he were better than ourfelves; and this is thought both decent and neceffary, and is ufually called good manners. Now, the duty required by the apoftle is only, that we fhould enlarge our minds, and that what we thus practife in the common courfe of life, we should imitate in all our actions and proceedings whatsoever; fince our Saviour tells us that every man is our neighbour, and fince we are fo ready, in the point of civility, to yield to others in our own houses, where only we have any title to govern.

Having thus fhewn you, what fort of fubjection it is which all men owe one to another, and in what manner it ought to be paid, I fhall now draw fome obfervations from what hath been faid.

And, firft, A thorough practice of this duty of fubjecting ourselves to the wants and infirmities of each other, would utterly extinguish in us the vice of pride.

For if God has pleafed to intruft me with a talent, not for my own fake, but for the fervice of others, and at the fame time hath left me full of wants and neceffities, which others must fupply; I 'can then have no caufe to fet any extraordinary value upon myself, or to defpife my brother, because he hath not the fame talents which were lent to me. His being may probably be as useful to the public as mine; and therefore, by the rules of right reafon, I am in no fort preferable to him.

Secondly, It is very manifeft from what has been faid, that no man ought to look upon the advantages of life, fuch as riches, honour, power, and the like, as his property, but merely as a truft which God hath depofited with him to be employed for the ufe of his brethren: and God will certainly punish the breach of that truft, though the laws of man will not, or rather indeed cannot; because the trust was conferred only by God, who has not left it to any power on earth to decide infallibly,

whether

whether a man makes a good use of his talents or no, or to punish him where he fails. And therefore God feems to have more particularly taken this matter into his own hands, and will moft cer• tainly reward or punish us in proportion to our good or ill performance in it. Now, although the advantages which one man poffeffeth more than another, may in fome fenfe be called his property with refpect to other men; yet with refpect to God, they are, as I faid, only a truft; which will plainly appear from hence: if a man does not use thofe advantages to the good of the public, or the benefit of his neighbour, it is certain, he doth not deferve them, and confequently that God never intended them for a bleffing to him; and, on the o. ther fide, whoever does employ his talents as he ought, will find by his own experience, that they were chiefly lent him for the fervice of others; for to the fervice of others he will certainly employ them.

Thirdly, If we could all be brought to practife this duty of fubjecting ourfelves to each other, it would very much contribute to the general happinefs of mankind. For this would root out envy and malice from the heart of man; because you cannot envy your neighbour's ftrength, if he make ufe of it to defend your life, or carry your burden; you cannot envy his wisdom, if he gives you good counfel; nor his riches, if he fupplies you in your wants; nor his greatnefs, if he employs it to your protection. The miseries of life are not properly owing to the unequal diftribution of things; but God almighty, the great King of heaven, is treated like the kings of the earth, who, although perhaps intending well themfelves, have often moft abominable minifters and stewards; and those generally the vileft, to whom they intruft the moft talents. But here is the difference, that the princes of this world fee by other mens eyes, but God fees all things

and

and therefore whenever he permits his bleffings to be dealt among thofe who are unworthy, we may certainly conclude, that he intends them only as a punishment to an evil world, as well as to the owners. It were well, if thofe would confider this, whofe riches ferve them only as a fpur to avarice, or as an inftrument to their lufts; whofe wifdom is only of this world, to put falfe colours upon things, to call good evil, and evil good, against the conviction of their own confciences; and, laftly, who employ their power and favour in acts of oppreffion or injustice, in mifreprefenting perfons and things, or in countenancing the wicked to the ruin of the innocent.

Fourthly, The practice of this duty of being fub ject to one another, would make us reft contented in the feveral stations of life wherein God hath thought fit to place us; because it would, in the beft and easiest manner, bring us back as it were to that early state of the gofpel, when Chriftians had all things in common. For if the poor found the rich difpofed to fupply their wants; if the ignorant found the wife ready to inftruct and direct them; or if the weak might always find protection from the mighty; they could none of them, with the leaft prétence of justice, lament their own condi

tion.

