When I was a boy, I was conversing with a holy man about manhood, who replied that the greatest proof of being arrived at a state of maturity, was one’s being more intent on the means of pleasing the almighty than how to gratify the passions; and he added, that whosoever possesses not this disposition, the profoundly learned do not consider in a state of puberty.
A drop of water, after remaining forty days in the womb, obtained the human form; but if a person forty years of age hath not understanding and good manners, of a truth he ought not to be called a man. manhood is composed of liberality and benevolence; do not imagine that it consists merely in the material form; virtue also is requisite; for a human figure may be painted on the gate of the palace, with vermilion and verdigris.
When a man hath not virtue and benevolence, what is the difference between him and the figure on the wall? It is not wisdom to acquire worldly wealth, but to gain on single heart.
