Now the peculiar dangers of the rich and great (for though the apoftle names only the former, the connection is so close, that he may well be underflood to mean both) arifes either from the eminence of their ftation, or the abundance of their wealth and therefore the text points a caution againft each. But I fhall be able at prefent to treat only of the first; which is, that they be not high-minded.

Every fuperiority, of every fort, which men only imagine themselves poffeffed of, is too liable both to be over-rated and improperly ufed. But fuperior fortune and condition are advantages so visible to all eyes, create fuch dependences, and give fuch influence; that it is no wonder, if they tempt to uncom mon haughtiness. Even fuch as rife to them by accident, are fo eager to have all the world acknowledge them to be what they are juft become, that they often quite forget what they were a while before. Such as acquire them by their own application and abilities, hardly ever fail to think very highly of themselves on that account. And they who are born to them, ufually fet out from the first with defpifing those beneath them: as indeed to be defcended from ancestors of note; to bear a name which others have been accustomed to refpect; to enjoy perhaps hereditary honours, and on every occafion to be addreffed in other language than is used to the vulgar fort of men; these things are enough to overset the minds of the weak: and they have fome degree of wrong effect upon moft; more, perhaps, than they themselves are fenfible of.

Now undoubtedly distinguished rank is intitled to diftinguished regard and the good order of fociety very much depends on keeping up that regard: and therefore the great fhould in a proper manner be much more careful to keep it up than many of them are. For indeed their condefcenfions and familiarities, are often with fuch very wrong perfons, and in fuch very wrong ways, that preferving an over-diftant behaviour would, of the two, be much the better, both for themfelves, and those whom they are pleased to honour with their intimacy. But when they nurfe up the confcioufnefs of their own fuperiority into a contemptuous neglect of others, and infolent expectations of unfit fubmifions from them; they have great need to be reminded, that refpect is paid to wealth and birth, because the common good requires it, not because the perfons who receive it are always worthy of it: and when

1

they

they are unworthy, they have much more reafon to be humble on their own account, than vain on account of their eftates or their ancestors. The wife and good indeed will fhew them the outward regard, to which they are intitled: but inward they. must expect from none, except the weak and inconfiderate : nor will the false appearances of it from the artful and interested do them any fervice: but their dishonourable behaviour will be the more confpicuous for their honourable station.

And even fuppofing them guilty of nothing elfe to leffen the efteem they claim: yet claiming too much of it, or too openly, will fruftrate their intention moft effectually. For neither equals nor inferiors will fuffer near fo much to be extorted from them, as they would have bestowed moft freely on their own accord. Haughtinefs therefore towards all, who are not abfolute dependants, is a moft ridiculous thing; and to fuch as are, it is a very imprudent one. For the highest lie greatly at the mercy even of those who serve them, and attend upon them; in respect of their characters, their credit and weight in the world, their fortunes, their ease, their very safety. And therefore to treat thofe, who are ever fo much at our command, with fuch humanity and affability, as may fecure their good opinion and good will, is mere common honeft policy.

But one fort of condefcenfion to inferiors may be of peculiar advantage; I mean, liftening to ufeful information and advice from them: Things, which the great are very apt to think themselves above, when every one elfe fees they have much need of them. The rich man, as Solomon obferves, is wife in his own conceit: but the poor, that hath understanding, searcheth him out *. Neither affluence, nor high rank, by any means imply fuperiority of judgment; or if they did, the best judgements often want to be inftructed in the nature and circumftances of what they are to judge upon; and indeed to be guarded against the mistakes, to which inexperience, inadvertence, or unfeen prejudices, may expofe them. And the more important any matter is, and the lefs carefully and feriously we have weighed it, the more neceffity there evidently appears, that we fhould hear others in relation to it. How attentively then fhould the greatest hear the appointed teachers of religion: the one thing needfult to their eternal happinefs; and perhaps the

very

Prov. xxviii. 11.

+ Luke x. 42.

very thing that many of them have hitherto confidered the leaft, yet poffibly fet themfclves the most to defpife and ridicule! But in their worldly affairs too, it might prevent innumerable errors and diftreffes, if they would vouchfafe, on fit occafions, to receive and encourage leffons of wisdom from those beneath them. This, you will eafily difcern, is a very different matter from being led and governed: to which the moft felf-fufficient of men, under artful management, are often the most subject. It is governing ourselves by exerting the rational powers, which God hath given us, instead of being flaves to our paffions and fancies. We cannot alter truth: and therefore, how exalted foever our condition be, we fhould think it no difgrace, but the highest honour, to submit to it. Nor is the obligation of doing fo in the least different, whether we discover it ourselves, or learn it from others. If reafon hath at all a right to direct us; it hath an equal right, whence foever it comes. And the most truly confiderable persons have always been the readieft to follow the opinion of such, as were in all refpects their inferiors, whenever they happened to be in the right. Nor is there perhaps any part of humility, that can give us more reputation than this, or do us more fervice.

But if humility in the great could be no other way beneficial to them; yet avoiding the guilt of fo injurious a behaviour, as indulging a proud spirit prompts them to, is surely á motive important enough. Hence it is, that inftead of learning forgiveness of him, who was meek and lowly in heart *, they often refent offences of very fmall confequences, nay, undefigned ones, very immoderately; and fome, even to the demanding of the blood of others at the hazard of their own. And though perhaps they themselves began the injury; yet they imagine their honour binds them to violate the laws of God and man in order to revenge it: which abfurd notion they have patronized in the world, till perfons, so far beneath them, have taken it up, that one fhould hope they might be induced to lay it down for that reafon, if not for better. But the haughtinefs of the great, without being combined with anger, doth in cold blood infinite mischief. And they should confider, that it is the fame aggravation of the fault, if one who is justly poffeffed of fuperiority already, unjustly affects more; as it would

Matth. xi. 29.

be

be in the rich to pilfer and rob. In countries of legal liberty indeed, there is not fo much room for the pride of the upper part of the world to bear hard upon the lower. And truly both may thank God for it: the one that they are thus delivered from the temptation; the other from the fuffering. For very dreadful is both the wickednefs and the mifery, to which unlimited power leads: and Solomon defcribes the latter very pathetically: I returned and confidered all the oppreffions, that are done under the fun: and behold, the fears of fuch as were oppreffed, and they had no comforter: and on the fide of their oppreffors was power; but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised the dead, that are already dead, more than the living, which are yet alive. Yea, better is he, than both they, which hath not yet been; and hath not feen the evil work, that is done under the fun *. But though a merciful providence hath preserved this nation, freer than any other, from fuch extremities; yet every where the rich and great make their inferiors fuffer a great deal too much; fometimes by a defigned and ftudied haughtinefs, often by a careless and contemptuous one, which renders them inattentive to what thofe in lower life may feel; when perhaps from principle, fuch as it is, they would avoid doing injuries to their equals, and are by no means without tenderness towards them.

Thus too many treat their tenants hardly, or permit them to be fo treated: fometimes indeed from avarice; fometimes from the urgency of wants which follies and vices have created; but frequently, from not thinking it worth while to inquire, whether fuch mean creatures are well or ill used, and refufing to be troubled with their complaints and remonftrances; which, tho' eften groundlefs, may often likewise be very juft. Now were we in this wretched cafe, we should foon difcern it to be extremely cruel in our fuperiors, to imagine us undeferving of being regarded and eased in bad times, or under the preffure of unexpected accidents; to indulge their own love of money, or keep up their idle expensiveness to the full, whatever we and our families might undergo, whofe labour must pay for all; to throw new burthens upon us, not because we were able to bear them, but because they were unwilling; to fubject us, without redress, to the partialities and refentments of their a VOL. I. B b

Eccl. iv. 1, 2, 3.

gents,

gents, or crush us under the weight of their own; obliging us perhaps to feek a livelihood elsewhere, to our certain lofs and probable ruin, if at any time we were lefs obfequious to them than they required, though on occafions where we ought to be left free. Such behaviour all men would think exceedingly barbarous, were they to experience it: and therefore all fhould refolve never to be guilty of it, and apply to this case amongst others, that admirable exhortation of the fon of Sirach: Make not an hungry fou! forrowful: neither provoke a man in his diftress: reject not the fupplication of the afflicted, neither turn away thy face from a poor man. Turn not away thine eye from the needy, and give him no occafion to curfe thee. For if he curfe thee in the bitterness of his foul, his prayer shall be heard of him that made him. Let it not grieve thee to bow down thine ear to the poor; and give him a friendly anfwer, with meekness*.

Another fort of perfons, for whom fuperiors too commonly will not vouchfafe to have the confideration that they ought, are those who come to them upon bufinefs. Obliging fuch to an unreasonable attendance, making them wait long, and it may be return often, (when perhaps only idleness, or caprice, or occupations that might well be interrupted, prevent their being difpatched immediately) is a very provoking and a very injurious kind of stateliness. Time ought to be precious to all men; and is peculiarly precious to thofe, who have affairs and appointments to fill it with, that either must be attended on, each in its feafon, or they and theirs muft fuffer, perhaps be undone. And were it confidered, but near fo much as it ought, how very large a fhare of the time of others, a few of thefe proud or thoughtlefs men are fufficient to confume, it would be found a matter of no fmall ferioufnefs.

But there is another fault ftill worfe frequently joined with this; deeming it beneath their notice, whether fuch of their inferiors, as have juft and reafonable demands upon them, are paid when they ought. At the fame time they would think it infamous not to pay what they lofe to the vileft wretch in the pernicious practice of gaming, though the law, for the publick good, difcourages and almoft forbids their doing it. Notwithftanding which, by a monftreus perverfion of language, they call thefe laft their debts of honour, in oppofition to the former. It is very true, that motives, not at all akin to pride, frequently induce thofe of high rank to neglect or even refuse satisfying

Ecclus. iv. 4, 5, 6,

8.