e04 THE WORLD TO COME. reason of the disquietness of my heart nor could he find any rest or ease till he acknowledged Ids sin unto God, and confessed his transgressions, and till he 'had -some comfortable hope that God had forgiven the iniquity of his sin.. See -this sorrowful scene exemplified in a very affecting manner,- in Ps. xxxii. and xxxviii. Happy is the man that walks closely with his God id the (lays of health and ease, that whenever it shall please his heavenly Father to try him With smarting pain, he may -find sweet relief from a peaceful conscience, and humble appeals to God concerning his own sincerity and watchfulness. 4. Pain in the flesh may sometimes be sent by the hand of' God, to teach us " to wean ourselves by degrees from this body, which we love too well ; this body, which has all the springs of pain in it." How little should we be fond of this flesh and blood in the present feeble state, wherein we are continually liable to one malady or another; to the head -ache or the heart- ache, to wounds or bruises; and uneasy sensations of various kinds: Nor can the soul secure itself from them, while it is so' closely united to this mortal body. And yet we are too fond of our present dwelling, though it be but in a cottage of clay, feeble and ruinous, where the winds and the storms are continually ready to break in and distress us. A sorry habitation indeed for an immortal spirit, since sin has mingled so many diseases in our constitution, has made so many avenues for smart and anguish in our flesh, and we ate capable of admitting pain and agonies at every pore. Pain is appointed to be a sort of balance to the " tempts+ ing pleasures of life, and to make its feel that perfect happi- ness does not grow among the inhabitants of flesh and blood.' Pail] takes away the pleasures of the day, and the repose of the night, and makes life bitter in all the returning seasons: The God of nature and grace is pleased, by `sending sickness and pain, to loosenhis own children by degrees from their fond attachment to this fleshly tabernacle, and to make us willing to depart at his call. A long continuance of pain, or the frequent repeated twin- ges of it, will " teach a christian and incline him to meet death with courage, at the appointed hour of release." This will much abate the fierceness of the hing of terrors, when he ap- pears as a sovereign physician to finish every malady of nature. Heath is sanctified to the holy soul, and by the covenant of grace this curse of nature is changed into a blessing. The grave is a safe retiring place from all the attacks of disease and anguish And there are some incurables here on earth, which can find no perfect relief but in the grave. Neither maladies, nor tyrants, can stretch their terrors beyond this life ; and if we can but look upon death as a conquered enemy, And its sting taken away by
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