Book excerpt: Honor, nobility, dignity and integrity seem more and more to be things from a bygone era. We find it harder and harder to trust a man's word anymore. It would not be difficult to paraphrase Solomon's proverb into this: "An upright man, who can find?"The Puritan Richard Steele deals with this problem in this never-before reprinted book. He addresses believers and unbelievers alike. The faithful Christian will find encouragement, strength and a road map to godliness; the backsliding believer will be able to see where to set his or her mark and the danger of delaying repentance; and finally, the unbeliever will notice the goodness, mercy and compassion of the Christian life, and may, by divine grace, be stirred to jealousy, to seek those things which are above."The consideration hereof, and also of the scarcity of sincere Christians compared to the plenty of hypocrites in the world, may make some tolerable apology for this small tract, which I most earnestly recommend, first to the blessing of the Lord and then to your diligent perusal. Read and think, and read and pray, and then through His grace it shall be useful to you." ~ Richard Steele