juries of any man can we ground a total difpenfation from SERM. the offices of humanity, especially if the injuries be not XXX. irreparable, nor the faults incurable. 2. We are indifpenfably obliged to thefe duties, because the best of our natural inclinations prompt us to the performance of them; especially those of pity and benignity, which are manifeftly difcernible in all, but most powerful and vigorous in the best natures; and which, queftionless, by the moft wife and good Author of our beings were implanted therein both as monitors to direct, and as fpurs to incite us to the performance of our duty. For the fame bowels, that, in our want of necessary sustenance, do by a lively sense of pain inform us thereof, and inftigate us to provide against it, do in like manner grievously refent the diftreffes of another, and thereby admonish us of our duty, and provoke us to relieve them. Even the ftories of calamities, that in ages long fince past have happened to perfons nowife related to us, yea, the fabulous reports of tragical events, do (even against the bent of our wills, and all refiftance of reafon) melt our hearts with compaffion, and draw tears from our eyes; and thereby evidently fignify that general fympathy which naturally intercedes between all men, fince we can neither-hæc noffee, nor hear of, nor imagine another's grief, without being timafenfus, afflicted ourselves. Antipathies may be natural to wild-mutuus beafts; but to rational creatures they are wholly unnatural. fectus And on the other fide, as nature to eating and drinking, tere auxiliand fuch acts requifite to the preservation of our life, hath ftare jubeadjoined a fenfible pleasure and fatisfaction, enticing us ret. Juven to, and encouraging us in the performance of them; fo, and doubtless to the fame end, hath she made relieving the neceffities of others, and doing good offices to them, to be accompanied with a very contentful and delicious relish to the mind of the doer. Epicurus, that great master of pleasure, did himself confefs, that to bestow benefits was not only more brave, but more pleasant, than to receive them; ('Erixoupos, faith Plutarch, Toũ sù táo • De Philof. conviu cum Princip. Evqgaíve rò vigyszûr. M. Ant. VOL. II. tri pars op ut nos af um, et præ Sat. 15. SERM. χειν, τὸ εὖ ποιεῖν, ὦ μόνον κάλλιον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἥδιον εἶναι φησί.) XXX. And, certainly, no kind of actions a man can perform are attended with a more pure, more perfect, more favoury delight, than those of beneficence are. Since nature therefore hath made our neighbour's mifery our pain, and his content our pleasure; fince with indiffoluble bands of mutual fympathy fhe hath concatenated our fortunes and affections together; fince by the difcipline of our fense she inftructs us, and by the importunity thereof solicits us to the observance of our duty, let us follow her wife directions, and confpire with her kindly motions; let us not ftifle or weaken by difufe, or contrary practice, but by conformable action cherish and confirm the good inclinations of nature. 3. We are obliged to these duties upon account of common equity. We have all (the moft four and ftoical of us all) implanted in us a natural ambition, and a defire (which we can by no means eradicate) of being beloved and respected by all; and are disposed in our need to demand affiftance, commiferation of our misfortunes, and relief in our distress of all that are in capacity to afford them; and are apt to be vehemently displeased, to think ourfelves hardly dealt with, and to complain of cruelty and inhumanity in those that refuse them to us: and therefore in all reafon and equity we should readily pay the fame love, refpect, aid, and comfort to others, which we expect from others; for, Beneficium qui dare nefcit, injuste petit; nothing is more unreasonable, or unequal, than to require from others thofe good turns, which upon like occafion we are unwilling to render to others. 4. We are obliged to thefe duties of humanity, upon account of common intereft, benefit, and advantage. The welfare and safety, the honour and reputation, the pleafure and quiet of our lives are concerned in our maintaining a loving correfpondence with all men. For fo uncertain is our condition, fo obnoxious are we to manifold neceffities, that there is no man whofe good-will we may not need, whose good word may not stand us in stead, whofe helpful endeavour may not fometime oblige us. SERM. The great Pompey, the glorious triumpher over nations, XXX. and admired darling of fortune, was beholden at last to a flave for the compofing his afhes, and celebrating his funeral obfequies. The honour of the greatest men depends on the estimation of the leaft; and the good-will of the meanest peasant is a brighter ornament to the fortune, a greater acceffion to the grandeur of a prince, than the most radiant gem in his royal diadem. However the spite and enmity of one (and him the most weak otherwife and contemptible) perfon may happen to fpoil the content of our whole life, and deprive us of the most comfortable enjoyments thereof; may divert our thoughts from our delightful employments to a folicitous care of felfpreservation and defence; may discompose our minds with vexatious paffions; may by falfe reports, odious fuggeftions, and flanderous defamations blaft our credit, raise a storm of general hatred, and conjure up thoufands of enemies. against us; may by infidious practices fupplant and undermine us, prejudice our welfare, endanger our estate, and involve us in a bottomless gulph of trouble: it is but reasonable therefore, if we defire to live fecurely, comfortably, and quietly, that by all honeft means we should endeavour to purchase the good-will of all men, and provoke no man's enmity needlessly; fince any man's love may be useful, and every man's hatred is dangerous. 