buried in the grave, and cease for ever; and if we survey the properties of the new-raised body in the great resurrection day, as described 1 Cor. xv. we shall find no room for pain there, no avenue or resi dence for smart or anguish. It will not be such a body of flesh and blood which can be a source of ma ladies or subject to outward injuries; but by its own principles of innate vigour and immortality, as well as by the power and mercy of God, it shall be for ever secured from those uneasy sensations which made our flesh on earth painful and burdensome, and which tended towards dissolution and death. It is such a body as our Lord Jesus wore at his ascent to heaven in a bright cloud, for ever incorruptible: for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. As we have borne the image of the earthly Adam in the frailties and sufferings that belong to it, so shall we also bear the image of the heavenly, even the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his own glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself, Phil. iii. 21. We shall hunger no more, we shall thirst no more, nor shall the sun light on us with its parching beams, nor shall we be annoyed with fire or frost, with heat or cold, in those temperate and happy regions. The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed his people for ever there with the fruits of the tree of life, and with unknown entertainments suited to a glorified state. He shall lead them to living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Thus have I set before you the practical lessons which pain is designed to teach us in our present state; and we find that a body subject to maladies and pains, is a well appointed school, wherein our great Master gives us these divine instructions, and

trains us up by degrees for the heavenly world. It is rough discipline indeed for the flesh, but it is wholesome for the soul: and there are many Christians here on earth that have been made to confess, they had never learnt the practice of some of these virtues, if they had not been taught by such sort of discipline. Pain, which was brought into human nature at first by sin, is happily suited by the providence of God to such a state of probation, wherein creatures, born in the midst of sins and sorrows, are by degrees recovered to the love of God and holiness, and fitted for a world of peace and joy.

But when we have done with this world, and departed from the tribes of mortal men, and from all the scenes of allurement and temptation, there is no more need that such lessons should be taught us in heaven, nor any painful scourge made use of by the Father of spirits, to carry on or to maintain the divine work of holiness and grace within us. Let us survey this matter according to the foregoing particulars.

Is it possible that while the blessed above are surrounded with endless satisfactions, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb, they should forget their Benefactor, and neglect his praises? Is it possible they should dwell in immortal health and ease without interruption, under the constant vital influences of the King of glory, and yet want gratitude to the spring of all their blessings?

Nor is there any need for the inhabitants of a world where no pains nor sorrows are found, to learn compassion and sympathy to those who suffer, for there are no sufferers there; but love and joy, intense and intimate love, and a harmony of joy runs through all that blessed company, and unites them in an universal sympathy, if I may so express it, or blissful sensation of each other's happiness. And I might

add also, could there be such a thing as sorrow and misery in those regions, this divine principle of love would work sweetly and powerfully towards such objects in all necessary compassion.

What if pain was once made a spur to our duties in this frail state of flesh and blood? What if pain were designed as a guard against temptation, and a means to awaken our watch against new transgression and guilt? But in a climate where all is holiness, and all is peace, in the full enjoyment of the great God, and secured by that everlasting covenant which was sealed by the blood of the Lamb, there is no more danger of sinning. The soul is moulded into the more complete likeness of God, by living for ever under the light of his countenance, and the warmest beams of his love.

What if we had need of the stings of pain and anguish in time past, to wean us by degrees from this body, and from all sensible things, and to make us willing to part with them all at the call of God? Yet when we arrive at the heavenly world, we shall have no more need of being weaned from earth, we shall never look back upon that state of pain and frailty with a wishful eye, being for ever satisfied in the affluence of present joys.

O glorious and happy state! where millions of creatures who have dwelt in bodies of sin and pain, and have been guilty of innumerable follies and offences against their Maker, yet they are all forgiven, their robes are washed, and made white in the blood of Jesus, their iniquities are cancelled for ever, and there shall not be one stroke more from the hand of God to chasten them, nor one more sensation of pain to punish them. Divine and illustrious privilege indeed, and a glorious world, where complete sanctification of all the powers of nature shall for ever secure us from new sins, and where the springs and

causes of pain shall for ever cease, both within us and without us. Our glorified bodies shall have no avenue for pain to enter; the gates of heaven shall admit no enemy to afflict or hurt us; God is our everlasting friend, and our souls shall be satisfied with the rivers of pleasure which flow for ever at the right hand of God. Amen.

1

DISCOURSE X.

THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THE SPIRIT; OR, THE FORESTATE OF HEAVEN.

ROM. viii. 23.

And not only they, but ourselves also which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

SECTION I.

It is by a beautiful figure of speech the apostle had been describing, in the foregoing verses, the unnatural abuse which the creatures suffer through the sins of men, when they are employed to sinful purposes, and the dishonour of God their Creator. Permit me to read the words, and represent the sense of them in a short paraphrase. Ver. 22, We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. The earth itself may be represented as groaning to bear such loads of iniquity, such a multitude of wicked men, who abuse the creatures of God to the dishonour of him that made them.