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proportion they shall have torment in the world to come. As sin is grow- ing, so rods are growing for them. Wicked men, saith St Paul, ' they grow worse and worse,' 2 Tim. iii. 13. The more they sin, the more they may. They sink in rebellion, and the more they sink in rebellion, the more they sink in the state of damnation. They fill up the measure of their sins, and treasure up the wrath of God against the day of wrath. Whosoever thou ai't that livest in a sinful course, and will do so in spite of God's ordinance, in spite of the motions of the Spirit, that hast the good motions of the Spirit knocking at thy soul, and j'et wilt rather refuse com- fort than take comfort, together with direction, go on still in this thy wicked course, but remember, as thy comforts increase in this world, so thy torment is increasing. And here is the disproportion between God's children and others. They have their sufferings first, and their comfort afterward ; but others have their pleasm'e first, and their tomient after. Theirs are for a time, but others for ever. Thus we see what we may comfortably observe from this, that comforts increase as crosses inci'ease.
A word of the fourth and last point.
How comes this to pass, that as our afflictions abound, so our consolations abound ?
Doct. They abound by Christ, saith the apostle, God the Father, he is the God of comfort ; the Holy Ghost is the comforter. But how comes this to pass, that we that are not the objects of comfort, but of con- fusion, should have God the Father to be the ' God of comfort,' and the Holy Ghost ' to be our comforter ?' Oh, it is that Jesus Christ, the great peace-maker, hath satisfied God, and procured the Holy Ghost ; for the Holy Ghost is procured by the satisfaction and death of Christ, and he was sent after the resurrection and ascension of Christ. Therefore Christ is called ' the consolation of Israel,' Luke ii. 25, and those that waited for Christ waited for the consolation of Israel. All comfort is hid in Christ. He is the storehouse of comfort. ' We have it through him, and by him, and in him.' For that God is the ' Father of comfort,' it is because Christ is our mediator and intercessor in heaven ; that the Holy Ghost is ' the comforter,' it is because Christ sent him. And the comforts of the Holy Ghost are fetched from Christ, from the death of Christ, or the ascension of Christ, from some argument from Christ. Whatsoever comforteth the soul, the Holy Ghost doth it by fetching some argument from Chrisi, from his satisfaction, from his worth, from his intercession in heaven. Some- thing in Christ it is. So Christ by his Spirit doth comfort, and the rea- sons fetched by the Spirit are from Christ. Therefore it is by Christ.
What is the reason that a Christian soul doth not fear God as ' a con- suming fire,' Heb. xii. 29, but can look upon him with comfort ? It is because God hath received satisfaction by Christ. What is the reason that a Christian soul fears not hell, but thinks of it with comfort ? Christ hath conquered hell and Satan. What is the reason that a Christian fears not death ? Christ by death hath overcome death, and him that had the power of death, the devil. Christ is mine, saith the Christian soul. Therefore I do not fear it, but think of it with comfort, because a Christian is more than a conqueror over all these. What is the reason that a Christian is not afraid of his corruptions and sins ? He knows that God, for Christ's sake, will pardon them, and that the remainder of his corruptions will work to his humiliation, and to his good. ' All shall work for the best to them that love God,' Rom. viii. 28. What is the reason that there is not any thing in the world but it is comfortable to a Christian ? When he thinks
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of God, ho thinks of him as a Father of comfort ; when he thinks of the Holy Ghost, he thinks of him as a Spirit of comfort ; when he thinks of angels, he thinks of them as his attendants ; when he thinks of heaven, he thinks of it as of his inheritance ; he thinks of saints as a communion whereof he is partaker. Whence is all this ? By Christ, who hath made God our Father, the Holy Ghost our comforter, who hath made angels ours, saints om"s, heaven ours, earth om'S, devils ours, death ours, all ours, in issue.
For God being turned in love to us, all is turned. Our crosses are no curses now, but comforts ; and the bitterest crosses yield the sweetest com- forts. All this is by Christ, that hath turned the course of things, and hid blessings in the greatest crosses that ever were. And this ho did in him- self, before he doth it in us. For did not his greatest crosses tend to his greatest glory ? who ever in the world was abased as our head Christ Jesus was ? that made him ciy, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?' Mat. XV. 34. All the creatures in the world would have sunk under the sufferings that Christ endured. What abasement to the abasement of Christ ? and what glory to the gloiy of Chi-ist ? ' He humbled himself to the death of the cross ; wherefore God gave him a name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, both of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth,' Phil. ii. 8. Now as it was in om* head, his greatest abasement ushered in his greatest glory ; so it shall be in us, — our greatest crosses are before our gi-eatest comforts. He is our president.* He is the exemplary cause as well as the efficient working cause. It is by Christ all this, that consolations abound in us. It was performed first in him, and shall be by him, by his Spirit to the end of the world.