Reason. And the ground of Christians partaking of the sufferings one of another, it is the communion that is between Christians. They are all mem- bers of one body. If the hand suffer, the head suffers. The head thinks itself wronged when the hand or the foot is wronged, by reason of the sympathy between the members, as I said ; and so it is in the mystical body of Christ.
108 COMMENT.VTA' ON
There are these three unions wliich depend one upon another.
1. The union of Christ icith our luiturc, which is inseparable. It is an eternal union. Ho never lays that blessed mass of our flesh aside which ho took, which is the p-ound of all our comfort ; for God is now at one with us, because God hath taken our nature on him, and satisfied the wrath of God his Father.
2. Next the union of Christ with our nature, is the union of Christ mysti- cal. Christ aud liia members when they suffer, Christ suffers. Their suf- ferings are the sufferings of Christ.
3. The third is the union of one member iriih another, that what one member suffers, another doth suffer. Therefore the Corinthians were par- takers of Christ, because their sufferings were the sufferings of Christ ; and they were partakers of St Paul's sufferings, because his sufferings were their sufferings.
They were partakers of Christ's sufferings, because of the communion between the head and the members ; and they were partakers of St Paul's sufferings, because of the communion of one member with another. And surely there is not a heart that was ever touched with the Spirit of God, but when he hears of any calamity of the church, whether it be in the Palatinate (r), in France, in the Low countries, or in any country in the world, if he hears that the church hath a blow, it strikes to the heart of any man that hath the Spirit of God in them, by a s5Tnpathetical suffering. It is one good sign to know whether a man be of the mystical body or no, to take to heart the grievance of the church. As good Nehemiah did ; he would not take comfort in the pleasures of a court, in the king of Babylon's court, when it went not well with his country. When the church was in distress, he took their grievance to heart. So Moses, the very joys of Pharaoh's court could not please him, when he considered the abasement of his countrymen, and he joined with them; and it is called the 'rebuke' of Christ.
So it is with all the people of God. There is a communication of suffer- ings. * As you are partakers of the sufferings, so you shall be also of the consolation.'
Wherein two things are observable.
First, that a necessary precedent condition of comfort is sufferings.
And then the consequent of this, tliat those that suffer as they should are sure of comfort. These two things unfold the meaning of the Spirit of God here.
Before there be comfort, there must be suffering ; for God hath estab- lished this order. Even as in nature, there must be a night before the day, and a winter before a summer ; so in the kingdom of Christ, in his ruling of the church, there is this divine policy, there must be suffering before comfort. God will sooner break the league and the covenant be- tween day and night, than this league of suffering and comfort : the one must be before the other. It was so in our head, Christ. He suffered, and then entered into his glory. So all his members must be conformable* to him in suffering, and then enter into their glory.
The reasons of this are divers.
Reason 1. First of all, this method and order is, first, suffering, and then
comfort, because God finds us in a corrujyt estate ; and something must be
wrought out of us, before we can be vessels to receive comfort. Therefore
there must be a purgation one way or other, either by repentance, or if not,
* Misprinted, ' comfortable.' — G.
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, \^K. 7. 109
by repentance, by affliction, to help repentance. There must be suffering before comfort. The soul is unfit for comfort.
Secondly, this order commends and sweetens comfort to vs. For fire is sweet after cold, and meat is sweet after hunger ; so comfort is sweet after suffering. God fits us to comfort by this, by purging out what is contrary to comfort. And he endears comfort by this. Those that have felt the cross, comfort is comfort indeed to them. Heaven is heaven indeed to him that hath had a hell in his conscience upon earth, that hath been afflicted in conscience, or outwardly persecuted. It set a price and value upon comfort.
Partly likewise to sharpen our desire of comfort ; for suffering breeds sense, and sense that stirs up desire, and desire is eager. Now suffering, it makes comforts precious, and sets us in a wondi-ous strong desire after them.
And by this means, likewise, God comes to his own end, which is that our comforts may be eternal. Therefore we have that which is ill, in the first place. Woe to us, if it should be said to us, as to Dives in the gospel, ' Son, son, thou hadst thy good here, and now thou must have thy ill,' Luke xvi. 25. God intends not to deal so with his children; but they taste the worst wine first, and better afterward. Because he intends eternal happiness to them, he observes this method, first ill, and then good, the best at last.