(5.) And for the fifth •'= ground of comfort that God doth comfort us •withal in all tribulations, it is the promise of final deliverance and final comfort for ever. If none will raise our souls, that will, when we shall con- sider that it will not be long.
' The short aftlictions in this world bring an eternal weight of glory,'
2 Cor. iv. 17. There will be a final deliverance. Life itself, that is, the subject that receives affliction, that is short. Our life is but a moment, 2 Cor. iv. 17. Therefore, our afflictions must be short.
* Misprinted ' first.' — G.
2 COEINTHIANS CUAP. I, VER. 4. 69
' Life is longer than discomforts. There is but a piece of our life sub- ject to miseries ; and if that bo but a vapour, but a moment, and as a point between eternity before and eternity after, what are the miseries of this life ? Certainly they are but for a moment.
Therefore, the promise of final deliverance, when all tears shall be wiped from our eyes, this should comfort us, if nothing else would. This is the way, therefore, whereby God usually comforts, by suggesting the heads and springs of comfort.
And, indeed, there is a daily method of comforting, whereby we may comfort ourselves in all crosses, if we would use that daily method and order of comfort. As there is a kind of diet to keep the body in temper, so there is a kind of spiritual diet to keep the soul in temper, in a course of comfort, unless it bo when God takes liberty to cast down for some special end, as we see in Job.
Therefore, let us take this course ; for God, as he comforteth us, bo be comforts us as understanding creatiires, he useth our understanding to consider how we should comfort ourselves ; and after we are once in a state of comfort, if we be not wanting to ourselves, there is no great difficulty to keep our comfort. There are means to keep daily comfort. God hath provided them, and he will be present to make good all his comforts. Grant it, therefore, that we are in the covenant of grace, that God is our Father in Christ, and we take him to be our God, to be all- sufficient, then, to keep ourselves in a daily temper for comfort,
[1.] Every day keep our souls tender, that we may be capable of comfort; keep the wound open, that we may receive balm, that there grow not a deadness upon the heart, considering that while we live here there is alway some sin in us, that must be wrought out by some course or other. Let us try and search our souls, what ill is in the wound ; let us keep it open and tender, that there may be a fitness for mercy, to receive the balm of comfort, which will not be if we slubber over. Certainly it is an excellent course every day to search our hearts and ways, and presently to apply the balm of comfort, the promise of pardon. Take the present, when we have searched the wound, to get pardon and forgiveness daily. As we sin daily, Christ bids us ask it daily.
This will make us fit for comfort, by discerning the estate of our souls, and the remainders of corruption. That which sharpens appetite and makes the balm of God to be sweet indeed, is the sense of, and the keeping open of our wound. A daily search into our wants and weaknesses, a daily fresh sight of the body of sin in us, and experience how it is fruitful in iU thoughts, and desii'cs, and actions, this will drive us to a necessity of daily comfort.
And certainly a fresh sight of our con-uptions, it is never without some fresh comfort. We see St Paul, Rom. vii., he sets himself to this work, to complain of his indisposition, by reason of sin in him ; and how doth he end that sight and search into his own estate ? He ends in a triumphing manner, ' Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord : There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,' verse 25 ; after he had complained, ' Oh, miserable man that I am ! who shall deliver me from this body of death ? ' There can be no danger in a deep search into our ways and hearts, if this be laid as a ground before, that there is more supply and heavenly comfort in God, and the promises of God, than there can be ill in our souls. Then the more ill we find in ourselves, the more we are dis- posed to fetch grounds of comfort from God.
60 COMMENT/UIY ON
[2.] And together with this searching of our souls, and asking daily pardon, let us for the time to come renew our covenant ivilh God, that we may have the comfort of a good conscience to get pardon for our sins past, and renew our resolutions for the time to come.
[3.] And withal, that we may use an orderly course of comfort, let us every day feed on Christ, the food of life ; lot us every day feed upon some- thing in Christ. Consider the death of Christ, the satisfaction he hath made hy his death, his intercession in heaven. His hlood runs afresh, that we may cveiy day feed on it.