2 Cor. 1:5.
But the lighter the sufferings are, the more difficult it is to
judge of the comforts of the Spirit of God; for it is common for a
man to be comfortable under sufferings when he suffereth but little,
and knows also that his enemy can touch his flesh, his estate, or
the like, but little. And this maybe the joy of the flesh, the
result of reason; and may be very much, if not altogether, without a
mixture of the joy of the Holy Ghost therewith. The more deep,
therefore, and the more dreadful the sufferings are, the more
clearly are seen the comforts of the Spirit. When a man has comfort
where the flesh is dead, stirreth not, and can do nothing; when a
man can be comfortable at the loss of all; when he is under sentence
of death, or at the place of execution--if yet a man's cause, a
man's conscience, the promise, and the Holy Ghost, have all one
comfortable voice, and do all together with their trumpets make one
sound in the soul, then good are the comforts of God and his Spirit.
There are several degrees of sufferings; wherefore it is not to be
expected that he that suffers but little should partake of the
comforts that are prepared for them that suffer much. He that has
only the scourge of the tongue, knows not what are the comforts that
are prepared for him that meets with the scourge of the whip.
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