s not
above his Master." They ought, therefore, to condescend to men of low
estate, and visit the abodes of poverty and want.

But instead of this, they stand aloof, even from the respectable,
because they are poor, and instead of visiting those, who indulge in
dissipation and vice, and trying to lead them to the paths of virtue
and peace, are heaping upon them the most opprobrious epithets. By
esteeming the rich and associating with them, they practice a course
of conduct, which has rooted the impression deep in every mind, that
to be esteemed, and to rank with them in the social circle, they must
be rich. This has driven many a virtuous man into crime, many into bad
company, and finally into discouragement and intoxication. This no one
can deny. What, we ask, is the reason, that there is so large a
proportion of the middle and lower class of society, compared with the
rich, who indulge in _crimes and intemperance_? Why is it when
misfortune falls upon the rich, that they, so often, resort to the
intoxicating draught? The mystery can only be unriddled in the
stubborn fact, that wealth, more than virtue, gives a man a reputation
in the world, and this destructive vice involves thousands in ruin.

If every man were assured that, be he _rich or poor_, he could
associate with those who are wealthy and respected, and move in the
higher ranks of life, if he only maintained his integrity, and that he
would be esteemed in proportion to his moral virtues and mental
acquirements, every man would be induced to merit a good name; and
their good opinion would operate as a constant check upon his conduct.
Every man, by early attention to his deportment, can become
respectable, but every man cannot become wealthy.

Did the rich esteem the poor, and admit them into their social circle
_solely_ on the ground of moral worth, there would be but little
danger of these poor ever forfeiting their standing, by plunging into
the floods of intemperance and crime. And did they reject from their
circle the rich, who were vicious until reformed--in fine, did they
only strip away from wealth its fancied charm, to make them either
respectable, or influential, did they confine it to its due limits, as
being only necessary to satisfy our animal wants, and did they with
one consent declare that an improved mind and virtuous worth should be
the only criterion by which men should take their stations in social
life, intemperance and crime would soon c