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SERMON VII.

Vindication of Human Nature.

ROMANS XIV. 7.

For none of us liveth to himself.

THERE is not a sentence in fcripture, which ftrikes a narrow foul with greater astonishment;-and one might as easily engage to clear up the darkest problem in geometry to an ignorant mind, as make a fordid one comprehend the truth and reasonablenefs of this plain propofition-No man liveth to himfelf! Why? Does any man live to any thing else? -In the whole compass of human life, can a prudent man fteer to a safer point?—Not live to himself! -To whom then?. -Can any interests or concerns which are foreign to a man's felf have such a claim over him, that he muft ferve under them,-fufpend his own pursuits,-ftep out of his right courfe, till others have paffed by him, and attained the feveral ends and purposes of living before him?

If, with a selfish heart, fuch an inquirer should happen to have a speculating head too, he will proceed, and ask you, Whether this fame principle which the apostle here throws out of the life of man,

is not in fact the grand bias of his nature?- -That however we may flatter ourselves with fine-fpun notions of difinterestedness and heroifm in what we do; were the most popular of our actions ftripped naked, and the true motives and intentions of them fearched to the bottom; we should find little reafon for triumph upon that score.

In a word, he will fay, that a man is altogether a bubble to himself in this matter, and that after all that can be faid in his behalf, the truest definition that can be given of him is this, that he is a selfish animal; and that all his actions have fo ftrong a tincture of that character, as to fhow (to whomever elfe he was intended to live) that in fact he lives only to himself.

Before I reply directly to this accufation, I cannot help obferving by the way, that there is scarce any thing which has done more differvice to focial virtue, than the frequent representations of human nature under the hideous picture of deformity, which, by leaving out all that is generous and friendly in the heart of man, have funk him below the level of a brute, as if he was a compofition of all that was meanfpirited and felfish. Surely 'tis one ftep towards acting well, to think worthily of our nature; and as in common life the way to make a honest man, is to fuppofe him fo, and treat him as fuch;fo here, to fet fome value upon ourselves, enables us to fupport the character, and even inspires and adds fentiments of generofity and virtue to those which we have already preconceived. The fcripture tells, that GOD made man in his own image,- -not surely in

the fenfitive and corporeal part of him, that could bear no refemblance with a pure and infinite Spirit -but what resemblance he bore was undoubtedly in the moral rectitude, and the kind and benevolent af fections of his nature. And though the brightness of this image has been fullied greatly by the fall of man in our first parents, and the characters of it ́rendered still lefs legible by the many fuperinductions of his own depraved appetites fince,-yet 'tis a laudable pride and a true greatnefs of mind to cherish. a belief, that there is fo much of that glorious image ftill left upon it, as fhall restrain him from bafe and difgraceful actions; to answer which end, what thought can be more conducive than that of our being made in the likeness of the greatest and best of Beings this is a plain confequence. And the confideration of it should have in fome measure been a protection to human nature, from the rough usage fhe has met with from the fatirical pens of fo many of the French writers, as well as of our own country, who, with more wit than well meaning, have defperately fallen foul upon the whole fpecies, as a fet of creatures incapable either of private friendship or publick firit, but just as the cafe fuited their own interest and advantage.

That there is selfishness and meannefs enough in the fouls of one part of the world, to hurt the credit of the other part of it, is what I fhall not dispute againft; but to judge of the whole from this bad fample, and because one man is plotting and artful in his nature, or a fecond openly makes his pleasure or his profit the fole centre of all his designs, or be

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caufe a third ftrait-hearted wretch fits confined within himfelf -feels no misfortunes, but those which touch himself; to involve the whole race without mercy under fuch detefted characters, is a conclufion as falfe as it is pernicious; and was it in general to gain credit, could serve no end, but the rooting out of our nature all that is generous, and planting in the ftead of it fuch an averfion to each other, as must untie the bands of fociety, and rob us of one of the greatest pleasures of it, the mutual communication of kind offices; and by poisoning the fountain, rendering every thing suspected that flows from it.

To the honour of human nature, the fcripture teaches us, that God made man upright,-and though he has fince found out many inventions, which have much dishonoured this noble ftructure, yet the foundation of it stands as it was,-the whole frame and design of it carried on upon focial virtue and public spirit, and every member of us fo evidently fupported by this strong cement, that we may say with the apostle, that no man liveth to himself. In whatsoever light we view him, we fhall fee evidently, that there is no station or condition of this life,

no office or relation, or circumftance, but there arise. from it fo many ties, fo many indifpenfable claims upon him, as must perpetually carry him beyond any felfish confideration, and fhow plainly that was a man foolishly wicked enough to defign to live to himfelf alone, he would either find it impracticable, or he would lofe, at least, the very thing which made life itself defirable. We know that our Creator, like an all-wife contriver, in this, as in all other of his

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works has implanted in mankind fuch appetites and inclinations as were fuitable for their state; that is fuch as would naturally lead him to the love of fociety and friendship, without which he would have been found in a worse condition than the very beafts of the field. No one, therefore, who lives in fociety, can be faid to live to himself, he lives to his GOD, -to his king, and his 'country. He lives to his family, to his friends, to all under his truft, and, in a word, he lives to the whole race of mankind: whatfoever has the character of men, and wears the fame image of GOD, that he does, is truly his brother and has a juft claim to his kindness. That this is the cafe in fact, as well as in theory, may be made plain to any one who has made any obfervations upon human life.When we have traced it through all its connections-viewed it under the feveral obligations which fucceed each other in a perpetual rotation through the different ftages of a hafty pilgrimage, we shall find that thefe do operate fo ftrongly upon it, and lay us justly under fo many reftraints, that we are every hour facrificing fomething to fociety, in return for the benefits we receive from it.

To illuftrate this, let us take a fhort furvey of the life of any one man (not liable to great exceptions, but fuch a life as is common to moit); let us examine it merely to this point, and try how far it will answer such a representation.

If we begin with him in that early age wherein the strongest marks of undisguised tenderness and difinterested compaffion fhow themfelves-I might

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