APPENDIX: 245 (and received from him) is our felicity, these are never to be sep- arated. What have I to rejoice in, if this hoped-for glory be not my joy ? All things else are dying to me ; and God himself is not my felicity, as he afflicts me, nor as he giveth me the transitory gifts of nature, butas he is to be seen in glory:. . If this be not my joy, it is all but vanity. What, then, should all my thoughts and labor aim at more, as to myself, than to hope for and foretaste this glory ? No sin lieth heavier on me than that my hopes of glory raise me to no higher joy; and that thegreat weakness of my faith ap- peareth by such dull thoughts of glory, or by withdrawing fears. Sure there is enough in the glory of God, soundly believed and hoped for, to make á man rejoice in pain and weakness, and to make him long to be with Christ. I live not according to the na- ture of Christianity, if I live not as in peace with God, and in the joyful hopes of promised glory, VII. "Not only so, but we glory in tribulation." Glory is so transcendent, and tribulation so small and short, that an expectant of glory may well rejoice in.bodily sufferings. It is tribulation for Christ and righteousness' sake that we are said to glory in : the rest, for our sins, it is well if we cau improve and patiently bear. Yet in them we may rejoice, in hope of glory, though we glory not of. them. O,. if all the painful, languid -days, and nights, and years, that I have had, as the fruit ofmy sin, had been sufferings for that which I am now hated and hunted for, even for preaching Christ when men forbid me, how joyfully might I undergo it! but yet, even here,' approachingglory should be my joy. Alas ! my groans and moans are too great, andmy joy too little. VIII. "Knowing that tribulation worketh patience." That which worketh patience is matter ofjoy ; for patience doth us more good than tribulationcan do hurt: why, then, do I groan so much under suffering, and so little study andexercise patience, and no more rejoice in the exercise thereof? IX. "And patience, experience." It is manifold' and profitable experience, which patient suffering brings. 'It giveth us experi- ence, as of nature's weakness, and the great need of faith; so of the' truth of God's promises, the love and tenderness Of Christ, the acceptance of our prayers, and the power of the Spirit's aid and grace. O, what abundance of experiences of God and our- selves, and the vanity of creatures,. had we wanted, if we had not waited' in a suffering state ; alas ! how many experiences have I forgotten !' X. `°And experience, hope." A bare promisd should give us hope; but we are still distrustful of ourselves, and ofall the clear- est evidences, till experience help'us and set all home." 0, what
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