Its vision, and its song, And strains of joy are wafted
From heaven's immortal throng.
He makes my windows agates,
That I may dimly see The glories that await me,
The joys prepared for me. Oh, were the full effulgence
To break upon my sight, My spirit were too eager
To take its upward flight !
Through mists of tears the bulwarks
Of Zion's City rise; I greet its pearly portals.
Its jasper meets mine eyes ; A mystic glory lightens it,
It shines upon my road, And through my agate windows
My heart exults in God !
ii. The Greatness of the Glory.
1. We have seen how great were the sufferings of this Apostla Yet the mere mention of the sufferings and the glory together suggests that the former is unworthy of comparison with the latter. The magnanimity of St. Paul prevents him from dragging his afflictions into comparison with the glory of God. It is the mark of a great soul in every sphere of life to suffer quietly in the way of truth, and make no parade or comparison of its sufferings with the glory of the end for which it suffers. The thought that in any degree he had paid for the glory would be an offence. He does not strike a balance with mercenary spirit between what he gives and what he receives. If he makes any comparison at all, it is to show that his sufferings are part of the glory — that his wounds are his brightest ornaments ; as the scars on the body of Jesus become shining tokens to all eternity of a love and valour that cast away self, and triumphed over death. The Apostle cares not to compare the prospect before him with the dark and rugged way that leads to it. The memory of past hardships is all but swallowed up in the
ROMANS VIII. i8 19
enthusiasm of hope ; and in this he follows his Master, " who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the sliame."
^ Do you feel you suffer more than others ? Then remember that you can estimate better than others how great the glory will be. For the glory will be greater than the sutTerings. Others measure the city of gold with the " measure of a man," you with the " measure of an angel." Eemember that, whatever you have lost, you have gained a clearer vision of the glory that shall be. And through your sorrows you may also know God better. For sorrow is a revelation of God. Dr. Dale lost a little child, and years after, writing to comfort a friend, he said, "I learnt what God must feel at the loss of His children." A lady once told me of the experience which led her to Christ. Her husband was very unkind to her and her life was very hard. But she had a little boy whom she dearly loved. One day he had com- mitted some childish fault, and she felt it her duty to punish him for the first time in his life. It was agony to her to do it. And it suddenly flashed into her mind that she who had always thought God hard had misunderstood Him, that it must be infinitely greater pain to God to send her pain than for her to bear it. And, looking up through the sorrows that revealed the heart of God, she gave herself up to the love that dares to wound so deeply because it so truly loves.^
2. How is it that the glory is so manifestly greater than the pain?
(1) Because the sufferings are necessarily physical, or, if mental, they have a physical side. The " glory revealed in us " is character, spiritual excellence, likeness to God. It is easy to see, then, that any amount of pain and loss that may come to us in the few short years of this mortal life cannot for a moment compare with a moral greatness that has been by that means acquired, a moral greatness which will continue for ever.
(2) Because suffering affects only our happiness, but the glory secures our holiness. The work which God undertakes for us is the most sublime that can be conceived. That task is to make men anew after the likeness of God; and if God is the most glorious Being in the universe, then obviously to make a man like Him must be a work the like of which cannot elsewhere be found-
1 E. A. Freuch.
20 ANOTHER GOOD RECKONING
(3) Because the suffering is for a time and the glory is for ever. There is something in goodness that is so intrinsically noble that, even if it continued but for this life, if men were only brightly coloured bubbles on the sea of time, yet to produce one great and good man would be worth any toil, and all true artists would say so; but when those splendours of righteous character are but feeble prophecies of a glory that our little faculties cannot conceive, which glory is to continue for ever, why, then, those toils receive a still nobler recompense.
^ There is another passage similar to this in its course of reasoning. It is the account of Moses in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The writer is describing Moses making his choice between the world and Christ. Now see how he loads the scales. On the world's side, pleasures and treasures ; on Christ's side, reproaches and afflictions. Surely the world is best ! But now mark how he re-adjusts the balance. "With the world's pleasures and treasures he throws in " for a season " ; with the reproaches and afflictions he casts in " with the people of God " ; and in a moment the world kicks the beam — " choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt."