#55 XLI: The Principles of Christian Patience, part 3:Consider, moreover, the tribulation which the saints of the past have endured. Behold the patriarch Job, “as he sat down among the ashes” to weep (Job ii. 8); John the Baptist fasting in the wilderness (Luke iii. 2); Peter extended upon a cross, and James beheaded by the sword of Herod (Acts xii. 2). Think of Mary, the blessed mother of our Saviour, standing with pierced heart under the cross (John xix. 25), who in some sense becomes a type of Christ’s Church, the spiritual mother of our Lord. “Blessed are ye,” says Christ, “when men shall persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matt. v. 11, 12). O glorious persecutions, which link us to the apostles and prophets, and to all the saints, aye to our blessed Christ Himself. Let us patiently suffer then with the saints of God, who have suffered in His cause; let us even rejoice to be crucified with those who have been crucified, that we may at last be glorified with those who have been glorified. If we are indeed sons of God, let us not refuse to share the portion of the rest of His children. If we truly desire to be heirs of God, let us joyfully accept all that heirship involves. But let us remember that as sons of God we are heirs not only of the joy and glory of the future life, but also of the sorrow and of the suffering of this present life, for “God scourgeth every son whom He receiveth” (Heb. xii. 6). He punishes our sins here that He may spare us punishment in the day of judgment; He lays tribulation after tribulation upon us here, that there He may bestow upon us an exceeding weight of glory; and, indeed, the reward far exceeds, in proportion, the persecutions we suffer here. (Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – XLI: The Principle of Christian Patience, Repristination Press, p. 237-238)
