cious ointment*." to his reputation. As he holds wifdom, integrity, and piety, in the highest efteem, and actually does in his measure poffefs them, fo it would be affected humility, and putting an unnatural force upon himself, to decline all paffion for that refpect to which he stands entitled among his fellow creatures. No virtuous man can be indifferent You will fay, then, what is the true character of that private or felfifh fpirit which the apoftle condemns? or when may a man be faid fo to look on his own things as to merit the cenfure implied in our text? To this it is replied,-He is of a private felfish fpirit who confults his outward ease, emolument, and honour, to the injury of his own best interests, and to the prejudice of the real interests of other men. Thefe oppofite interefts do often come into competition, and fo give occafion for a conduct which indelibly marks the characters of men as selfish or benevolent. There is a criminal fenfe in which men may be faid, in regard of themfelves, and without any reference to others, to seek their own things. Man is a complex being. He confists of foul and body; and the former is of far greater value than the latter. He therefore who pays fuch an attention to his bodily health, eafe, and pleasure, as to be thereby precluded from thofe reftraints on his animal appetites, and from those means of religion, which have a direct tendency to promote the welfare and happiness of his foul; is chargeable with felf love, and is guilty of the great fin and folly of facrificing his fuperior to his inferior intereft. He looks on his own things, pampers * Ecclef. vii. 1. pampers his body to the deftruction of his foul. The fame may be faid of him who makes the profits, or the honours of the world his grand object, to the neglect, if not contempt, of heavenly riches, and an intereft in the favour of that great Being who made him. But we are here principally concerned with the purfaits of mankind in the aspect they bear towards others. He certainly is of a private selfish spirit, who will not forgo his temporal emolument for the falvation of his neighbour's foul. If God has given me talents for public inftruction, and I will not be at the pains to meditate, read, ftudy, preach, and exhort, but on the contrary fpend my time in indolence and felf-gratification, 1 feek my own things to the injury of others. So if God has given me wealth, and I will apply none of it to the purpose of affifting others in their labours for the fpiritual good of mankind, but, on the contrary, avaritiously hoard up my gains, or fquander them away on my pleafures; I am guilty of the fame crime. The like may be faid allo of that unmanly, not to fay unchriftian, dread of the cenfure of a vain world, which holds too many back from efforts of the moft generous kind for the falvation of their fellow creatures. In fhort, it is a bafe and felfish temper to the laft degree to prefer any worldly advantage whatever to the refined pleasure of being the inftrument of faving an immortal foul. Again, A felfish fpirit is further to be confidered in its reference to the temporal interefts of others. The most fhocking expreffion of it, is that of accumulating the enjoyments of this life to ourselves, at the expence of the happiness, yea even the lives of thofe around us. Innumerable wretched inftances of this fort difgrace the the faithful pages of history, and daily afflict the eye of humanity. What are the frauds practifed in commerce, the contentions that prevail in focieties, and the horrible ravages of war, but the effects of this miferable temper? Many, however, there are who dare not proceed to thefe lengths; yet their own interest they pursue to the neglect of that of others. Although, in their eager chace after riches, honours, and pleasures, they leap not over the mounds of ftrict right and equity; yet they allow themfelves little time to contemplate the miseries of their fellow-creatures, and to stretch forth the hand of benevolence to their af fiftance. Nor does the character cenfured in our text belong to thefe only. They too are of a private felfifh fpirit, who will not, at least in fome inftances, give up their own rights, and forego fome advantages they might lawfully claim, in order to contribute to the happiness of others. If a man has no generofity in his temper, though he is not, strictly speaking, unjuft or inhuman, he fails in his duty as a man, and finks infinitely beneath the denomination of a Chriftian, who glories in the character of being a man of a benevolent fpirit.—And this leads us, II. To explain and illuftrate more particularly the duties of a Public Spirit.-Let every man look on the things of others.-Here two or three things are to be premifed before we proceed: as, First, That the intereft of the whole is to be preferred to that of a part. When the good of certain individuals comes into competition with that of the community at large, the former is no doubt to be facrificed to the latter. B 5 "It "is "is better that one man fhould die for the people, than "that the whole nation perish *." When the attaining an object of great importance to our country, to the church of God, or to our families, requires the omiffion of fome offices of kindness to particular perfons, which we would otherwife gladly render them; fuch omiffion becomes a duty rather than a fin. In fhort, a man of a public fpirit will wish to do all the good he can; and fince he has neither opportunity, or ability, equal to every fervice that may be demanded of him, it is his duty to exert himself in such ways as he judges upon the whole will beft promote the interefts of fociety. From whence it follows, that we should be cautious how we haftily cenfure others, as of a private and selfish fpirit, because they do not take an active part with us in every fcheme for the public good, to which our impetuofity would urge them. They may be purfuing a line of conduct, which Providence hath pointed out to them, and which may more effentially contribute to the general welfare than that to which we would divert their attention. Secondly, The fpiritual interefts of others are to be preferred to their temporal. This appears from what has been already obferved, and must strike every confiderate man as a most important truth. If there be a God, the duties we owe him ought to take the lead of those we owe our neighbour. If our fouls are of infinitely greater value than our bodies, and the prefent is only an introductio› to a future eternal life, there can be no doubt that the most important concerns of a worldly kind fhould *John xi. 50. yield yield to those of religion, when they come into competition with each other. The civil immunities of nations, focieties, and families, are objects of great magnitude, but their moral and religious interefts, of much greater. And what further entitles the latter to the precedence of the former is, the direct and mighty influence which virtue and piety unqueftionably have upon mens temporal happiness. Here permit me to observe, that this reafoning ftamps a dignity upon the character of thofe, however mean and contemptible their external appearance and circumftances may be, whom divine Providence hath raised up and fent to preach the gospel in the world. Again, Thirdly, The nearer the relation, the greater is the regard we owe to one another. Charity, we ufually fay, begins at home. And it is a plain dictate of nature, that offices of benevolence fhould originate among our most intimate connections, and fo proceed, by gradual progreffion, to thofe at the remoteft diftance from us. Men eminent for a difinterested and public spirit, have generally given diftinguished proofs of a humane and friendly difpofition. Nor is much to be expected from thofe, however warm their profeffions of zeal for the public good may be, who pay little or no attention to the important obligations of confanquinity, neighbourhood, and private friendship.-Thefe things premifed, we go on to speak of the duties of benevolence, under the following heads, namely, thofe we owe-to mankind int general our country-the church of Chrift-and individuals. 1. There |