This may be done in four ways. The glory is yet future — it is not yet felt — whilst the suffering is felt. The suffering, then, is not to be compared with the glory, as if the one were a deduction from the other; for the one enhances the other. )Present sufferings and future gloryT. One day in heaven will repay all the sufferings of earth.(P. It will not be possible to give full credit to the apostle's doctrine, and to lay it seriously to heart, without feeling it a call to live in a constant reference to other and brighter worlds.(J. Nor should it be forgotten, that in our present being we can no more bear the excess of joy than that of grief. 22). But, secondly, it may be a metaphor taken from arithmetic; I reckon, that is, I make account. )The higher heroism -- suffering and gloryF. It was then a time of persecution; but the truth of our text is not to be confined to such a time. In the text the apostle represents himself as having instituted a comparison between "the sufferings of this present time," and "the glory that shall be revealed," with his eye on their respective magnitudes; with the result that "the sufferings are not worthy to be regarded, in comparison with the glory."3. GOD'S SUFFERING SONS. J. W. Buxton, M.A. It is not only to us, but in us. One of the circumstances frequently attendant on the sufferings of this life is solitude.2. Their death is no less a martyrdom because it is a slow death. Look around you: "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together." These are not the things by which the world induces us to love and serve it. And therefore accordingly does it concern us to mind this time, and to be sure to be good husbands of it; not to strive or squander it away we care not how, but to have a special regard hereunto. To do wrong is a greater evil than to suffer wrong.3. Swooning, and even death itself comes in, to the relief of those whose burden of woe is too great to be borne! Ask the man on the eve to "depart, and be with Christ," what he thinks of the affairs of this present life? We can measure our strength in the contemplation of temporal calamities, but not in the prospect of eternal ruin. The grace of God in the heart, since it so reveals God to the soul, so brings down heaven to earth, that the possessor of it can say that his sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in him.2. "Glory" is splendour, magnificence. It is the same word which is here in the text. Now, even in these general sufferings the people of God have more or less their share. It may be that for the present they may lie under very grievous afflictions. A perfect state of soul, gloriously enlightened (1 Corinthians 13:12), glorious in holiness (1 John 3:2; Revelation 22:4), in happiness (Revelation 21:3-6; Revelation 22:1-5), in authority, power, and dominion (Luke 22:28-30; James 1:12; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 3:21).2. Secondly, as this may be cleared from God's own arguments and reasonings, so also from the saints' apprehensions and improvements of those arguments. It is an unworthy comparison between the sufferings of the present life and the glory of the life to come, IN REFERENCE TO DEGREE. There will prevail an unbroken continuity of bliss. 3. Suffering ends; glory never — it is everlasting. Doubtless they sometimes wish it (Luke 16:27-30), but it is a vain wish. Present sufferings ARE PROPORTIONED TO OUR PRESENT POWERS OF ENDURING; but the glories of the future world, to another state of faculties, a very different order of capacities. A perfect and glorious state of body (Philippians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:20, 43, 49, 51; Ephesians 1:19, 20; Colossians 3:4; 1 John 3:2). Our apostle likewise gives full expression to the truth. Present sufferings ARE PROPORTIONED TO OUR PRESENT POWERS OF ENDURING; but the glories of the future world, to another state of faculties, a very different order of capacities. The things that are temporal are seen; the sufferings are present: but the things that are eternal are not seen; the glory is to be revealed.5. It was not so from the beginning, neither was there necessity that it should be so, "not willingly" (ver. First, to show you that it is so. So, as there is no sameness of nature in sufferings and glory, they cannot be compared, unless to point out their dissimilarity be comparison.II. Instead of the thousand forms of human woe which crowd the span of life with diversified sorrow, there will be consummated happiness; every form of pleasure which holy and exalted souls can take in.III. HOW IT APPEARS THAT THE SUFFERINGS ARE NOT TO BE COMPARED TO THE GLORY. and he will answer in the spirit of my text.II. )Future glory an encouragement under present sufferingsH. The decay and death not intrinsically pertaining to it; no, not if God's world. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. How various are the kinds and degrees of suffering, and how many are the quarters from whence it arises! THE COMPARISON WITH FUTURE GLORY. It is a reckoning, not a full realisation. Is the glory the soldier seeks to be had with ease? That can by no means be an argument which is not itself a truth; at least such an argument as the God of truth shall vouchsafe to use. I do not see success as yet, but I know that it is coming. Secondly, he had experience. It is a glory that must be revealed; that can be discerned only by its own splendour. As a most urgent reason, why we should take care that in all our sorrows we suffer as Christians.2. They must be placed in contrast, as to their —I. Now, even in these general sufferings the people of God have more or less their share. There must needs be an infinite excellency and transcendency of glory above suffering upon this account. Hope.2. To do wrong is a greater evil than to suffer wrong. Who would hesitate between a few years of doubtful enjoyment, invaded by sufferings "common to man," and inconceivable happiness prolonged and progressive through infinite duration? THE GROUND OF THE RECKONING.1. III. 23, 29).3. Earnest desire.(J. By sufferings here we are to understand the sufferings of the servants of God more especially. NATURE. There is not a pain, nor a pleasure, a word, nor a thought, which, either directly or indirectly, does not reach out for ever and ever. The sufferings of the present life are seldom, if ever, incessant, but the glory will be incessant, without change, unless for the better.6. Words of wisdom: Many Times when God isn’t changing your circumstance it’s because He’s mostly concerned with changing you within the circumstance. For the greatest truths work not, if we do not think of them. All suffering is mixed; glory is unmixed. THE COMPARISON, THOUGH IT BE RIGHTLY WEIGHED, WILT HAVE NO EFFICACY UNLESS WE HAVE FAITH, or a deep sense of the world to come. But the glory to be revealed in us has no end! The harvest is after the seed-time. And, looking at both worlds with this connected and enlarged experience, he pronounces the judgment stated in the text. Bromley. 2. And this it goes before that, Look as it was with Christ Himself, even so it is also with the members of Christ. They are thus rendered very imperfect. THE RECKONING.1. Don’t let them break you. For the greatest truths work not, if we do not think of them. First, in the glorious qualifications which both soul and body together shall be endued withal. )How the apostle lifts himself above the sufferings of timProf. Who, then, would compare the occasional sufferings of this present time with the enjoyment of undisturbed felicity? But Christianity does not save us by rendering us incapable of sorrow, but through sorrow, it leads us into the joy of God. And at last? Sorry, an error was encountered while loading comparison. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us.