521 / 674
DISC.
IX.1
NO
PAIN
AMONG
THF.
BLESSED.
501
SECTION
II.
The
second general
enquiry
was this,
"
What
just
and
convincing arguments or proofs can
be
given,
that there
are
no pains or uneasy sensations to be
felt
by
the
saints
in a
future
state,
nor
to
be
feared after this
life
?"
My
answers
to
this question shall
be
very
few
;
because
I
think
the
thing must
be
sufficiently
evident
to those who
believe the
New Testament, and have liberty
to
read
it.
Argument
I.
" God
has assured
us so
in
his
word,
that
there is.no pain for
holy souls to
endure
in the world to
come." My
text
may he
esteemed a
sufficient
proof of
it;
for whatsoever
particular
event or period
o
church on
earth
this prophecy
may
refer
to,
yet the description
is
borrowed
from
the blessedness
of
heaven
;
and
if
there
shall
be
any such
state
on
earth, much more
will
it
be
so
in the heavenly
world,' whereof
that
period
on
earth
i
but
a shadow
and
emblem.
We are
expressly told,
Rev.
xiv.
13.
in
order
to
encourage
the persecuted saints
and martyrs,
"
Blessed
are the dead
who die in
the
Lord,
from
henceforth,
for
they
rest
from
their
labours,
or
pains,
and
their
works
follow
them ;"
that
is,
in
a
way
of
gracious recompence.
It
is
granted indeed
by
the papists
themselves,
that
in
heaven
there
is
no
pain
;
yet they suppose there
are
many
and
grievous pains for the
soul to
undergo
-in a
place called
purgatory,
after
the death
of
the
body, be-
fore
it arrives
at
heaven.
But
give me
leave
to
ask,
does
not
St.
Paul
express
himself
with
confidence concerning himself and
his
fel-
low-christians"
that
they shall
be
present
with the
Lord
when they
are absent
from
the
body,"
2
GOY'.
v.
8.
Surely
the
state
wherein
Christ our Lord
dwells
after
all
his
sufferings
and
agonies,
is
a
state
of
everlasting
ease
without
suffering
;
and
shall
not
his
followers dwell with
him?
Do
we
not
read
in
the
parable
of
our
Saviour,
Luke
xvi.
22.
that
"
Lazarus
was
no
sooner
dead,
but
his soul was
carried
by
angels
into
the
bosom
óf
Abra-
ham,
or paradise
?"
Every
holy soul,
wherein the
work
of
grace
is
begun,
and
sin
hath received
its
Mortal wound,
is
perfectly sanctified
when
it
is
released from
this
body;
and it puts off the
body
of
sin
and the body
of
flesh
toge-
ther,
"
for
nothing
that
defileth must
enter
into
paradises
or the heavenly state,
Rev.
xxi.
27.
K.3