should see: all men cannot perform high and eminent services to the public: but if every man keeps his own place and rank in quietness, he performs the duty enjoined in the text. And let not him that can do much, despise him that can do little; for mean as the offices of some men may appear, their help can as ill be spared, as that of the lower and weaker members in the body. The providence of God hath tempered the world together with so much wisdom, that we are all necessary to one another: and supposing we were not so, there is no member of society so insignificant as to be incapable of doing mischief, and disturbing the peace of others. of others. Every man can do what vermin and creeping things, and insects are able to do; that is, every man, if he sets about it, can make himself hateful and troublesome to other people.

They who are placed in a lower station, should therefore submit to the offices which Providence requires of them; and if they cannot do any great good, they should at least be careful to do no harm. But they whose character in life gives them any influence over others, are bound to study the peace of society in a more particular manner. It is frequently in their power to moderate the unhappy differences of contending brethren, or to sow the seeds of hatred, and to foment strife, till it spreads into a wide and destructive flame.

God, who is the common father of us all, hath given us many precepts, which ought to lead us to peace and unity amongst ourselves. The reasons upon which they are grounded, are such as these; that a contentious disposition is not only sinful in itself but is the occasion of a multitude of sins. Who, that has any knowledge of the world, does not see

what strange opinions are kept up, what perverse actions are defended, and applauded, only for the purpose of supporting an opposition, when it hath been once begun. Where envying and strife is, saith the Apostle, there is confusion, and every evil work. So that contention is a sort of mother-sin, which brings forth many others, and some of them such as the contending parties never thought of in the beginning of a dispute. Such is the obligation which arises from the consideration of our own nature: if we consider the nature of God, we are told, that he is the God of peace; that his Holy Spirit is the spirit of peace; that his kingdom is a kingdom of peace; and that they who hope to be members of it in heaven, where there will be nothing but peace, must first endeavour to agree together upon earth.

We have strange passions to contend with; and unless we set a strict watch over them, their natural tendency is to destroy us and disturb the world. Experience would teach us, if the bible did not, that the seeds of strife are in all the children of Adam; and that if they are left to themselves, they will as certainly grow up into disorder and confusion, as thorns and thistles will spring from their own proper seeds. It is chiefly on this account, that the world is so miserable a place as we find it to be. The inhabitants of it, blinded by ignorance, and agitated by every turbulent passion, are like a fleet of ships upon a rough sea in a dark night, which are in continual danger of running foul of each other: and as no vessel can give a shock to another without receiving some injury to herself, so cannot any one man hurt another without diminishing his own peace and comfort at the same time.

Peace is so necessary to private happiness, that

without it there can be no proper enjoyment of life: therefore, let us now proceed to enquire, how so great a blessing may be promoted amongst us.

He who revolves this subject in his mind, will soon discover, that the passion which propagates the greatest misery in this world, is no other than pride. Let pride be out of the question, and the world will soon be quiet; as the waves of the sea settle into a calm when the wind has done blowing. How is a man to stop the workings of his own pride, but by thinking meanly of himself, and being contented with his own station? Why do we quarrel with others, but because we give ourselves the preference, and wish to be set above them? So weak and silly is this vain passion of self-esteem, that two families have frequently been divided for life, only because they could not agree, which of the two ought to walk into a room before the other. Peace can be the effect only of a meek and humble spirit. A proper opinion of ourselves will prevent all those murmurings and complainings, which are apt to arise in our hearts, when we see others preferred before us, either in the dispensations of divine Providence, or the favour of the world. In such a case we shall be ready to confess, either that they owe more to their own industry than we do, or that they deserve better for their abilities, or, if neither of these, that the Providence of God hath some ends to serve by their advancement, into which, though we cannot penetrate at present, we may take it for granted they are the best and the wisest, and that they will appear so to us, when God shall be pleased to lay open before us his own secret ways and counsels.

If any man is tempted to repine at his own lot, let him consider, that it is absolutely necessary there

VOL. III.

Bb

should be a subordination of ranks in the world, each subservient to the other. All the members in a natural body cannot have the same place and the same office, some being appointed, as the apostle reminds us, to honour, and some to dishonour. The same God who hath disposed the limbs of the natural body in such an admirable order, hath given to men their proper stations in society, without error and without partiality. None ought to complain, that God hath set them no higher, but to be thankful that he hath not placed them still lower. The poorest reptile or insect in nature hath life and being; is wonderfully made, and as wonderfully supported: which is much more than it could demand from its Creator by any natural right so the lowest state of life among mankind hath many blessings and privileges, for which a tribute of thanks is due to the bountiful Author of them. Many comforts are to be enjoyed by a thankful mind in the lowest station. The temperate and healthy inhabitant of the cottage is free from those distempers, which are brought upon the rich and honourable by luxury and indolence, and is unacquainted with the ridiculous cares and mortifications, which people of a higher rank are too apt to bring upon themselves by the boundless cravings of artificial appetites. To this consideration, a much higher may be added, which is this, that God hath given to the meanest of his servants an opportunity of obtaining and enjoying all the blessings of a better life: if he has withheld from them the riches and honours of this world, he has given to the poorest beggar, if a Christian, the privilege of claiming a crown of glory, and all the riches of immortality. There is a time drawing near, when we shall all be upon a level; the prospect of which is sufficient to raise the expectations of the

poor, and bring down the high looks of the proud. Those differences and distinctions amongst men, about which there is such a mighty bustle upon the stage of this present life, are but as shadows and dreams, which shall vanish away when the morning appeareth and that they may not raise any disturbances amongst us, God hath found a way of bringing them to nothing already, in the judgment of every true disciple of Jesus Christ; whose gospel is intended to pull down this world in the heart, with all its vain distinctions, and to set up, in the place of these empty shadows, the great realities of the world to come. The gospel teaches Christians to consider themselves as members of Christ's body, and citizens of heaven. In this respect, they are all upon an equal footing: the rich has nothing to boast of; the poor hath nothing to complain of. St. James therefore makes the following proclamation to small and great-Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted; but the rich in that he is made low; because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. The poor has no reason to complain any longer of his poverty, if God has made him rich in faith, and brought him into that society, every member of which is heir to a crown: and the rich has no reason to boast of that honour, which will set him never the higher in the kingdom of heaven; which is now but dross in the sight of God, and will soon be dust in the sight of men.

If these considerations were in force among Christians, there would be but little fighting and striving about the distinctions of this world. The doctrine of Christ and his Apostles would as certainly promote peace on earth, as it brings Glory to God in the highest heavens. If men did but permit the Gospel to