V. 22.

Eye cannot fay to the Hand, I have no need of thee; nor again, the Head to the Feet, I have no need of you. Nay more, thofe Members of the Body which feem to be most feeble and difhonourable, are yet very necesJary.

I speak not this to discourage any Man's Endeavours to advance himself and his Condition in any lawful way. No: as any Man hath Parts, or Friends, or Opportunities, he may do what he can to better his Fortunes, and may leave one Employment to follow another. But this I fay, no Man ought to be discontent with that prefent Condition that by Providence he is cast into. For if he be a good Man, it is certainly best for him, and when it ceaseth to be fo, God will take care that he shall be put into another.

The Inferences which I make from this Point are these two following:

1. That all Men, in what Calling or Station foever they are placed, ought to be well pleased with them, fince they come from God: God hath diftributed them unto them. It is both foolish and finful for any Man to be in the leaft difpleased, that he is not in fuch defireable Circumftances as he fancies fome others about him to be. Others live easily, and fare deliciously, but he is forced to earn his living with the Sweat of his Brow, and that but a hard one too : This Man hath the Talents of Knowledge

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and Learning, but he hath no Abilities of that Kind. Several of his Neighbours have mighty advantageous, thriving Employments, but his is a dull and mean one.

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is forced to be a Servant and live under the Command of others, whereas others can difpose of themselves and their Time as they think fit. I Ifay, how unequal foever thefe Kinds of Dealings and Difpenfations feem to be, yet, coming from God, and being fo neceffary in the World, they ought to be very well taken by those who are in them. God had no Unkindness to me in placing me in this Station rather than another, but really dealt with me in that way which was both more fit for me, and wherein, if I be not wanting to my Truft, I may do a great deal of Service to my Generation. I was not made for a Statefman or a Magiftrate, or to be Great and Noble. In these ways I might, perhaps, have undone my felf, and done Hurt to the Publick instead of Good: But in that poor mean Lot I am placed, I am fecure, and may do as much Service to Mankind in my Way, as the greatest of them can do in theirs. Every Calling that is a lawful Calling, every Condition that comes to me by Providence, be it never fo hard, or uneafy, or contemptible, yet is of God, and ordained for great and good Ends: And a Man ought no more to be diffatisfied with it, or take it unkindly that God has difpofed him into it, than VOL. V. the

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the Foot, in the natural Body, ought to be difpleased that it is not made the Hand; or than the Hand ought to be that it is not made the Head.

2. The fecond Inference I make from this Point, is, that fince there are Varieties. of Callings and Varieties of Gifts and Distributions in order to the fitting Men for these Callings, every Man in the Choice of an Employment or Way of Living for himself, or thofe under his Charge, ought to have great Regard to thofe natural Gifts and Diftributions which God hath bestow'd upon him or them. Every one may be ferviceable to God and his Country; but not all in every way; but fome in one way, and fome in another. Here therefore lies our great Skill and Prudence, to chufe fitly for ourfelves. And here lies the great Duty of those who have the Care of Youth, to place them in fuch Circumftances as beft agree with their natural Temper and Talents. is a ridiculous Thing to train up him to Learning who hath an Aversion for a Book; or to put him to a Trade or an active Life, that is made for Study and Retirement. The Genius, and Difpofition, and Capacity of every one is principally to be attended to, and the Education to be fuited to them, and then a Calling to be chofen which fuits with both, and no worldly Confiderations ought to divert us from this Proceeding. It is not a juftifiable Motive to defign a Perfon

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Perfon to any Employment merely upon this Account, that it is a way to raise him in the World, and by the Means of the Friends and Intereft we can make, we have a fair Prospect of getting him Preferment in this Courfe. No: If there be either an Averfeness of Temper, or an Incapacity of Parts, we extreamly both wrong the Youth under our Care, and the Publick too, by thus yoking and fettering him. The Motives of Wealth, and Greatness, and fecular Advantages are then only allowable, when a Man's natural Talents and Abilities give Hopes that he is fitted for fuch Callings, or fuch a Kind of Education, as may bring to those Advantages. And, in truth, if this Confideration were better attended to, abundance of young Perfons would not mifcarry which now do, and the World would receive a great deal more Benefit and Advantage by those who are born into it.

II. But I proceed to my fecond general Point, which I obferved from this Text, viz. that Chriftianity has made no Change or Alteration as to Matters of civil Relations, or Degrees, or Callings among Men, but has left every Man, as to these Things, in the fame Pofture and Station in which it found him. Every Man is to abide in that Condition, or that Calling in which he was made a Chriftian; that is the direct Senfe of the Text. And indeed it is a true Re

prefentation of the Nature of our Religion, which, if it had been otherwise, would never have fo effectually recommended it felf to the World, as we fee it hath done. The Design of our Lord's coming into the World, and fetting on foot his Religion, was only to better the Morals of Mankind, to make them Innocent, and Holy, and Virtuous in all Conditions of Life, and by that Means, by the Virtue of his Death, to reconcile them to God, and make them Heirs of everlasting Life in another World. But it was no Part of his Design to meddle with the civil Conftitution of Mankind, which did arife from Nature, and was wholly in order to this World. Chrift meant not to intrench upon any Man's Rights, whether Princes or private Perfons: He meant not to abolish any Privilege or any Due arifing to any Man, either from Cuftom, or Contract, or Law: He meant not to alter the outward Condition or Circumftances of any Man which the Divine Providence had disposed him into: For tho' he was a King, yet his Kingdom was not of this World, but wholly in order to another; and therefore it was all one, as to his Subjects Religion, whether they were Governors or Governed, Married or Unmarried, Rich or Poor, Learned or Ignorant, Bond or Free, Statefmen or Mechanicks; they were all equally acceptable to God, and Chrift never intended to put them into

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