BAXTÈ$'S FAREWELL. SERr10 .., 51 from them. Their future case will be' a state of jòy; which is ex- pressed, 1. In the futurity- ofthe cause, " but I will see you again." 2. In the promise of the effect, " and your heart shall rejoice." 3. In the duration and invincibility of it, " andyourjoyno mantaketh from you,".or "shall take fromyou." He had before likened their sorrows .on this occasion to thepains of a woman in her child-bear- ing, which is butshort, andendeth in joy. And In relation to that similitude, the Syriac translateth aún s, ' sickness ; and the Persian translateth it ' calamity.' Some expositors limit the cause of their sorrows to the absence of Christ, or that death of his which Will for a time both shake their faith, and astonish their hopes, and deprive them of theirformer Comforts: And others limit the,word"' there- fore ' to the following crosses or sufferings which they must under- go for thesake of Christ; and accordingly they interpret the cause of their succeedingsoy. But I see no reason but both are includ- ed in the text, but principally the first, and the other consequent- ly. As if he had said, ' When you see me crucified, your hearts and hopes will begin to fail, and sorrow to overwhelm your minds, and you will be exposed to the fury of the unbelieving world ; but it will.be but for moment ; forwhen you see that I am risen again, your joywill be revived, and my Spirit afterwards, and continual encouragements shall greatly increase and perpetuate your joys, which no persecutions or sufferings shall deprive you of, but they shall at last be perfected in-the heàvenly, everlasting'joys.' The cause of their sorrow is, first, his absence, and, next, their suffer- ings with him in the world: when the bridegroom is taken from them, they must fast, that is, live an afflicted kind of life in various sorrows ; and the causes of their succeeding joy are, first, his res- urrection, and, next, his Spirit, which is their comforter, and, lastly, the presence of his glory at their redeption into his glorious king- dom. Their sorrow was to be short, as that ofawoman in travail, and it was to have a tendency to their joy: And their joy was to be sure and near ; " I will see you again'; " and great; " your heart shall'rejoice ; " and everlasting; "yourjoy no man taketh from you." The sense of the text is contained in these six doctrinal prop- ositions ; Doit. 1. Sorrow goeth before joywith Christ's disciples. Doct. 2. Christ's death add departure was the cause of his dubs- ciples' sorrows. Doct. 3. The sorrows of Christ's disciples are but short. It is bdt'now' Doct: 4. Christ will again' visit his sorrowful disciples, though at` the present he seem tobe taken from them. Doct. 5. When Christ returneth or appeareth to his disciples, their sorrows will be turned into joy.
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