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CHAPTER I
CONTAINING A SHORT ACCOUNT OF HIS ANCESTRY.
The real genuine worth of any one can be truly
estimated only by the amount of moral and religious
excellence which he actually possesses. Grace, —
in its benign influence upon the heart and life, in
the implantation and growth of dispositions and
habits that elevate the soul above the empty, evanescent things of time and sense, and prepare it for
the enjoyment of perfect blessedness hereafter —
sheds a glory over the path of a child of God, which
perfectly eclipses the feeble lustre of any adventitious, earthly distinction he may happen to have.
He may have, and deservedly, the reputation of
being an able jurist, an eloquent divine, a brave
and skilful captain, — or he may be allied, by birth,
to rank and fortune; but whatever his real or supposed merits in these respects, if it be known that
he walks humbly with God — that he is a sincere,
conscientious, zealous follower of Christ — This
constitutes the chief excellence of his character; in