AN HONEST POOR MAN.

An honest poor man is the proof of misery, where patience is put to the trial of her strength to endure grief without passion, in starving with concealed necessity, or standing in the adventures of charity.  If he be married, want rings in his ears and woe watereth his eyes.  If single, he droppeth with the shame of beggary, or dies with the passion of penury.  Of the rich he is shunned like infection, and of the poor learns but a heart-breaking profession.  His bed is the earth and the heaven is his canopy, the sun is his summer’s comfort and the moon is his winter candle.  His sighs are the notes of his music, and his song is like the swan before her death.  His study, his patience; and his exercise, prayer:  his diet the herbs of the earth, and his drink the water of the river.  His travel is the walk of the woful and his horse Bayard of ten toes:  his apparel but the clothing of nakedness, and his wealth but the hope of heaven.  He is a stranger in the world, for no man craves his acquaintance; and his funeral is without ceremony, when there is no mourning for the miss of him:  yet may he be in the state of election and in the life of love, and more rich in grace than the greatest of the world.  In sum, he is the grief of Nature, the sorrow of reason, the pity of wisdom, and the charge of charity.

A JUST MAN.

A just man is the child of truth, begotten by virtue and kindness; when Nature in the temper of the spirit made even the balance of indifference.  His eye is clear from blindness and his hand from bribery, his will from wilfulness and his heart from wickedness; his word and deed are all one; his life shows the nature of his love, his care is the charge of his conscience, and his comfort the assurance of his salvation.  In the seat of justice he is the grace of the law, and in the judgment of right the honour of reason.  He fears not the power of authority to equal justice with mercy, and joys but in the judgment of grace, to see the execution of justice.  His judgment is worthy of honour, and his wisdom is gracious in truth.  His honour is famous in virtue, and his virtue is precious in example.  In sum, he is a spirit of understanding, a brain of knowledge, a heart of wisdom, and a soul of blessedness.

A REPENTANT SINNER.

A repentant sinner is the child of grace, who, being born for service of God, makes no reckoning of the mastership of the world, yet doth he glorify God in the beholding of His creatures, and in giving praise to His holy name in the admiration of His workmanship.  He is much of the nature of an angel who, being sent into the world but to do the will of his Master, is ever longing to be at home with his fellows.  He desires nothing but that is necessary, and delighteth in nothing that is transitory; but contemplates more