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THE CHRISTIAN’S EXPERIENCE IN AFFLICTION
THE Christian in every state, whether of prosperity or adversity, differs widely from the unconverted world. While others are elated by the one and depressed by the other, he is kept in an equable frame of mind. As he does not place his happiness in earthly things, he is not much affected either with the acquisition or the loss of them. He is thankful for success, but not overjoyed, as though some great thing had happened unto him; and is patient in tribulation, knowing that in the issue it shall work for his good. To this effect the Apostle speaks in the text, in which he assigns the reason why, notwithstanding the greatness of his afflictions, he was kept from fainting under them. And his words afford us a proper occasion to consider,
I. The disposition which the Christian cultivates—
The account which St. Paul gives of himself is characteristic of every true Christian—
His chief aim is to attain things that are invisible—
[By “the things which are seen” we understand every thing which relates merely to the present world, which the Apostle comprehends under three names, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.” By “the things which are not seen” must he meant the love and favour of God, the renovation of our inward man, the glory and felicity of heaven. The latter of these are the objects towards which the Christian turns his principal attention. Not that he neglects the concerns of this world; this would be absurd and criminal; but his great end and aim [Note: This seems to be the import of ó ê ï ð ï ý í ô ù í .] is to obtain an inheritance beyond the grave: even while he is most actively employed in secular concerns, he looks through them all to this grand object, and labours incessantly to secure it.]
To this he is led by the transitoriness of earthly things—
[The things of this world perish with the using. If they be not withdrawn from us, we must soon be taken away from them; nor will so much as one of them remain to be enjoyed in the future world. But spiritual things remain for ever. If we secure the love of God now, it shall abide with us to all eternity. An interest in the Redeemer’s merits, and a title to all the glory of heaven, shall never be taken away from us. Death, so far from terminating our enjoyments, will bring us to the full possession of that glory, of which our present foretastes are an earnest and pledge. The Christian, seeing the infinite disparity between these things, determines to make invisible things the supreme objects of his regard, and comparatively disregards all that can be offered to the eye of sense.]
In this pursuit he is aided by his afflictions, as will appear, if we consider,
II. The privilege he enjoys—
The Christian has troubles as well as others—
[The very conduct he observes with respect to temporal things has a tendency to involve him in trouble. The world cannot endure to see their idols so disregarded, and their conduct so reproached. One would have supposed from the account given us of his sufferings, that Paul must have been the vilest miscreant that ever lived [Note: 2Co_11:23-27.]: but the more we resemble him in holiness, the more shall we resemble him in sufferings also. Our enemies indeed will not professedly persecute us for our holiness; they will assign some specious reason. Elijah shall be called “The troubler of Israel;” Paul, “The man who turns the world upside down;” and Christ shall be punished as a blasphemer and an enemy to civil government. But the same reason obtains with respect to all,—the world cannot endure the light of their example [Note: Joh_15:19.].]
These troubles however shall work for his good—
[They “are not in themselves joyous, but grievous;” but they tend to refine his soul, and to fit him for glory; yea, inasmuch as these sufferings constitute a part of the obedience required of him, they bring with them a correspondent reward [Note: 2Ti_2:12.]. In this view they are mentioned in the text as highly beneficial. They work for the faithful Christian a reward of glory; “a weight of glory” as great as his soul is able to sustain, and as durable as eternity itself. In comparison of this, the Apostle calls his troubles light and momentary, yea, not only light, but lightness itself; and intimates, that, if hyperbole were heaped upon hyperbole, it would be impossible for language to express, or for imagination to conceive, the greatness of that glory which his afflictions wrought for him [Note: This is implied in the original.].]
The preceding subjects being, to appearance, so remote from each other, it will be proper to mark,
III. The connexion between them—
Afflictions do not necessarily produce this effect—
[In too many instances the effect that flows from them is altogether opposite. Instead of purifying the soul, they fill it with impatience, fretfulness, and all manner of malignant passions; and instead of working out a weight of glory for it, they serve only to prepare for it a more aggravated condemnation. “The sorrow of the world,” saith the Apostle, “worketh death [Note: 2Co_7:10.].”]
It is only where the pursuits are spiritual, that sufferings are so eminently beneficial—
[If the mind be set upon carnal things, it will be cast down when it is robbed of its enjoyments; it will say, like Micah, “I have lost my gods, and what have I more?” But the soul that affects heavenly things will be comforted with the thought that the objects of its desire are as near as ever. “While it looks at things invisible,” it will be quickened in its pursuit of them: it will be made to feel more sensibly the vanity and insignificance of earthly things, and be urged more determinately to seek “a kingdom which cannot be moved:” every fresh trial will make it long more and more for the promised rest; and the storms which menace its existence, will thus eventually waft it with more abundant rapidity towards its desired haven.]
Infer—
1. How infatuated are the generality of mankind!
[It is but too evident that the generality of the world are seeking earthly things, while they who are pressing forward in pursuit of heavenly things are comparatively few in number. What a melancholy proof is this of men’s blindness and folly! Who is there that, however much he may have gained of this world, has not found it all to be vanity and vexation of spirit? What comfort has any one derived from earthly possessions in an hour of deep affliction? And what benefit will accrue from them in the eternal world? Say, thou libertine, thou worldling, or thou false professor, what has the world done for thee? And what hast thou of all that is past, except shame and remorse in the remembrance of it? Who does not acknowledge the truth of these observations the very instant he begins to have a prospect of the eternal state? Yet, so infatuated are we, that though every successive age has seen the folly of such conduct, they have trodden the same delusive path, according to what is written, “This their way is their folly, and yet their posterity approve their saying.” Let us, however, awake from our slumber; let us not so regard the things that are visible and temporal, as to forget that there are things invisible and eternal; let us live and act as for eternity; let us read, and hear, and pray, as for eternity. In this way we shall remove the sting from all present afflictions, and secure “an inheritance that fadeth not away.”]
2. How blessed is the true Christian!
[As there is no state, however prosperous, in which an unconverted man is not an object of pity, so there is no state, however afflictive, wherein the Christian may not be considered as a happy man. However severe or long-continued his troubles may be, they appear to him but light and momentary; and however they may be productive of present pain, he has the consolation of knowing that they work for him a weight of glory, which will infinitely overbalance all that he can endure in the body. “Who then, or what, can harm him, while he continues thus a follower of that which is good?” Surely, even in this present world the Christian has incomparably the best portion. What he will enjoy hereafter, when he shall come to the full possession of his inheritance, it is needless to say. We can have no doubt but that the invisible realities will be found a very sufficient recompence for all his zeal and diligence in the pursuit of them. Let us then keep those realities in view, and the nearer we come to the goal, let us be the more earnest in “running the race that is set before us.”]