NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED: 497 to stretch the measures of time to a tedious length: We cry out as Moses expresses it ; Deut. xtviii. fil. " In the morningwe say, would to God it were evening ; and at the return of the evening we say again, would to God it were morning." Long are those hours indeed, whether of day-light or darkness, wherein there is no relief or intermission öf . acute pain. How tiresome a thing is it to count: the clock at midnight in long successions, and to wait every hour for the distant approachof morning, while our eyes are unable to close themselves in slumber, and our an- guish admits not the common refuge of sleep. There are- multitudes among the race of mortals who have known these truths by sore experience. Blessed be God that we do'not always feel them. But when we turn our thoughts to the heavenly world, where there is no pain, there weshall find no wearisome hours, no tedious days, though eternitywith all its immeasurable lengths ofdura- tion lies before us. What a dismal thought is eternal pain? The very mention of it makes nature shudder and stand aghast; but futurity with all its endless years, in a land of peace and pleasure gives the soul the most de- lightful prospect, for there is no shadow of uneasiness in that state to render our abode there tiresome, or to think the ages of it long. 5. Another evil that belongs to pain is, that " it has an unhappy tendency to ruffle the- passions, and to render us fretful and peevish within ourselves, as well as towards those who are round about us;" Even the kindest and the tenderest hand that ministers to our relief, can hardly secure itself from the peevish quarrels of a man in ex- treme pain. Not that we are to suppose that this peevish hu- tnour , this fretfulness of spirit are thereby made inno- cent and perfectly excused : No, by no means but it must be acknowledged still that continuance in pain is too ready to workup the spirit into frequent disquietude and eagerness : We are tempted to fret at every thing, We quarrel With every thing, we grow impatient under every delay, angry with our best friends, sharp and sud- den in our resentments, with wrathful speeches breaking out of our lips. This peevish humour in a day of pain is so common a, VOL. 1I. carK
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