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496
NO
PAIN
AMONG
THE
BLEbSE.D.
[DISC.
IX.
joy
can
he
find in
magnificent buildings,
in gay
and
shin-
ing
furniture,
in
elegant
gardens, or in
all
the glittering
treasures of
the
Indies,
when
the
gout torments
his
hands
and
his
feet,
or the rheumatism
afflicts his
limbs with
in-
,
tense anguish
?
If
pain
attacks
any
part of
the body,
and
rises to a
high degree,
the luxuries
of
life grow
tasteless,
and
life
itself
is
imbittered
to
us
:
Or
when
pains
less
acute
are prolonged through
weeks
and
months,
and
perhaps
stick in
our
flesh
all the
night
as
well
as in
the
day
;
how vain
and
feeble
are
all
the
efforts
of
the bright
and
gay
things
around
us
to
raise the
soul
into chearful-
ness
:
Therefore
Solomon calls old age " the years wherein
there
is
no
pleasure."
Ecc.
xii.
J.
because
so
many aches
and
ails in
that
season
pursue
us in
a continual
succes-
sion
;
so
many infirmities
and painful
hours
attend
us
usually
in
that
stage
of
life,
even
in
the
hest situation
that
mortality can boast
of,
as
cuts off
and
destroys all
our
pleasures.
But O
what a wondrous, what
a joyful
change shall
that
be, when
the
soul
is
commanded
to
forsake
this
flesh
and blood, when
it
rises
as
on
the
wings
of
angels to
the
heavenly world,
and
leaves every
pain
behind
it,
together
with the body
in the
arms
of
death
?
And what á more
illustrious and delightful change
-shall
we
meet
with in
the
great
rising
day, when
our
bodies shall
start
up
out
of
the
dust
with
vigorous immortality, and without any
spring or
seat of
pain
?
All
the unknown enjoyments
with
which heaven
is
furnished, shall
be
taken
in
by
the
enlarged powers
of
the soul
with
intense pleasure, and
not
a
moments
pain
shall
ever
interrupt
them.
4.
Another
inconvenience and
evil
which belongs
to
pain
is,
that
"
it
makes time and
life
itself appear
tedi-
ous
and
tiresome, and adds a
new
burden
to
all
other
grievances.
Many evidences
of
this
truth
are scattered
throughout
all
nature, and
on all sides
of
this globe.
There
is
not
one
age
of
mankind
but
can furnish
us
with
millions
of
instances.
In
what melancholy language
does
Job
discover
his
sensations
of
the tiresome
nature
of
pain
?
"
I
am
made
to possess
months
of
vanity,
and
wearisome nights are
appointed
to
me
:
When
I
lie down
I
say,
when shall
I
rise
and
the night
be
gone? And
I
am
full
of
tossing
to and fro
unto
the dawning
of
the day
;"
Job
vii.
3,
4,.
When pain takes
hold
of
our
flesh
it
seems