Objection 3: My Afflictions Have Been Long upon Me

Object. 3. “Oh! but my afflictions, my troubles have been long upon me, and how then can I hold my peace? Were they but of yesterday, I would be quiet, but they are of a long continuance, and therefore how can I be silent?”

To this I answer, 1. Thou canst not date thy affliction from the first day of thy pollution. Thou hast been polluted from the womb, Ps. li. 5, but thou hast not been afflicted from the womb. Many have been the days, the years, since thou wast born in sin; few have been the days, the years, that thou hast experienced sorrow; thou canst not easily number the days of thy sinning, thou canst easily number the days of thy suffering; thou canst not number thy days of mercy, thou canst easily number thy days of calamity; thou canst not number thy days of health, but thou canst easily tell over thy days of sickness.

Thy afflictions are not so long as the afflictions of other saints; compare thy winter nights, and other saints’ winter nights, thy storms and troubles, and other saints’ storms and troubles, thy losses, and other saints’ losses, thy miseries, and other saints’ miseries. Witness these following proofs, Ps. lxxvii. and lxxxviii.; Gen. xv. 12, 13; Jer. xxv. 11, 12. Thy afflictions are but as a moment, they are but as yesterday, if compared with the afflictions of other saints, whose whole lives have been made up of sorrows and sufferings, as the life of Christ was; many a man’s life hath been nothing but a lingering death — “And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure,” Job xxi. 25. There are those that have never a good day all their days; who have not a day of rest among all their days of trouble, nor a day of health among all their days of sickness, nor a day of gladness among all their days of sadness, nor a day of strength among all their days of weakness, nor a day of honor among all their days of reproach; wrhose whole life is one continued winter’s night, who every day drink gall and wormwood, who lie down sighing, who rise groaning, and who spend their days in complaining. No sorrow like our sorrows, no sufferings like our sufferings; there are some who have always tears in their eyes, sorrows in their hearts, rods on their backs, and crosses in their hands; but it is not so with thee, therefore be silent.

3. The longer thy affliction hath been, the sweeter will heaven be to thee at last. The longer the Israelites had been in the wilderness, the sweeter was Canaan to them at last. The longer the storm, the sweeter the calm; the longer the winter nights, the sweeter the summer days; long afflictions will much set off the glory of heaven. The harbor is most sweet and desirable to them that have been long tossed upon the seas; so will heaven be to those who have been long in a sea of troubles. The new wine of Christ’s kingdom is most sweet to those that have been long drinking of gall and vinegar, Luke xxii. 18. The crown of glory will be most delightful to them who have been long combating with the world, the flesh, and the devil. The longer our journey is, the sweeter will be our end; and the longer our passage is, the sweeter will our haven be. The higher the mountain, the gladder we shall be when we are got to the top of it. The longer the heir is kept from his inheritance, the more delight he will have when he comes to possess it.

4. They are not long, but short, if compared to that eternity of glory that is reserved for the saints, 2 Cor. iv. 16 — 18. If you turn to the words, you shall find for affliction, glory; for light afflictions, a weight of glory; and for short, momentary afflictions, eternal glory: there will quickly be an end of thy sadness, but there will never be an end of thy happiness; there will soon be an end of thy calamity and misery, there will never be an end of thy felicity and glory. The kingdoms of this world are not lasting, much less are they everlasting, they have all their climacterical years; but the kingdom of heaven is an everlasting kingdom, of that there is no end. The crowns that were in use among the Roman victors, were all fading and perishing; but the crown of glory that at last God will set upon the heads of his saints, shall continue as long as God himself continues. Who can look upon those eternal mansions that are above, and those everlasting pleasures that are at God’s right hand, and say, that his affliction is long? Well, christian, let thy affliction be ever so long, yet one hour’s being in the bosom of Christ will make thee forget both the length and strength of all thy afflictions.