5. We are obliged to thefe duties by a tacit compact and fundamental conftitution of mankind, in pursuance of those principal defigns, for which men were incorporated, and are still contained in civil fociety. For to this purpofe do men congregate, cohabit, and combine themselves in fociable communion, that thereby they may enjoy a delightful conversation, void of fear, free from fufpicion, and free from danger; promote mutual advantage and fatisfaction; be helpful and beneficial each to other: abftracting from which commodities, the retirements of a cloister, or the folitudes of a defert, the life of a recluse, or of a wild beaft, would perhaps be more defirable than thefe of gregarious converfe: for as men, being pleased SERM. and well-affected to each other, are the most obliging XXX. friends, and pleasant companions; fo being enraged, they are the most mischievous and dangerous neighbours, the moft fierce and savage enemies. By neglecting, therefore, or contravening these duties of humanity, we frustrate the main ends of fociety, difappoint the expectations of each other, fubvert the grounds of ordinary civility, and in the commonwealth deal as unpolitickly, as the members in the body should act unnaturally, in fubtracting mutual affiftance, or harming each other; as if the eye fhould deny to the hands the direction of fight, and the hands in revenge fhould pluck out the eyes. 1, 2. 6. We are by observing these rules to oblige and render men well-affected to us, because being upon fuch terms with men conduceth to our living (not only delightfully and quietly, but) honeftly and religiously in this world. How peace and edification, fpiritual comfort and temporal quiet do concur and cooperate, we fee intimated Acts ix. 31. Then had the churches peace throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and were edified: and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghoft, were multiplied. St. Paul advifed the Chriftians of 1 Tim. ii. his time, liable to perfecution, to make prayers for all men, (and especially for thofe in eminent power,) that they might lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honefty; to pray for them, that is, to pray that they might be so difpofed, as not to moleft, interrupt, or difcourage them in the exercise of virtue, and practice of piety. For these by a tranquillity of mind, a sedateness of affections, a competency of reft, and leifure, and retirement, a freedom from amazing fear, distracting care, and painful sense, are greatly advanced; of which advantages by contentious broils and enmities we are deprived, and encumbered with the contrary impediments. They breed thorny anxieties, and by them choke the feeds of good intention: they raise dusky fumes of melancholy, by them intercepting the beams of spiritual light, and ftifling the flames of Η "Ηρεμον καὶ ἡσύχιον βίον, a retired and quiet life. devout affection. By them our thoughts are affixed upon SERM. the basest, and taken off from the most excellent objects; XXX. our fancies are difordered by turbulent animofities; our time is spent, and our endeavour taken up in the most ungrateful and unprofitable employments, of defeating the attempts, resisting the affaults, difproving the calumnies, countermining the plots of adverfaries; they bring us upon the stage against our will, and make us act parts in tragedies, neither becoming, nor delighting us. They disturb often our natural reft, and hinder us in the dispatch of our ordinary business; and much more impede the fteadiness of our devotion, and obftruct the course of religious practice. They tempt us alfo to omiffions of our duty, to unfeemly behaviour, and to the commiffions of grievous fin; to harsh cenfure, envious detraction, unwarrantable revenge, repining at the good fucceffes, and delighting in the misfortunes of others. Many examples occur in history, like those of Hanno the Carthaginian, and Quint. Metellus, (Pompey's antagonist,) who, in pursuance of some private grudges, have not only betrayed their own interefts, and fullied their own reputations; but notably differved and damnified the public weal of their country and fo will our being engaged in enmity with men caufe us to neglect, if not to contradict, our dearest concernments; whence we should carefully avoid the occafions thereof, and by an innocent and beneficent converfation oblige men to a friendly correfpondence with us. 7. We are obliged to perform thefe duties of humanity, because by fo doing we become more capable of promoting goodness in others, and fo fulfilling the highest duties of Christian charity; of successfully advifing and admonishing others; of inftructing their ignorance, and convincing their mistakes; of removing their prejudices, and fatisfying their fcruples; of reclaiming them from vice, error, faction; and reconciling them to virtue, truth, and peace. For by no force of reason, or ftratagem of wit, are men fo eafily fubdued, by no bait fo throughly alJured and caught, as by real courtesy, gentleness, and affa |