Characters and characteristics in literature; English literature
A good man is an image of God, lord over all His creatures, and created
only for His service. He is made capable of reason to know the
properties of nature, and by the inspiration of grace to know things
supernatural. He hath a face always to look upward, and a soul that
gives life to all the senses. He lives in the world as a stranger, while
heaven is the home of his spirit. His life is but the labour of sense,
and his death the way to his rest. His study is the Word of truth, and
his delight is in the law of love. His provision is but to serve
necessity, and his care the exercise of charity. He is more conversant
with the divine prophets than the world's profits, and makes the joy of
his soul in the tidings of his salvation. He is wise in the best wit,
and wealthy in the richest treasure. His hope is but the comfort of
mercy, and his fear but the hurt of sin. Pride is the hate of his soul,
and patience the worker of his peace. His guide is the wisdom of grace,
and his travel but to the Heavenly Jerusalem. In sum, he is the elect of
God, the blessing of grace, the seed of love, and the fruit of life.
AN ATHEIST OR MOST BAD MAN.
An atheist is a figure of desperation, who dare do anything even to his
soul's damnation. He is in nature a dog, in wit an ass, in passion a
bedlam, and in action a devil. He makes sin a jest, grace a humour,
truth a fable, and peace a cowardice. His horse is his pride, his sword
is his castle, his apparel his riches, and his punk his paradise. He
makes robbery his purchase, lechery his solace, mirth his exercise, and
drunkenness his glory. He is the danger of society, the love of vanity,
the hate of charity, and the shame of humanity. He is God's enemy, his
parents' grief, his country's plague, and his own confusion. He spoils
that is necessary and spends that is needless. He spits at the gracious
and spurns the godly. The tavern is his palace and his belly is his god;
a whore is his mistress and the devil is his master. Oaths are his
graces, wounds his badges, shifts are his practices, and beggary his
payments. He knows not God, nor thinks of heaven, but walks through the
world as a devil towards hell. Virtue knows him not, honesty finds him
not, wisdom loves him not, and honour regards him not. He is but the
cutler's friend and the chirurgeon's agent, the thief's companion and
the hangman's benefactor. He was begotten untimely and born unhappily,
lives ungraciously and dies unchristianly. He is of no religion nor good
fashion; hardly good complexion, and most vile in condition. In sum, he
is a monster among men, a Jew among Christians, a fool among wise men,
and a devil among saints.
A WISE MAN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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