5. The longer you have been afflicted, the more in spiritual experiences you have been enriched. “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ,” 2 Cor. i. 5. The lower the ebb, the higher the tide; the more pain, the more gain; the more afflicted, the more comforted; the lower we are cast, the higher we shall be raised. Of all christians, none so rich in spiritual experiences as those that have been long in the school of affliction, Heb. xii. 11; 2 Cor. xii. 9; Job xxxiii. 17 — 25. Oh! the blessed stories that such can tell of the power of God supporting them, of the wisdom of God directing them, of the favor of God comforting them, of the presence of God assisting them! Oh! the sins that long afflictions have discovered and mortified! Oh! the temptations that long afflictions have prevented and vanquished! You shall as soon number the stars of heaven, and the sands of the sea, as you shall number up the heavenly experiences of such christians as have been long under afflictions. The afflicted christian’s heart is fullest of spiritual treasure; though he may be poor in the world, yet he is rich in faith and holy experiences; and what are all the riches of this world to spiritual experiences? One spiritual experience is more worth than a world; and, upon a dying bed, and before a judgment-seat, every man will be of this opinion. The men of this world will, with much quietness and calmness of spirit, bear much and suffer much, aye, and suffer long, when they find their sufferings add to their revenues; and shall nature do more than grace? It is the common voice of nature, “Who will show us any good?” How shall we come to be great, and high, and rich in the world? We care not what we suffer, nor how long we surfer, so we may but add house to house, heap to heap, bag to bag, and land to land. Oh! how much more then should christians be quiet and calm under all their afflictions, though they are ever so long! considering, that they do but add jewels to a christian’s crown; they do but add to his spiritual experiences. The long afflicted christian hath the fullest and the greatest trade; and, in the day of account, will be found the richest man.

6. Long afflictions sometimes are but preparatives to long-lived mercies. Joseph’s thirteen years’ imprisonment was but a preparative to fourscore years reigning like a king; David’s seven years’ banishment was but a preparative to forty years reigning in much honor and glory; Job’s long afflictions were but preparatives to more long-lived mercies, as you may see in the last chapter of Job; and those sad and sore trials that the Jews have been under for above seventeen hundred years, are to prepare them for those matchless mercies, Isa. lxii. lxiii. and lxvi., and those endless glories, (in some sense,) that God in the latter days will crown them with. “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee,” Isa. liv. 11 — 14. Though they have been long afflicted and tossed, yet they shall, at last, upon glorious foundations, be established; God will not only raise them out of their distressed estate, wherein now they are, but he will advance them to a most eminent and glorious condition in this world; they shall be very glorious, and outshine all the world in spiritual excellences and outward dignities. “The sons also of them that afflicted thee, shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee, shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas, thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations,” Isa. lx. 14, 15. Ah, christians! do not mutter nor murmur under your afflictions; for you do not know but that, by these long afflictions, God may prepare and fit you for such favors and blessings that may never have an end; by long afflictions, God many times prepares his people for temporal, spiritual, and eternal mercies. If God, by long afflictions, makes more room in thy soul for himself, his Son, his Spirit, his word; if, by long afflictions, he shall crucify thy heart more to the world, and to thy relations, and frame and fashion thy soul more for celestial enjoyments, hast thou any cause to murmur? Surely no.

7. The longer a saint is afflicted on earth, the more glorious he shall shine in heaven; the more affliction here, the more glory hereafter, 2 Cor. iv. 16 — 18; Matt. v. 10 — 12. This truth may be thus made out:

(1.) The more gracious souls are afflicted, the more their graces are exercised and increased, Heb. xii. 10: Rom. v. 3 — 5. Now, the more grace here, the more glory hereafter; the higher in grace, the higher in glory. Grace differs nothing from glory but in name; grace is glory in the bud, and glory is grace at the full; glory is nothing but the perfection of grace, happiness is nothing but the perfection of holiness; grace is glory in the seed, and glory is grace in the flower; grace is glory militant, and glory is grace triumphant; grace and glory differ in degree not in kind, as the learned speak. Now, it is most certain, that the more gracious souls are afflicted, the more their graces are exercised; and, the more grace is exercised, the more it is increased; as I have sufficiently demonstrated in this treatise already.

(2.) The longer a gracious soul is afflicted, the more his religious duties will be multiplied. “For my love they are my adversaries; but I give myself unto prayer,” Ps. cix. 4; or, as the Hebrew reads it — but I am prayer, or a man of prayer. In times of affliction, a christian is all prayer; he is never so much a man of prayer, a man given up to prayer, as in times of affliction. A christian is never so frequent, so fervent, so abundant in the work of the Lord, as when he is afflicted. “Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them,” Isa. xxvi. 16. Now, they not only pray, but they pour out a prayer; they were freely, largely, and abundantly in prayer, when the rod was upon them. As men plentifully pour out water for the quenching of a fire, so did they plentifully pour out their prayers before the Lord; and as affliction puts a man upon being much in prayer, so it puts him upon other duties of religion answerably. Now, this is most certain, that though God will reward no man for his works, yet he will reward every man according to his works, Matt. xxv.

46. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord,” 1 Cor. xv. 48. “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully,” 2 Cor. ix. 6; or, he which soweth in benedictions or blessings, shall reap in benedictions, as it runs in the original.

It is an excellent observation of Calvin, upon God’s rewarding the Reehabites’ obedience, Jer. xxxv. 19. God, saith he, oft recompensed the shadows and seeming appearance of virtue, to show what complacency he takes in the ample rewards he hath reserved for true and sincere piety. Now, if the longer a christian is afflicted, the more his religious services will be multiplied; and the more they are multiplied, the more his glory at last will be increased; then, the longer a saint is afflicted on earth, the more glory he shall have when he comes to heaven.

(3.) The longer any saint is afflicted, the more into the image and likeness of Christ he will be transformed. It is one of God’s great designs and ends in afflicting his people, to make them more conformable to his Son; and God will not lose his end; men often lose theirs, but God never hath lost, nor will lose his; and experience tells us, that God doth every day, by afflictions, accomplish his end upon his people; the longer they are afflicted, the more they are made conformable to Christ, in meekness, lowliness, spirituality, heavenliness, faith, love, self-denial, pity, compassion, &c. Now, certainly, the more like to Christ, the more beloved of Christ; the more a christian is like to Christ, the more he is the delight of Christ; and the more like to Christ on earth, the nearer the soul shall sit to Christ in heaven. Nothing makes a man more conformable to Christ than afflictions.

8. The longer they have been, the greater cause thou hast to be silent and patient, for impatience will but lengthen out the day of thy sorrows; every impatient act adds one link more to the chains; every act of fixnvardness adds one lash more to those that have already been laid on; every act of muttering will but add stroke to stroke, and sting to sting; every act of murmuring will but add burden to burden, and storm to storm; the most compendious way to lengthen out thy long afflictions, is to fret, and vex, and murmur under them. As thou wouldst see a speedy issue of thy long afflictions, sit mute and silent under them.

9. God’s time is the best time; mercy is never nearer; salvation is at hand, deliverance is at the door, when a man’s heart is brought into such a frame as to be freely willing that God should time his mercy, and time his deliverance for him. The physician’s time is the best time for the patient to have ease. The impatient sufferer cries out to his physician, Oh, sir; a little ease, a little refreshment; oh, the pains, the torments that I am under! Oh, sir! I think every hour two, and every two ten, till refreshment comes, till comfort comes. But the prudent physician hath turned the hour-glass, and is resolved that his physic shall work so long, though his patient frets, flings and roars. So, when we are under afflictions, we are apt to cry out, How long, Lord, shall it be before ease comes, before deliverance comes; Oh, the tortures; oh the torments that we are under! Lord, a little refreshment. Oh, how long are these nights! Oh, how tedious are these days! But God hath turned our glass, and he will not hearken to our cry till our glass be out; after all our fretting and flinging, we must stay his time, who knows best, when to deliver us, and how to deliver us out of all our troubles; and who will not stay a moment when the glass is out that he hath turned. But,

Lastly, They shall continue no longer than there is need, and then they shall work for thy good. It is with souls as it is with bodies; some bodies are more easily and more suddenly cured than others are, and so are some souls; God will not suffer the plaster to lie one day, no, not one hour, no, not a moment, longer than there is need; some flesh heals quickly, proud flesh is long healing; by affliction God quickly heals some, but others are long healing. “If need be, ye are in heaviness, through manifold temptations,” or, through various afflictions, 1 Pet. i. 6: the burden shall lie no longer upon thee than needs must, thy pain shall endure no longer than needs must, thy physic shall make thee no longer sick than needs must, &c. Thy heavenly Father is a Physician, as wise as he is loving; when thy heart begins to grow high, he sees there is need of some heavy affliction to bring it low; when thy heart grows cold, he sees there is need of some fiery affliction to heat it, and warm it; when thy heart grows dull and dead, he sees there is need of some smart affliction to enliven and quicken it. And as thy afflictions shall continue no longer than there is need, so they shall last no longer than they shall work for thy good. If so, thou hast no cause to complain that thy afflictions are long. That they shall thus work, I have fully proved in the former part of this book. And thus much for answer to the third objection.