Humility

1797

Framed writing sample / work of art by Rebecca Russell, dated 1797. "Humility" with a drawn and painted border - perhaps watercolor or gauche paint. "A rich man is no way happier than a poor man, but that he hat more opportunities ministered to him of doing more good than his neighbor. Humility is the grand virtue that leads to contentment, if rubs off the envy and malice of inferiors and equals, and makes us patiently bear the insults of superiors. Poverty has not always the nature of an affection or judgment but is rather merly (sic) a state of life appointed by providence for the proper trial and exercise of the virtuous of contentment, patience, and resignation; And for one mane to murmur against God because he possesses not those riches he sees given to another, " is the wrath that killeth the foolish man and the envy that slayeth the silly one." Surely if we did not lose our remembrance or at the least our sensibility, that view would always predominates our lives, which alone can afford us comfort when we die. A serious and contemplative mind sees god in every thing. Every object we behold, the food by which we are sustained, the raiment wherewith we are clothed, suggest thoughts of piety and gratitude, and if we attend to the silent voice of meditation, we shall "find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in the stones, and bood in every thing." Our principles only become pleasing and delightful, when by the influence of then we learn to calm and govern our passions; and are formed by them into such a temper, as renders us capable of cheerfully enjoying the blessings of the present world, and the higher happenings of a better. The most momentous concerns of a man, is the state he shall enter upon, after this short and transitory life is ended. Rebecca Russell 1797" 23 x 30.5"