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164
ERE RIGHT IMPROVEMENT
OF
LIFE.
[SEAM, EERIE.
"
Is
'life
prolonged
that
I
may
be
profitable
to
man-
kind, and have
I
lived
thus
long
already
to
so
little
pur-
pose? Though
my
goodness
extends
not
unto
thee,
O
Lord, yet I
entreat that
my
fellow-
creatures
may
be
the
better
for
me while
I continue amongst
them.
O
may
the
God of
Abraham
bestow on
me
that
rich favour
which
Abraham received
in
those
divine words
of
pro-
mise,
" I
will
bless
thee, and
I
will
make thee
a blessing,"
Gen.
xii.
2.
I
would fain live useful
and beloved,
that
I
may die
desired and lamented.
What
a
shameful thing
is
it
when
I
go
out of
the
world,
that
my
acquaintance
should
say,
"
He
is
gone,
but there
is.
no
loss
of
him."
"
Have
my
days
beenTrolonged thus
far
that
my
hopes
of
heaven might
be
daily
increasing,
that
my
evidences
of
adoption
might grow
stronger
daily,
and
my
soul
be
more prepared
for heaven
:
Look inward then, O
my
soul: Hast
thou acquired
a
more divine and heavenly
temper than
in
years past?
Art
thou
wrought up
to a
greater
meetness
for the
inheritance
on high?
Are thy
desires, thy
appetites; and
all
thy powers
more fitted for
the
business
of heaven,and attempered
to
the blessedness
of
the
upper
world
?
Art
thou growing fitter
still
for
the
sight
of God,
for converse with
Christ,
for the
company
of
saints.
and
holy
angels? How
are
thy days
and
months,
and years run out
to
waste,
if
thou
art
so
much
nearer
death, and yet
art
not
so
much
riper
for
heaven?
"
And
is
it
possible
that
a
length
of
life
should
be
so
improved,
as
that
my
crown
of
glory,
and
my
portion
of
happiness
may be
enlarged hereafter
?
Let
my
holy am-
bition
awake
at
such a
hint
as
this,
and let
me
aspire
to
a
superior rank among
the
blessed,
by
employing
every
part
of
life to
the most noble
'and'excellent
purposes
for
which
life
is
granted.
Let
me ever
abound
in
the
work
of
the Lord,
since
I
am
assured
that
no
part of
my
la-
bours
shall
be in
vain
in
the Lord, or want
its
proper
re-
compence. Though it
is
the blood
of
my
Redeemer that
has purchased
all
the prizes and crowns
in
heaven;
yet
if
am
a
swift
runner
in the
christian race, and the
race
itself
be
long,
I
am fitted
to receive the
fairer
prize:
And if
Tarn
an
active
and victorious
soldier
in
the army
of
Christ, and
have served
faithfully through
a
tedious
war;
I
may have
reason
to
hope
for
a
brighter crown.
We