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| That we receive more as the reward of our suffering than what we endure here in the suffering itself.
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13. That we receive more
as the reward of our suffering than what we endure here in the
suffering itself,
The blessed Apostle Paul proves; who by the divine
condescension, being caught up into the third heaven and into paradise,
testifies that he heard unspeakable words, who boasts that he saw Jesus
Christ by the faith of sight, who professes that which he both learnt
and saw with the greater truth of consciousness, and says:
“The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the coming glory which shall be revealed in
us.”3809
Who,
then, does not with all his powers labour to attain to such a glory
that he may become the friend of God, that he may at once rejoice with
Christ, that after earthly tortures and punishments he may receive
divine rewards? If to soldiers of this world it is glorious to
return in triumph to their country when the foe is vanquished, how much
more excellent and greater is the glory, when the devil is overcome, to
return in triumph to paradise, and to bring back victorious trophies to
that place whence Adam was ejected as a sinner, after casting down him
who formerly had cast him down; to offer to God the most acceptable
gift—an uncorrupted faith, and an unyielding virtue of mind, an
illustrious praise of devotion; to accompany Him when He shall come to
receive vengeance from His enemies, to stand at His side when He shall
sit to judge, to become co-heir of Christ, to be made equal to the
angels; with the patriarchs, with the apostles, with the prophets, to
rejoice in the possession of the heavenly kingdom! Such thoughts
as these, what persecution can conquer, what tortures can overcome? The
brave and stedfast mind, founded in religious meditations, endures; and
the spirit abides unmoved against all the terrors of the devil and the
threats of the world, when it is strengthened by the sure and solid
faith of things to come. In persecutions, earth is shut
up,3810
| 3810
“The eyes of the earth are closed” is the reading of other
editions. | but heaven is
opened; Antichrist is threatening, but Christ is protecting; death is
brought in, but immortality follows; the world is taken away from him
that is slain, but paradise is set forth to him restored; the life of
time is extinguished, but the life of eternity is realized. What
a dignity it is, and what a security, to go gladly from hence, to
depart gloriously in the midst of afflictions and tribulations; in a
moment to close the eyes with which men and the world are looked upon,
and at once to open them to look upon God and Christ! Of such a
blessed departure how great is the swiftness! You shall be
suddenly taken away from earth, to be placed in the heavenly
kingdoms. It behoves us to embrace these things in our mind and
consideration, to meditate on these things day and night. If
persecution should fall upon such a soldier of God, his virtue, prompt
for battle, will not be able to be overcome. Or if his call
should come to him before, his faith shall not be without reward,
seeing it was prepared for martyrdom; without loss of time, the reward
is rendered by the judgment of God. In persecution, the
warfare,—in peace, the purity of conscience, is crowned.3811
| 3811 [It
is hard for us to retain the fact that for three hundred years to be a
Christian was to be a martyr, at least in spirit and in daily
liability. 1 Cor. xv.
31; 1 Pet. iv. 12.] | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
