DISC. or exportation abroad; could they be ma nufactured from first to last; could they be brought, and lodged in the warehouses of the merchant; could such warehouses be built, and fitted to receive them? Mankind, in short, constitute one vast body, to the support of which every member contributes his share; and by all of them together, as by so many greater and lesser wheels in a machine, the business of the public is carried on, it's neceffities are served, and it's very existence is upholden. And in this body we may truly say, that the lowest and least honourable members are as necessary as any others; indeed, they have in one sense a more abundant honour; for though the head be, without all doubt, a more noble part than either the feet or the hands, yet what would foon be the fate of the best head in the world, if these it's servants should cease to minister to it? The rich therefore cannot live alone, without the poor; and they never fupport the poor, but the poor have first supported them. XII. them. And should they be permitted to DISC. perith, by whom we all live? Forbid it prudence and gratitude, as well as philosophy and religion. 1 J From hence it appears, that the inequality of mankind is not the effect of chance, but the ordinance of Heaven, by whose appointment, as manifested in the constitution of the universe, some must command, while others obey; some must labour, while others direct their labours; some must be rich, while others are poor. The Scripture inculcates the same important truth, and the inference to be deduced from it" The poor shall never cease out " of the land: therefore I command thee, " saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide " unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to "thy needy in thy land." Such is the method directed by Heaven of balancing the account between the different orders of men. Any other scheme of equality would destroy itself, as foon as formed. : b Deut. xv. II. And XII. DISC. And politicians should be extremely cautious how they propagate principles tending to render the fubordinate ranks in society discontented with their condition, and defirous of aspiring to one for which they were never designed by Providence, of whose arrangements in the moral, we may say, as the Pfalmist does of those in the natural world, " In wisdom haft thou made "them all!"" The foregoing confideration will suggest another to the mind of every one, whose meditations are turned towards the subject. For since there is, and, to answer the purposes of society, there must be, such inequality among men, it is but natural to ask the man, who finds himself in a fituation preferable to that of his neighbour, and yet refuses to have compassion upon him in his distress-How came your lot to be cast in so fair a ground? You might have been destitute of health and strength, of food and raiment, of instruction and knowlege. Who caused you thus to differ from XII. from your poor brother? His capacity, DISC. perhaps, with due cultivation, might have evinced itself not a whit inferior to your own; his morals may be purer than yours; and had he been poffefsed of your wealth, he might have made a better use of it than you do. It is not your merit, or his deme. rit, which occafions the difference between you. It has been permitted, that the work of God may be manifested in you both; that he from his poverty may learn patience and refignation, and you be taught charity, and the right employment of the good things vouchsafed you. He was not fuffered to fall into this condition, that you should overlook and despise, but that you should confider and comfort him. You have an advantage over him, without doubt-and your Saviour has informed you, wherein it consists" It is more blessed to give, than " to receive." Secure this blessing, and the end of your being made to differ is an fwered. It might have pleased God that you DISC. Should have been poor-But this is not all XII. It may please him, that you shall be so: and hard would you esteem it, in such a cafe, not then to experience the benevolence you are now invited to display. It is God's high prerogative to exalt, and to abafe: he putteth down one, and fetteth up another. The history of the world is but a com ment on this text. Empires, whose stamina seemed to have been composed of iron and brafs, are seen to decay and perish; while others, little thought of, arife from the dust, and flourish in their places. That the fame thing happens respecting families and individuals, the chronicles of the times contain abundant evidence; and instances will occur to your minds of revolutions in this way sudden and decisive as that mentioned by the Pfalmist in another-" In the morning " it is green, and groweth up; but in the " evening it is cut down, dried up, and "withered!" To these rapid changes citizens of commercial states are more liable than others. A fleet puts to sea, laden with the precious commodities of the east or |