happiness will be extended throughout millions of ages. Alas ! if wicked men did consider the shortness of their pleasures and the length of their sorrows, they would not be so besotted as they are. So, on the other side, if godly men did but consider the shortness of their afflictions and the length of their glory and joy, it would animate and encourage them to go on cheerfully in all their tribulations. Our glory must needs be eternal, because it depends upon the will of an immutable God, and the everlasting merit of a glorious redeemer. When either of these foundations fail, your blessed- ness will be at an end ; but these can never fail, and therefore our glory will be everlasting.
III. That the one is the fruit of the other ; for the apostle saith KaTepryaQTcu — (1.) Negatively ; certainly not by way of merit, but by God's mere grace for Christ's sake. Our title is by adoption: Eom. viii. 17, 'If children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.' (2.) Positively ; so two ways — (1st.) By giving a right ; (2d) Preparing us for it.