From all that hath been hitherto faid, it appears; that great abilities of any fort, when they are employed as God directs, do but make the owners of them greater and more painful fervants to their neighbour, and the public. However, we are by no means to conclude from hence, that they are not really bleffings, when they are in the hands of good men. For, firft, what can be a greater honour, than to be chosen one of the stewards and difpenfers of God's bounty to mankind? What is there that can give a generous fpirit more pleafure and complacency of mind, than to confider, that

he

he is an inftrument of doing much good? that great numbers owe to him, under God, their fubsistence, their fafety, their health, and the good conduct of their lives? The wickedeft man upon earth takes a pleafure in doing good to thofe he loves; and therefore, furely, a good Chriftian, who obeys eur Saviour's command of loving all men, cannot but take delight in doing good even to his enemies. God, who gives all things to all men, can receive nothing from any; and thofe among men who do the most good, and receive the feweft returns, do most resemble their Creator; for which reafon St. Paul delivers it as a faying of our Saviour, that it is more bleffed to give than to receive. By this rule, what must become of thofe things which the world values as the greatest bleflings, riches, power, and the like, when our Saviour plainly determines, that the best way to make them bleffings, is to part with them? Therefore although the advantages which one man hath over another, may be called bleffings, yet they are by no means fo in the fenfe the word ufually understands. Thus, for example, great riches are no bleffing in themselves; because the poor man, with the common neceffaries of life, enjoys more health, and has fewer cares, without them. How then do they become bleffings? No otherwife, than by being employed in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, rewarding worthy men, and, in fhort, doing acts of charity and generofity. Thus, likewife, power is no bleffing in itfelf, because private men bear lefs envy, and trouble, and anguish, without it. But, when it is employed to protect the innocent, to relieve the oppreffed, and to punish the oppreffor, then it becomes a great bleffing. And fo, lastly, even great wisdom is, in the opinion of Solomon, not a bleffing in itself: for in much wisdom is much forrow; and men of common understandings, if they ferve God, and mind their callings, make fewer miftakes

in the conduct of life, than those who have better heads. And yet wisdom is a mighty bleffing, when it is applied to good purposes, to inftruct the ignorant, to be a faithful counsellor either in public or private, to be a director to youth, and to many other ends needlefs here to mention.

To conclude: God fent us into the world to obey his commands, by doing as much good as our abilities will reach, and as little evil as our many infirmities will permit. Some he hath only trusted with one talent, fome with five, and fome with ten. No man is without his talent; and he that is faithful or negligent in a little, fhall be rewarded or punished, as well as he that hath been fo in a great deal.

Confider what hath been faid, &c.

This fermon is upon mutual fubjection, and that duty which is owing from one man to another. A clearer ftyle, or a difcourfe more properly adapted to a public audience, can fcarce be framed. Every paragraph is fimple, nervous, and intelligible. The threads of each argument are clofely connected, and logically purfued. But in places where the Dean has the leaft opportunity to introduce political maxims, or to dart an arrow at the conduct of princes, he never fails to indulge himself in his ufual manner of thinking; as will appear from the following quotations "A wife man," fays Dr. Swift, "who does not affift with his counfels, a great man with his pro"tection, a rich man with his bounty and charity, and a poor man "with his labour, are perfect nuifances in a commonwealth. Nei"ther is any condition of life more honourable in the fight of God "than another; otherwife he would be a refpecter of perfons, which "he aflures us he is not: for he hath propofed the fame falvation 66 to all men, and hath only placed them in different ways or stations "to work it out. Princes are born with no more advantages of "ftrength or wisdom than other men; and, by an unhappy education, are usually more defective in both, than thousands of their fubje&s,” p. 16. Again, in the fame strain, "The best prince "is, in the opinion of wife men, only the greatest servant of the na"tion; not only a fervant to the public in general, but in fom fort "to every man in it," p. 18. But the moft extraordinary paffage is a covert ftroke at the highest order of his brethren the clergy. It runs thus. "The miseries of life are not properly owing to the un"equal diftribution of things; hut God almighty, the great King. "of heaven, is treated like the kings of the earth; who, although

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perhaps