108 A Perfect Gentleman.

man in a high degree the earnest desire to
merit the Perfect Gentleman’s epitaph :

 

‘So blooms the white-flower of a blameless life.
* * * * *

Already in thy spirit thus divine,

Whatever weal or woe betide,

Be that high sense of duty still thy guide,

And all good powers will aid a soul like thine.”

You may think that I am writing too
much about practice and too little about
faith ; but I feel impelled to this, because
there are so many professors of religion who
do the most despicable things in the way of
trade and in daily life,—men whose actions
worldlings speak of as illustrative of the
Christian character, instead of regarding
them, as they really are, satires upon it.
I am anxious that our future Christian men
should also be first-class Christian. Gentle-
men, whose word shall be their bond, whose
lives shall be those of daily devotion to
Christ, and who by their practice shall
commend the faith they profess; so that
their influence shall tell with power upon
their fellow-creatures, because their

‘ Lives show forth Christ’s praise ; ”