glory will be most delightful to them who have been long in 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, 17, 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. There were seven sorts of crowns that were in use among the Roman victors, but they 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 be at God's right hand, and say, that his affliction

is long? Well, Christian, let thy affliction be never 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, 2 Cor. i. 5. "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.". 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. 17-22. Oh the blessed stories that such can tell, of the power of God supporting them, of the wisdom of God directing them, of the favour of God comforting them, of the presence of God assisting them! Oh! the love-tokens, the loveletters, the bracelets, the jewels that they are able to produce since they have been in the furnace of affliction! 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 that 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 to add to their revenues: and shall nature do more than grace? It is the common voice of nature, Who will shew 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 suffer, 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 never 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 honour and glory: Job's long afflictions, were but preparatives to more longlived mercies; as you may see in that last of Job: and those sad and sore trials that the

Jews have been under for above sixteen hundred years, are to prepare them for those matchless mercies, Isa. lxii. lxiii. and chap. Ixvi. and those endless glories (in some sense) that God in the latter days will crown them with, Isa. liv. 11. 12. 13. 14. "Oh thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, 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." 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 glori"ous, and outshine all the world in spiritual excellencies, and outward dignities: Isa. Ix. 14. 15. "The sons also of them that afflic'ted 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." Ah Christians! do not mutter nor murmur under your long afflictions; for you do not know but that, by these long afflictions, God may prepare and fit you for such favours 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. But,

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. 17. 18. Matth.v. 10. 11. 12. This truth may be thus made out.

(J.) The more gracious souls are afflicted, the more their graces are exercised and increased, Heb. xii. 10. Rom. v. 3. 4. 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 kind, as