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btsc.

ix.]

NO

PAIN

AMONG

THE

BLESSED.

515

by

it,

yet

one step

further

:

Was it

not

by

these sorrows,

and

this

painful

passion,

that

he

provided for us this

very

heaven

of

happiness, where

we

shall be for

ever

freed

from all

pain

?

Were

they

not

all

endured

by him.

to procure a paradise

of

pleasure,

a

mansion

of

everlast-

ing peace

and

joy

for guilty creatures;

who

had

merited

everlasting pain

?

Was

it not

by

these his agonies in

the

mortal

body, which he assumed,

that

he

purchased

for

each

of

us

a

glorified body,

strong

and

immortal

as

his

own

when he

rose from the dead, a

body

which has

no

seeds

of

disease

or

pain

in

it,

no springs

of mortality

or

death

?

May

glory,

honour

and praise,

with

supreme

pleasure, ever

attend

the sacred person

of

our

Redeemer,

whose

sorrows

and anguish

of

flesh

and

spirit

were

equal.

to our

misery,

and

to

his

own

compassion.

5.

Another

lesson, which we

are

taught

by the long

and tiresome pains

of nature,

"

is

the value and

worth

of

the word

of

God,

and the

sweetness

of

a

promise,

which can give

the 'kindest

relief

to

a

painful hour,

and

soothe the anguish

of

nature."

They

teach

us

the

excel

-

lency

of

the covenant

of

grace, which has sometimes

strengthened the

feeblest pieces of

human

nature

to

bear

intense

sufferings

in

the

body,

and

which sanctifies

them'

all to

our

advantage. Painful and tiresome maladies

teach us to improve the promises to valuable

purposes,

and

the

promises

take

away

half

the smart

of

our

pains by

the sensations

of

divine love

let into

the soul.

We read

of

philosophers and heroes

in

some

ancient'

histories,

who

could

endure

pain

by

dint of

reasoning,

bya

pride

of their

science, by an obstinacy

of

heart, or

by

na

-'

tùral

courage; but

a christian takes the word

of

a promise,

and

lies

down

upon it

in

the midst

of

intense pains

of

na-`

ture:

and the pleasure

of

devotion

supplies

him

with

sùch ease,

that

all the

reasonings

of

philosophy, all

the

courage

of

nature,

all

the anodynes

of

medicine,

and

soothing plaisters

have

attempted

without

success. When,`

a child

of

God

can

read

his

Fathér's

love in a

promise,

and

by

searching

into

the qualifications

of

his own

soul,

can

lay

faster

hold

of it

by

ä

living faith,

the rage

of

his

pain.

is

much allayed, and made

half

easy.

A promise

is

a sweet

couch'

to

rest a languishing

body

in

the midst

of

pains,

and a soft repose for the head or

heart-ache.

The

stoics

pretended

to

give

ease to pain,

by

per

-

2..2