TWENTY-FOUR SHORT SERMONS ON THE DOCTRINE OF UNIVERSAL SALVATION

By John Bovee Dods Pastor of the First Universalist Society, in
Taunton, Massachusetts.

Boston: Printed By G. W. Bazin....Trumpet Office 1832.

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SERMON I

"What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days that he may
see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile;
depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." Psalm
xxxiv:12-14.

Self-preservation and the desire of protracting the momentary span of
life is the first principle of our nature, or is at least so
intimately interwoven with our constitution as to appear inherent. So
powerful is this desire, that in defiance of pain and misery, it
seldom quits us to the last moments of our existence. To endeavor to
lengthen out our lives is not only desirable, but is a duty enjoined
upon us in the scriptures, and is most beautifully and forcibly
expressed in our text.

We might here introduce many observations of a philosophical character
on _air_ and _climate, meat_ and _drink, motion_ and _rest, sleeping_
and _watching, &c._ and show how sensibly they contribute to health;
and we might furnish many examples of long life, but we pass these,
and proceed to notice the affections of the mind upon which our text