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122,
THE CHRISTIAN'S TREASURE.
fsER141.
XXXVII.
come.
Thus
hell
itself
is
constrained
to pay
a
tribute
towards the salvation
of
the saints.
And
the devils themselves
who dwell
there,
with
all
their
fiery
temptations,
have
been
but
as underworkers
for our
final
good;
they
are
as slaves to
Christ, the great
Refiner, who designed
to
purify your
souls
by
those
very
methods
of
temptation, which those
evil
spirits
made
use of
on
purpose
to destroy. you.
Thus
the ministers
of
divine
wrath to sinners are
become
instruments
of
your
benefit.
"
When
Satan
has
desired
to winnow you as
wheat, Christ
has
prayed for you
thàt
your
faith
fail
not,"
Luke
xxii.
31, 32.
and
he
has
taken
care
that
by
this
winnowing you
might
be
purified,
that
nothing
might
fly
away
but
the
empty chaff;
that
you might
appear
in the
sight of Christ
as
purer
corn. Now
if
hell,
and the
wick-
ed
inhabitants
of
it,
may be
constrained
to serve
your
interest, and
to
promote your
happiness, surely
there
is
nothing in
all
the creation,
but
may
turn.
to
your
advan-
tage.
O
divine privilege, when the
creatures
that
are
under
the
deserved curse
of
God, are thus made to
sub-
serve
your
blessedness
!
S.
But not
only
present
invisibles,'
but
even all
future
unseen
things
are
yours
too.
The
morning
of
the resur-
rection
is
appointed
for
your glory; and
the
great
trum-
pet
is
put into
the hands
of the arch
-
angel, to awaken
your
sleeping
dust
into immortality.
Jesus
the
Lord
himself
shall
descend
from heaven to
call
you from the
grave: And
,
"
though
ye were dead,
ye shall
hear
the
voice
of
the
Son
of God and
live,"
John
y.
23.
The
great
day
of
judgment, and
all
the solemnities
of
it,
are
ordained
for your honour,
to publish
your
victories
over
sin and Satan, before
the
face
of
the whole creation,
to
pronounce
you
openly
acquitted
and
justified
before
men
and
angels, to
proclaim
you
the
sons
and daughters of
the
Most
High God, and determine your state
to ever-
lasting
blessedness.
Are
there
crowns
of
infinite value laid up
in
heaven?
Are
the
e rewards
of
glory
there, immense rewards,
and
of
endless
duration?
It
is
to crown
your labours,
your
conflicts,
your christian
race; it
is
to
reward your
suf-
ferings,
your patience, and your conquest
:
And
the
day
of
glory
is
stretched
out
to all everlasting,
that
your