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Eternally to be free from whatever can afflict; eternally to enjoy whatever can delight, O sweet expectation of a pious life! O happy consequence of a holy death! As thou O Lord, hast prepared such felicities for us, O may thy grace prepare us for them; still let us labour, still let us suffer; our troubles are short, our joys eternal!
Meekness may qualify our miseries here, and make our time pass easier away. Lord! without thee, what is all the world to us, but a flying dream of busy vanities? Lord! while we breathe, make us live to thee, and when we expire depart in thy peace.
To know thee, O Lord! is to be truly wise; and to contemplate thee, the highest learning!
Lord! how secure and quiet they live, whom thy grace preserves in innocence! the day goes smoothly over their heads, and silent as the shadow of a dial; the spirits of their fancy run calm and obedient to reason till some unruly passion presses to come in; and by its fawning outside gains admittance.—O the destruction of a life led by humour, and the thraldom of being subject to our passions, how often do they engage us to contend with others, and embitter all our days with strife and envy.
