May true believers be assured of God's love? Yes. (Rom. v. 5.) "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts." May they have peace of conscience? Yes. (Rom. xv. 13.) "The God of hope fill you with all peace in believing." May they have joy? Yes. (Rom. v. 11.) "We also joy in God." Is the Holy Ghost the author of it? Yes. (Gal. v. 22.) "The fruit of the Spirit is joy." Shall true Christians grow in grace? Yes. (Prov. iv. 18.) "The path of the just shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Is perseverance the Christian's duty? Yes. (Phil. iii. 14.) "I press towards the mark." And their privilege? Yes. (1st Peter i. 5.) "Who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation." What may we infer from hence? I. That religion is not a melancholy thing. (Prov. iii. 17.) "Her ways are ways of pleasantness." II. Growth in grace is an evidence of the truth of it. (Mark iv. 8.) "Others fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased." III. That weak Christians should not be discouraged. When his death occurred, Doddridge wrote--"It is to my unutterable grief that I hear this day that our dear friend, Mr. Some, is dead. I hardly know how to bear it." Again: "We know in whose hands our lives are, and those of our friends who remain--a soul-quieting thought, which I would apply to the unspeakable loss I have sustained in the death of that great and good man, that invaluable friend, Mr. Some, whom I honoured and loved as a parent." Mr. Barker, of Hackney, wrote--"The death of the excellent person you have lately lost afflicts me greatly. There are few such ministers anywhere, and few such men in any age. I know that his modesty was excessive, but am sorry to find that it has deprived us of those memoirs, which, touched over by your hand, would have been very instructive and entertaining; but if we must not read his life and character, let us remember and imitate his exemplary piety, prudence, and diligence. This truly revered and excellent man died May 27th, 1737. God was pleased to favour him with a serene and cheerful exit, suited to the eminent piety and usefulness of his life. "I am well satisfied," remarks Doddridge, "that considering how very generally he was known, he has left a most honourable testimony, in the hearts of thousands, that he was one of the brightest ornaments of the Gospel and the ministry which the age has produced; and that all who have had any intimacy with him must have esteemed his friendship amongst the greatest blessings of life, and the loss of him amongst its greatest calamities."