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should not aggravate the smallest circumstance against the criminal, nor conceal the smallest in his favour; and to crown all, though I have hinted it before, that the only cause or motive of his undertaking an office, so subject to censure, and so difficult to perform, should be the safety and service of his prince and country.

Under these conditions and limitations (but not otherwise) there is no manner of doubt, but a good man may lawfully and justly become a witness in behalf of the publick, and may perform that office (in its own nature not very desirable) with honour and integrity. For the command in the text is positive, as well as negative; that is to say, as we are directed not to bear false witness against our neighbour, so we are to bear true. Next to the word of God, and the advice of teachers, every man's conscience, strictly examined, will be his best director in this weighty point; and to that I shall leave him.

It might perhaps be thought proper to have added something by way of advice to those who are unhappily engaged in this abominable trade and sin of bearing false witness; but I am far from believing or supposing any of that destructive tribe are now my hearers. I look upon them as a sort of people that seldom frequent these holy places, where they can hardly pick up any materials to serve their turn, unless they think it worth their while to misrepresent or pervert the words of the preacher: And whoever is that way disposed, I doubt, cannot be in a very good condition to edify and reform himself by what he heareth. God in his mercy preserve us from all the guilt of this grievous sin forbidden in my text, and from the snares of those who are guilty of it.

I shall

I shall conclude with one or two precepts given by Moses from God to the children of Israel, in the xxiii" of Exod. 1, 2.

"Thou shalt not raise a false report: Put not thine "hand with the wicked, to be an unrighteous witness. "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil, "neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after "many, to wrest judgment."

Now to God the Father, &c.

Α

SERMON

ON

THE POOR MAN'S CONTENTMENT.

PHILIPPIANS, iv, 11.

I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to

be content.

THE holy Scripture is full of expressions to set forth the miserable condition of man during the whole progress of his life; his weakness, pride, and vanity; his unmeasurable desires, and perpetual disappointments; the prevalency of his passions, and the corruptions of his reason; his deluding hopes, and his real, as well as imaginary fears; his natural and artificial wants; his cares and anxieties; the diseases. of his body, and the diseases of his mind; the shortness of his life; his dread of a future state, with his carelessness to prepare for it and the wise men of all ages have made the same reflections.

But all these are general calamities, from which none are excepted; and being without remedy, it is vain to bewail them. The great question, long debated in the world, is, whether the rich or the poor are the least miserable of the two? It is certain that no rich man ever desired to be poor, and that most, VOL. X.

H

if

if not all poor men, desire to be rich; whence it may be argued, that in all appearance, the advantage lieth on the side of wealth, because both parties agree in preferring it before poverty. But this reasoning will be found to be false: for I lay it down as a certain truth, that God Almighty hath placed all men upon an equal foot, with respect to their happiness in this world, and the capacity of attaining their salvation in the next; or, at least, if there be any difference, it is not to the advantage of the rich and the mighty. Now, since a great part of those who usually make up our congregations, are not of considerable station, and many among them, of the lower sort, and since the meaner people are generally and justly charged with the sin of repining and murmuring at their own condition, to which, however, their betters are sufficiently subject (although, perhaps, for shame, not always so loud in their complaints) I thought it might be useful to reason upon this point in as plain a manner as I can. I shall therefore show, first, that the poor enjoy many temporal blessings, which are not common to the rich and the great: and likewise, that the rich and the great are subject to many temporal evils, which are not common to the poor.

But here I would not be misunderstood; perhaps, there is not a word more abused than that of the poor, or wherein the world is more generally mistaken." Among the number of those who beg in our streets, or are half-starved at home, or languish in prison for debt, there is hardly one in a hundred, who doth not owe his misfortunes to his own laziness, or drunkenness, or worse vices.

Το

To these he owes those very diseases, which often disable him from getting his bread. Such wretches are deservedly unhappy; they can only blame themselves; and when we are commanded to have pity on the poor, these are not understood to be of the number.

It is true indeed, that sometimes honest, endeavouring men, are reduced to extreme want, even to the begging of alms, by losses, by accidents, by diseases, and old age, without any fault of their own: but these are very few, in comparison of the other; nor would their support be any sensible burden to the publick, if the charity of well-disposed persons were not intercepted by those common strollers, who are most importunate, and who least deserve it. These, indeed, are properly and justly called the poor, whom it should be our study to find out and distinguish, by making them partake of our superfluity and abundance.

But neither have these any thing to do with my present subject: for, by the poor, I only intend the honest, industrious artificer, the meaner sort of tradesmen, and the labouring man, who getteth his bread by the sweat of his brows, in town or country, and who make the bulk of mankind among us.

First, I shall therefore show, that the poor (in the sense I understand the word) do enjoy many temporal blessings, which are not common to the rich and great; and likewise, that the rich and great are subject to many temporal evils, which are not common to the poor.

Secondly, From the arguments offered to prove the foregoing head, I shall draw some observations that may be useful for your practice.

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