"seek ye, then, the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

XXI.

POINTS OF AGREEMENT IN THE STATE OF THE RICH AND THE POOR.*

PROVERBS XXII. 2.-The rich and the poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.

[PREACHED AT CAMBRIDGE, SEPTEMBER 20, 1829.]

THIS book consists of a number of short sentences and aphorisms, that relate to human life and manners, and to virtue and vice. It is not necessary for us to attempt to trace any particular connexion between the passage which has just been read and the surrounding context. What was the train of thought by which the inspired writer was conducted from one of these truths to another, it is unnecessary anxiously to inquire. It is obvious there was some law of association which governed his mind, though it eludes every attempt at investigation on our part, and would lead us into a useless and intricate research. The doctrine which is to be deduced from the words you have just heard read is, however, worthy of our most serious regard. It declares there is a natural equality in mankind, notwithstanding the diversified appearances of some of them, and the different stations they are destined to occupy in the present condition of being: it assures us that the rich and the poor meet together, that they coincide and agree in many of the most important circumstances, and that the differences which appear to exist between them are, for the most part, of a superficial, and therefore of a transitory nature. "The Lord is the maker of them all." The sacred writer thus introduces all of us into an equal and common relation to God, who is the great Parent of us all. We are the creatures of the same hand, the subjects of the same government; we occupy the same economy of Divine Providence ; and, as to our destination, we all stand in relation to the same future and eternal state of being. These two distinctions and divisions of society have existed in every period. It is impossible to avoid them : and any attempt to establish an equality of possessions in the present world would be replete with disappointment, confusion, rapine, and misery. The greatest disturbances mankind has ever experienced have arisen from abortive attempts of this nature: nor can any one

*Printed from the notes of J. R. Mills, Esq.

seriously consider the causes from which these two conditions of society spring, but he must despair of ever realizing any thing like equality, or any thing approaching to equality, as to the possessions and enjoyments of the present state.

It has been urged in favour of such attempts, and with some degree of plausibility, that a scheme of this kind was executed at the first beginning of Christianity, that the saints at Jerusalem had nothing which they called their own, but threw their property into a common stock; and out of that stock they relieved the distress and poverty of their persecuted brethren. But there is great reason to conclude, as Mosheim has very judiciously shown, that there was no such thing as community of goods established among them, and that the right of property was not formally relinquished; but that it was customary for all who possessed property to hold themselves in readiness to relieve the exigences of those who applied to them. It does not appear that it was ever hinted at by the apostles themselves, who were at Jerusalem, or made even a temporary law of that church; but every one was left to act agreeably to the dictates of his own mind: and the apostle Peter aggravates the guilt of Ananias and Sapphira, by declaring, that while the estate "was in their own possession, was it not their own; and after it was sold, was it not in their own power:" and that no necessity existed for resorting to falsehood, when they laid the price of it at the feet of the apostle. It never prevailed in any other church. We have no intimation that it was adopted in any other of the great churches which were planted by the apostle Paul; and in his epistles there is no reference to any similar regulation, though he alludes there to a large collection, which Paul and the apostles were engaged in making in those churches, for relieving the distress of the saints of Jerusalem. The pressure of calamity was local and temporary, it was occasioned by peculiar circumstances of time and place, and never pervaded the other parts of Christendom. It never was made a law by the apostle Paul; nor, as a permanent regulation, was it countenanced by the apostles at Jerusalem.

It would be wasting your time to spend more words in pointing out the folly and absurdity of every attempt to equalize the possessions of mankind. I am persuaded there are none here that permit themselves to be deluded by the sophistries of the designing and wicked who propagate this statement. But it is of great importance for us to consider, because it is intimately connected with our duties and prospects, in what great points the rich and poor meet together, and that the Lord is the maker of them all: that each of these respective classes may learn their proper duties to one another, that the poor may learn not to envy and murmur, and the rich not to despise and oppress. Then will society be happy, when the poor and the rich unite in spirit to promote the great purposes of social order and happiness, in entire and equal subjection to the Father of spirits, who is the fountain and source of every good.

