Wesley Corpus

But compare the sorrows which any man necessarily suffers, with the comforts he enjoys, and the one will balance the other. Or if his sorrows outweigh his com forts, this may be necessary in a state of trial; and God will reward the over-balance of sufferings hereafter.’ “I answer: There is no reason to think the far greater part of mankind will have any reward hereafter; and if not, how shall we account for this over-balance of sufferings with regard to them? Therefore, we cannot reasonably impute their supe rior sorrows merely to their being in a state of probation; but rather to the displeasure of the righteous Creator and Governor of the world.” (Pages 65, 66.) “10. To make this still clearer: Not only those who are grown up in the practice of iniquity, who may be punished by their own sins, but all mankind, in their very infancy, bear the tokens of God’s displeasure. “Before children are capable of committing sin, they are subject to a thousand miseries. What anguish and pain are they frequently exposed to, even as they are coming into the world, and as soon as they are entered into it! What agonies await their birth ! What numerous and acute maladies are ready to attack them I What gripes, what convulsions, what inward torments, which bring some of them down to death within a few hours or days after they have begun to live! And if they survive a few months, what torture do they find in breeding their teeth, and other maladies of infancy, which can be told only by shrieks and tears, and that for whole days and nights together! What additional pains do they often sustain by the negligence of their mothers, or cruelty of their nurses! whereby many of them are brought down to the grave, either on a sudden, or by slow and painful degrees.” (Page 67.) “And what shall we say of whole nations in elder times, and some even at this day, who, when they cannot, or will not, maintain them, expose their children in the woods to be torn and devoured by the next wild beast that passes by? Add to this the common calamities in which infants are involved by fire, earthquake, pestilence.