Pain as a Spiritual Barometer of Health: A Sign of Divine Love, 1780–1850

Abstract

A popular nineteenth-century spiritual barometer displays the steps one might take in the Christian life to bring oneself closer to either ‘glory’ or ‘perdition’. Near the top of the barometer, nearing ‘glory’ is the bearing of painful tribulations, connected to the cross of Christ. Whilst pain was undeniably an undesired presence in life, it was also a hallmark of spiritual progress. The denouement of Christian health, therefore, was often to be in pain. Looking at pain narratives of six evangelical Dissenters, this article explores how pain was perceived by these individuals through the lens of the atonement. As the atonement was a loving aspect of God's providence, so too was pain in the Christian life a quotidian display of divine love. The meaning and purpose of pain was sanctification, understood as a retributive, though mainly redemptive, implement of God's fatherly love. Whilst sharing a common framework of atonement, case studies from different denominations display nuanced differences in their pain narratives: the Baptists and Congregationalists examined here emphasized the sin that required the atonement, whereas the Quakers emphasized suffering with or alongside Christ.