The next contrast is between the words "light" and "weight." When the apostle characterized the afflictions of the Christian as light, it was not because He looked upon them with a stoical spirit, or failed to measure either their intensity or dimension, for, like his Master, in his life he had accented nearly every syllable in the volume of affliction. But he pronounced them light, because from the standpoint of inspired reason and as related to immortality, they are light. They are light because they spring from the lower and earthly side of our existence. The afflictions of a true Christian cannot spring from the wrath of God, nor the dreadful forebodings of judgment.
The nature of these afflictions is referred to in the words "perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not destroyed, cast down but not forsaken," they are located outside of the spiritual life; they may arise from the mind or the body, from some thorn in the flesh, from our social environments, or from the state of our earthly fortunes. If we take the catalogue of all possible affliction, the loss of health, the pinch of poverty, the tongue of slander, the desolation of bereavement, the eclipse of reason, the dungeon of imprisonment, the red torch of persecution and death itself, they are all on the outer, earthly side of the soul. They cannot penetrate the inner citadel of the spirit, nor break the union of a perfectly loyal heart with its God. But the glory on the other hand fills the upper and moral nature, and in heaven will fill the whole outward life as well. So that while earthly affliction can invade only a portion of our life and being, the glory that is to be wrought out in us will envelope the whole being and leave no space for pain or want. Furthermore, the afflictions of the Christian are light because they are always blended with so many opposite and alleviating elements.
The particles of anguish do not come so close together as to form a solid, but are mixed and diluted with much that soothes and medicates. So much of art is exerted to alleviate our ills, so many streams of sympathy are poured into even the darkest waters of life, and the principle of hope will ever light its lamp in the darkest passages, that whatever combination of ills we suffer, they are not absolutely unmixed.
Now, in contrast with these afflictions which are neutralized, the glory will be unmixed and undiluted with any opposite. We say of a sponge that it is light because its particles are so widely separated as to admit of much air and water. In contrast with the sponge, a block of pure gold of the same size would be very weighty. The afflictions of the Christian are like the nature of the sponge, which will admit opposite elements, while the glory will be like the nature of solid gold, the particles of unmixed bliss, the atoms of light and love, will be so compressed into every part of our being and every moment of our duration as to form the nature of a solid. It will be a glory of such magnitude and splendor that our present senses and faculties could not endure, a weight of glory like that of the orchard bending under its load of ripened fruit.
The third contrast is between " momentary" and "eternal," the affliction is momentary, the glory is eternal. Life itself is only a moment to eternity; yet it is only a small portion of the average Christian life that is subjected to affliction. If our life extended to antediluvian longevity, and the whole of it was a scene of affliction, still it would dwindle to a twinkling moment in the mighty roll of innumerable ages. And when we turn our contemplation from the brevity of affliction to the unending nature of the glory, we find our faculties overwhelmed by the majesty of eternity. Here the feeblest and most towering imaginations are on a level, for they both equally fail to comprehend it. We cannot even approximate it for when we have, in fancy, borne ourselves forward on the stream of ages through millions of years, it still stretches away as vast as ever, the one solitary, shoreless, fathomless eternity. It is this infinite disparity between the duration of present affliction and future glory which makes it so marvelous to us. is it not a stroke of infinite wisdom to so adjust the moral forces in a Christian soul as to cause such endless results to flow from such a momentary season of suffering? Every reflective mind must be startled at the disproportion which there is between the brief season of probation and the everlasting results of it. We wonder that such a short space of toil can be followed by such a length of repose, that the littleness of the field can yield such an extended harvest, and that a few moments of affliction can work out such everlasting glory.
If the glory spoken of in the text was acquired as wages for work done, there would have to be some due proportion of time between the work and the wages, and it often happens in this world that the period of labor is more extended than the period of reward, for thousands of men will struggle for half a century for the brief reward of five or tell years in some splendid office. The economy of infinite mercy is just the opposite. Our afflictions, then, do not partake of the nature of toil, with glory for its wages, but they are, under the operation of the Holy Ghost, in the nature of a cause working within us the lasting effect of glory. While there is no proportion between a moment's work and an eternity of wages, there is some proportion between a momentary cause and an everlasting effect. Should God create a single mountain and attach it to the surface of our globe, it would be a very light and trivial burden for the world to carry, like the addition of a tiny feather to a soaring eagle, which it could not perceive. And yet the addition of that mountain would most certainly increase the bulk and gravity of our planet, it would likely cause it to verge nearer the sun, it would affect the speed of its revolution, it would gradually change the motions of our solar system, and in the long lapse of years it would send a gradual change of motion through the innumerable orbs of creation. In like manner, an affliction which is light in its nature and momentary in its duration, resting on an obedient, trusting soul, under the dominion of the Holy Spirit, will lend a gravity to the moral character, cause it to approach nearer to Christ, and set in revolution a new order of thoughts and feelings, which will dilate and stretch through the endless cycles of immortality. But let us remember that affliction can work out these glorious results, only while, in the attitude of perfect heart loyalty to Jesus, we habitually look at the things which are not seen. When we weep, it is by looking through our tears to that hand which will wipe all tears from our eyes that they will be turned into pearls of joy.
