than he can conceive, and meditates only upon the word of the Almighty.  His senses are the tirers of his spirit, while in the course of nature his soul can find no rest.  He shakes off the rags of sin, and is clothed with the robe of virtue.  He puts off Adam, and puts on Christ.  His heart is the anvil of truth, where the brain of his wisdom beats the thoughts of his mind till they be fit for the service of his Maker.  His labour is the travail of love, by the rule of grace to find the highway to heaven.  His fear is greater than his love of the world, and his love is greater than his fear of God.  In sum, he is in the election of love, in the books of life, an angel incarnate and a blessed creature.

A REPROBATE.

A reprobate is the child of sin who, being born for the service of the devil, cares not what villainy he does in the world.  His wit is always in a maze, for his courses are ever out of order; and while his will stands for his wisdom, the best that falls out of him is a fool.  He betrays the trust of the simple, and sucks out the blood of the innocent.  His breath is the fume of blasphemy, and his tongue the firebrand of hell His desires are the destruction of the virtuous, and his delights are the traps to damnation.  He bathes in the blood of murder, and sups up the broth of iniquity.  He frighteth the eyes of the godly, and disturbeth the hearts of the religious.  He marreth the wits of the wise, and is hateful to the souls of the gracious.  In sum, he is an inhuman creature, a fearful companion, a man-monster, and a devil incarnate.

AN OLD MAN.

An old man is the declaration of time in the defect of Nature, and the imperfection of sense in the use of reason.  He is in the observation of Time, a calendar of experience; but in the power of action, he is a blank among lots.  He is the subject of weakness, the agent of sickness, the displeasure of life, and the forerunner of death.  He is twice a child and half a man, a living picture, and a dying creature.  He is a blown bladder that is only stuffed with wind, and a withered tree that hath lost the sap of the root, or an old lute with strings all broken, or a ruined castle that is ready to fall.  He is the eyesore of youth and the jest of love, and in the fulness of infirmity the mirror of misery.  Yet in the honour of wisdom he may be gracious in gravity, and in the government of justice deserve the honour of reverence.  Yea, his word may be notes for the use of reason, and his actions examples for the imitation of discretion.  In sum, in whatsoever estate he is but as the snuff of a candle, that pink it ever so long it will out at last.

A YOUNG MAN.