" 2 _Cor_. i. 5. It
is needless to cite, as indeed it would be endless even to refer to, the
multitude of passages in both Testaments holding out, in the strongest
language, promises of blessings, even in this world, to the faithful
servants of GOD. I will only refer to _St. Luke_, xviii. 29, 30, and 1
_Tim_. iv. 8.
'Upon the whole, setting aside instances of great and lasting bodily
pain, of minds peculiarly oppressed by melancholy, and of severe
temporal calamities, from which extraordinary cases we surely should not
form our estimate of the general tenour and complexion of life;
excluding these from the account, I am convinced that as well the
gracious constitution of things which Providence has ordained, as the
declarations of Scripture and the actual experience of individuals,
authorize the sincere Christian to hope that his humble and constant
endeavours to perform his duty, checquered as the best life is with many
failings, will be crowned with a greater degree of present peace,
serenity, and comfort, than he could reasonably permit himself to
expect, if he measured his views and judged of life from the opinion of
Dr.
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