6. “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?” It is such an honor to be kind and to doe good to others, that a great part of mankind value themselves very much upon the mere pretense of it; every one of them boasting what he hath done, or will doe upon occassion: though, alas! in a time of trial, it is very hard to find so much as one of them, that will be as good as his word.
7. “The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.” But whosoever he be, that is indued with this rare vertue of being just to his word; and so sincerely charitable, that he persevereth in his vertue to the end of his days; he shall not onely fare the better for it, while he lives; but his children after him shall reap the happy fruits, of his unfeigned love to God and man.
9. “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” There is no man so perfect, that he hath nothing left to doe; for who can say, and say truly, that he hath not the least evil affection remaining in him, no unruly passion stirring in his soul? Or that he is so free from every sin, that he needs no further purifying?
24. “Man’s goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?” There is no man great or small, that can take one step towards anything he designs, without the permission and direction also of the Lord: who over rules their motions unto ends so far distant from men’s thoughts, that it is impossible for them to know what the event shall be, of anything they undertake.
S. Patrick (1683)