Lra NO PAIN AMONG THE BLESSED. [bISC. lx. all its weaknesses together. The spirits of the blessed know nothing of those frailties, nor shall the bodies of the saints, new-raised from the dust, bring back any of their old infirmities with them. Theseblessed creatures knowwell how entirely dependent they are for all things upon God, their Creator, without the need of pains and maladies to teach them, for they live every moment with God, and in a full dependence upon him : They are supported in their life, and all its everlasting blessings, by his immediate presence, power, and mercy. They haveno need of pain in those fields or gardens of pleasure to teach them the evil of sin : they will remem- ber all the sorrows they have passed through in their mor- tal state, while they were traversing thewilderness of this world, and they know that sin was the cause of them all, They .see the evil of sin in the glass of the divine holi- ness, and the hateful contrariety that is in it to the nature of God, is discovered in the immediate light of all bis perfections, his wisdom, his truth and his goodness. Theybehold. the evil ofsin in the marks of the sufferings of their blessed Saviour ; he appears in glory " as the Lamb that was slain," and carries some memorials of his death about him, to let the saints know for ever what he has suffered to make atonement for their sins. Nor have the blessed above any need to learn how dreadfully God can punish sin and sinners, while they behold his indignation going forth in a long and endless stream, to make the wicked enemies of God in hell for ever justly miserable : And in this sense it may be said, that " the smoke of their torments comes up before God and his holy angels, and his saints for ever ;" Rev. xiv. 10. Nor do these happy beings. stand in need of new sensations of pain, to teach them the exceeding great- ness of the love of Christ, who exposed himself to in- tense and srrìarting anguish, both of flesh and spirit, to procure their salvation: For while ,they dwell amidst the blessedness of that state, which the Redeemer purchased with the price of his own sufferings, they can never for- get his love. Nor do theywant, to learn in heaven the value of the word of God and his promises, bywhich they were supported under their pains and sorrows in this mortal state. Those promises have been fulfilled to them partly on earth, and a more glorious and abun-
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