* See his "Commentaries on the Affairs of the Christians" (Vidal's translation), vol. i. p. 202, and the reference there made.-ED.

In considering this subject permit me to observe,

I. That the rich and the poor meet together in the participation of a common nature. They are equal sharers in the common nature of humanity, in distinction from those who are in a lower, and from those who are in a higher order of beings. The faculties by which this nature makes itself known are exhibited with equal clearness, and certainty, and activity in both these classes. The poor, as well as the rich, give the most unequivocal indications of the possession of that reason, which is the grand distinction of man, and forms the chief difference between mankind and the beasts that perish. Reason may be cultivated to a higher extent by some of the rich, in consequence of the more improved education which they may procure, and of the leisure which their station commands. But decisive indications of a reasonable nature are presented in the lowest walks of society; and they are sometimes such as greatly to surpass and eclipse the indications of intellect in the higher classes. Every age of society has produced persons who have broken through the difficulties and disadvantages of their station; who have surmounted the obstacles by which they were surrounded, and have reached a high position in a career of virtuous probation, among those who have set out on a more elevated stage. And, on the contrary, among the sons of opulence, some have been found to possess such an imbecility as no education could remedy: their knowledge has never been of any use to them; and the learning which has been bestowed upon them has rather been an encumbrance than an assistance to them: their knowledge has remained a dead mass, which the mind could never animate,-a sort of raw produce, out of which nothing useful or ornamental to society could be extracted. When this imbecility has prevailed to a certain extent, so as to invite a comparison with the degree of knowledge which the mind is capable of attaining, it shows its native disadvantage, and is never more conspicuous than in the case of those who unite a large portion of human attainment with a portion of radical imbecility.

The poor and the rich have equally the power of ascertaining general principles, of forming conclusions as to the future from the consideration of past events, and of rendering their senses conducive to those general and abstract ideas in which all real science and knowledge consist. Thus you see that the poor and the rich, in the great faculty of the understanding, afford proofs of equality; and no difference exists between them but such as may be easily accounted for by the circumstances of human life.

With respect to their moral sensibilities also, the rich and the poor meet together. They possess alike that conscience which "either accuses or excuses," and they possess that cognizance of the purposes and intents of the mind which connects it with a system of legislation, with the hope of reward, or the fear of punishment. The poorest, as well as the richest, is capable of feeling these sentiments. The hopes and the fears of a future world act as powerfully upon the poor as upon the rich; and that legislation which appeals to the conscience, and which refers to the primary distinctions of the human mind between

right and wrong, is calculated to take as much hold of the one as of the other.

In regard, also, to devotion, which by some men of profound thought is declared to be the great characteristic of man, in opposition to the brutes that perish, these two classes meet together. There are many examples among the poor of persons who are "rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God has promised to them that love him." In the poorest breast we find the flame of devotion burn; and with an intenseness and purity as great as in those who are more exalted. Though the latter may have some advantages in the greater extent of their knowledge, that deficiency is frequently compensated to the former, by a greater simplicity and unity of attention, and by their entire devotedness to one object. It is a question of much difficulty to determine which of these stations is more favourable to the cultivation of piety, and whether poverty, with all its destitution, is a greater hinderance to the divine life than affluence, with all its temptations. A course of piety is difficult for all, but practicable for every individual; and the light of eternity alone can decide whose situation has been the most hazardous, and whose the most favourable to the growth of religion.

