But all these cups are of pure gold. They are of God's ordaining,
appointing, filling; and also sanctified by him for good to those of
his that drink them. Hence Moses chose rather to drink a brimmer of
these, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
The sourness, bitterness, and wormwood of them, therefore, is only
to the flesh, that loveth neither God, nor Christ, nor grace. The
afflictions, therefore, that the church in the wilderness hath met
with, these cups of gold, are of more worth than are all the
treasures of Egypt; they are needful and profitable, and
praiseworthy also, and tend to the augmenting of our glory when the
next world shall come.
Besides, they are signs, tokens, and golden-marks of love, and
jewels that set off the beauty of the church in the sight of God the
more. They are also a means by which men are proved to be sound,
honest, faithful, and true lovers of God; to be those whose graces
are not counterfeit, feigned, or unsound, but true, and such as will
be found to praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ.
And this has been the cause that the men of our church in the
wilderness have gloried in tribulation, taking pleasure in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for
Christ's sake.
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