194 THE WORLD TO COME. cent, I am satisfied he should never felt any pain which was,not over- balanced with superior pleasure, or abundantly recompensed by succeeding rewards and satisfactions. Some persons indeed have supposed it within the reach of the sovereignty of God to afflict and torment a sinless creature : Yet I think it is hardly consistent with his goodness, or his equity, to constrain an innocent being, which has no sin, to suffer pain without his own consent, and without giving that creature equal or superior pleasure as a recompence. Both those were the case in the sufferings of our blessed Lord in his human nature, who was perfectly innocent : It was with his own consent that he gave himself up to be a sacrifice, when it pleased the Father to bruise him andput him to grief ; Is. liii. 10. and God rewarded him with transcendent honours and joys after his passion, he ex- alted him to his own right -hand and his throne, and gave him au- thority over all things. In general, therefore, we have sufficient reason to say, that as sin brought in death into human, nature, so it was sin that brought in pain also ; and wheresoever there is any pain suffered among the sons and daughters of men, I am sure we may ven. Lure to assert boldly, that the sufferer may learn the evil of sin. Even the Son of God himself, when he suffered pain in his body, as well as anguish imhis spirit, has told us by his apostles, that our sins were the causes of it ; he bore our sins in his own body, on the tree, and for our iniquities he was bruised, so says Isaiah the prophet ; Is. liii. 5. and so speaks Peter the apostle; 1 Pet. ii. 24. And sometimes the providence of God is pleased to point out to us the particular sin we are guilty of by the special punish- ment which he inflicts. In Ps. evil. 17, 18. Fools are said to be a zcted, that is with pain and sickness because of their transgres- sions of riot and intemperance their soul abhors all manner of meat, and they draw near to the gates of death.. Sickness and pain over- balance all the pleasures of luxury in meats and drinks, and make the epicure pay dear for the elegance of his palate, and the sweet relish of his morsels or his cups. The drunkard in his debauches, is preparing some smarting pain for his own punish- ment. And let us all be so wise as to learn this lesson by the pains we feel, that sin which introduced them into the world is an abominable thing in the sight of God, because it provokes him to use such smarting strokes of discipline in order to recover us from our folly, and to reduce us back again to the paths of righte- ousness. " O blessed smart ! O happy pain, that helps to soften the heart of a sinner, and melts it to receive divine instruction, which before was liard as iron, and attended to no divine counsel ! We are ready to wander from God, and forget him amongst the
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