The rich and the poor meet together in the primary passions of the human mind, which give birth to whatever is most distinguishing in man: and these are found in the same state in the rich and in the poor, essentially considered. The exhibition of them by the latter is more private, giving birth to good purposes; but with regard to the former, the exhibition of them is more public, because they stand in more powerful and exalted stations, and act on a more extended stage. If we trace the passions of men to their primary elements, we shall find the virtues and vices of the poor and of the rich spring from the same sources. The guilty passions that agitate the breast of the peasant, and lead him to disturb the peace of his neighbourhood, are of the same nature with those that disturb the tranquillity of nations in the breasts of princes. The same injustice, the same low ambition, the same love of acquiring that which is not his own, that renders a peasant a nuisance to the village where he resides, renders an unjust prince the terror of his subjects, the source of iniquitous wars, and a stain and reproach to his species. The person who, in the poorest situation, in a peasant's cottage, is led by a love of order, and by native benevolence of mind, to diffuse peace and comfort around his own circle, and, so far as his influence extends, in his own neighbourhood, evinces the same spirit with the individual who would diffuse peace and order through a distracted empire, and who lays the foundation of tranquillity for distant ages, by the enactment of the most wholesome regulations and the most enlightened laws.

The more we analyze actions, and trace them to their primary elements, the more we shall perceive the identity between the rich and the poor, as to their intellectual, moral, accountable, and devotional capacities. The rich and the poor occupy the same department of the universe; they are subjects of the same moral government, and

are destined to be judged equally and impartially, by the same laws, at the final and awful distribution of reward to the just and to the unjust.

II. I would observe, that the rich and the poor meet together in the process of the same social economy, in the same necessary intercourse of human life; they are closely connected with each other, and equally form parts of the same human family. It is impossible for us to say which of these subdivisions of society is, in its place, the most important; which of them ought to be most respected; which of them most cherished. The higher can by no means say to the lower, with truth or propriety, "I have no need of thee;" nor can the lower retort upon the higher, "I have no need of thee." If the lower order occupy the place of the feet and hands, which execute the purposes of the mind, the higher occupy the place of the head, which is the seat of counsel, and is necessary for the direction and preservation of the whole social body. Here we see how necessary both these classes are to the general order, and to the diffusion of peace and happiness throughout the whole. According to the degree in which this is felt, in proportion as the industrious citizen, the ingenious mechanic, or the laborious husbandman who cultivates the soil, in any community, is destitute of encouragement, society languishes; and in proportion to the reasonable, not redundant, remuneration of labour to the industrious classes of the community, is the diffusion of comfort and enjoyment through the whole body.

The higher classes must, on reflection, perceive that they are indebted to the lower for all they enjoy. The distinctions of wealth, and stations of authority, which they are so proud to display, and by which the higher classes are raised above the poor, are supported by the produce of the field and of art; and these are combined by the hand of honest labour, in such processes as the ingenuity of the lower classes has devised. "The king himself is served by the field.” The higher classes are supported by the continual machine of labour, which is going on among the inferior classes of society; and were it to stop, it would tend to the stagnation, instead of the steady flow, of luxurious enjoyment among those higher classes. The poor might here, with greater propriety than the rich, adopt the language of an early apologist for Christianity, and say, "Were we to retire from you, you would be astonished at your own desolation; we should leave you little but your temples and your gods.' There may be some

* Mr. Hall here evidently referred to the language of the celebrated Tertullian, Apologet, cap. xxxvii. "Hesterni sumus, et vestra omnia implevimus, urbes, insulas, castella, municipia, conciliabula, castra ipsa, tribus, decurias, palatium, senatum, forum. Sola vobis relinquimus templa." There may probably be, as is sometimes conjectured, a little overcharge of rhetorical exaggeration in this; yet, whoever meditates upon the report made by the circumspect and prudent Pliny to the Emperor Trajan (Lib. x. Ep. 97) will perceive that even in his time, at least in the Pontic province, the Christians far outnumbered the heathen worshippers. "Multi omnis ætatis, omnis ordinis, utriusque sexus etiam, vocantur in periculum et vocabuntur. Neque civitates tantum, sed vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est." From what follows it is evident, too, that heathenism had been in great peril, and the temples nearly forsaken:-" Certè satis constat, propè jam desolata templa cœpisse celebrari, et sacra solemnia diu intermissa repeti, passimque venire victimas, quarum adhuc rarissimus emptor inveniebatur." This, however, by-the-way; for though it bears upon an important point in the history of Christianity, it falls not within the scope of this sermon.-ED.

VOL. III.-K k