If a man conceive himself insulted, will not his anger

smite?

Thus, let a soul believe his state, his danger, destiny,

redemption,

Will he not feel eager to be safe, like him that kept the prison at Philippi?

A mother had an only son, and sent him out to sea:
She was a widow, and in penury; and he must seek his

fortunes.

How often in the wintry nights, when waves and winds were howling,

Her heart was torn with sickening dread, and bled to see her boy.

And on one sunny morn, when all around was com

fort,

News came, that weeks agone, the vessel had been wrecked;

Yea, wrecked, and he was dead! they had seen him perish in his agony :

Oh then, what agony was like to her's,-for she believed

the tale.

She was bowed and broken down with sorrow, and un

comforted in prayer;

Many nights she mourned, and pined, and had no hope but death.

But on a day, while sorely she was weeping, a stranger broke upon her loneliness,—

He had news to tell, that weather-beaten man, and must not be denied:

And what were the wonder-working words that made this mourner joyous,

That swept her heaviness away, and filled her world with

praise?

Her son was saved,—is alive,—is near!-O did she stop to question?

No, rushing in the force of faith, she met him at the

door!

Of Honesty.

All is vanity which is not honesty ;-thus is it graven on the tomb :

And there is no wisdom but in piety;-so the dead man

preacheth:

For, in a simple village church, among those classic shades

Which sylvan Evelyn loved to rear, (his praise, and my

delight,)

These, the words of truth, are writ upon his sepulchre Who learnt much lore, and knew all trees, from the cedar to the hyssop on the wall.

A just conjunction, godliness and honesty; ministering to both worlds,

Well wed, and ill to be divided, a pair that God hath joined together.

I touch not now the vulgar thought, as of tricks and cheateries in trade;

I speak of honest purpose, character, speech and action.

For an honest man hath special need of charity, and

prudence,

Of a deep and humbling self-acquaintance, and of blessed commerce with his God,

So that the keenness of truth may be freed from asperities of censure,

And the just but vacillating mind be not made the pendulum of arguments:

For a false reason, shrewdly put, can often not be answered on the instant,

And prudence looketh unto faith, content to wait solu

tions;

Yea, it looketh, yea, it waiteth, still holding honesty in

leash,

Lest, as a hot young hound, it track not game, but

vermin.

Many a man of honest heart, but ignorant of self and

God,

Hath followed the marsh-fires of pestilence, esteeming them the lights of truth;

He heard a cause, which he had not skill to solve,—and so received it gladly;

And that cause brought its consequence, of harm to an unstable soul.

Prudence, for a man's own sake, never should be separate from honesty ;

And charity, for other's good, and his, must still be joined therewith :

For the harshly chiding tongue hath neither pleasuring nor profit,

And the cold unsympathizing heart never gained a good.

Sin is a sore, and folly is a fever; touch them tenderly for healing;

The bad chirurgeon's awkward knife harmeth, spite of

honesty.

Still, a rough diamond is better than the polished

paste,

That courteous flattering fool, who spake of vice as

virtue :

And honesty, even by itself, though making many adversaries

Whom prudence might have set aside, or charity have

softened,

Evermore will prosper at the last, and gain a man great honour

By giving others many goods, to his own cost and hindrance.

Freedom is father of the honest, and sturdy Independence is his brother;

These three, with heart and hand, dwell together in

unity.

The blunt yeoman, stout and true, will speak unto princes unabashed:

His mind is loyal, just and free, a crystal in its plain in

tegrity;

What should make such an one ashamed? where courtiers kneel, he standeth ;

I will indeed bow before the king, but knees were knit

for God.

And many such there be, of a high and noble con

science,