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An Essay on the Character and Practical Writings of Saint Paul (1815)
An Essay on the Character and Practical Writings of Saint Paul - 1815 Author:Hannah More Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAP. XIII. A GENERAL VIEW OF THE QUALITIES OF SAINT PAUL C HIS KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN NATURE - HIS DELICACY IN GIVING ADVICE OR REPROOF - HIS INTEGRITY. is in... more » Saint Paul's writings and conduct, such a warmth and openness ; so much frankness and candour ; such an unreserved pouring out of his very soul; such a free disclosure of his feelings, as well as of his opinions ; such an elevation, mingled with such a soberness of thinking ; so much social kindness, with so much Divine love ; so much practical activity, with such deep spirituality ; so much human prudence, with so much of the wisdom which is from above ; so much tenderness for the per sonssons of men, with so little connivance at their faults; so much professional dignity, with so much personal humility, — as it would be difficult to find in any other human being. Yet in all these opposite excellencies, there is nothing that is not practicable, nothing that is not imitable. His religion, like his morality, has a peculiar sedate- ness. His ardent feelings betray him into no intemperance of speech, into no inequality of action. His piety is free from eccentricity, his faith from presumption. Uniformly we find a great reasonableness in his character ; and it adds to his value as an example, that he was, if we may be allowed so familiar an expression, eminently a man of business. His transactions, indeed, alwaystended to the same end with his devotions and his instructions j he was full of care, but it was the carecare of all the churches: each day was fully occupied, but it was that same " care" which came upon him, not only as a Sunday, but as a daily care. The perfection in which he possessed this quality, proves that his devotedness had in it nothing of abstraction. He exhibited no contempt of the common u...« less