SERM.III. will render his Soul as dark as that Hell, into which they wilk at last, irrecoverably fink him.

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To defcend to Particulars; ift, A charitable Man will never hate any Body or Community of Men, provided there be nothing immoral in their Profeffion; however he may diflike fome Individuals in it. Nothing is more unjuft, though I am afraid, nothing is more ufual; than, if we have had to do with fome wicked Men of any Fraternity, to cry out, they are all become abominable. Now an undiftinguishing Cenfure upon a whole Profeffion, for the Faults. of fome few particular Members, is generally a greater Crime; than any we can fix upon thofe few particular Members. Because it tends to bring an undeserved Discredit upon a whole Body of Men, and thereby to leffen their Usefulness. To commend a whole Body in the grofs, is an Indication of a weak, undistinguishing Judgment; and to condemn it in the grofs, of Uncharitablenefs: Human Nature was never fo good, but there were feveral worthlefs Members of every Profeffion; and never fo bad, but there were feveral of distinguished Worth in every Condition of Life.

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Life. The Scholar defpifes the Man of SERM III. Bufinefs, and the Man of Bufinefs the Scholar: Now, what eftranges Men from each other, should, in the Reason of the Thing, mutually endear them: Because the

general Good of the whole arifes from the different Purfuits of the feveral Individuals: And if all Men were to go the fame Way, and follow the fame Track of Employment; it would caufe a ftrange Embarraffment: The Road would be fo much crouded, that none could get forward. Honour then all Men, even thofe of the meanest Occupations: Take in, with a comprehenfive View, the whole Chain of the rational World, where, though the Links may be difproportioned in their Size, yet the least ferves to strengthen and fupport the greateft, and both, by depending upon, and aiding each other, keep the whole Contexture from falling afunder.

2dly, As you ought not to conceive a Distaste for any Man, or Body of Men, upon the Account of a different Profeffion; fo neither fhould you, because they are of a different Perfuafion, Sect, or Party.

Suppofing yourself in the Right; you pity corporeal Blindness; why should you

not

SERM.III. not likewife compaffionate, inftead of being angry with, the Blindness of the UnderStanding, when it cannot difcern certain religious Truths? I know no Reason, but this, which refolves itself into Pride; that the corporeally blind own themselves to be fo; but the blind in Understanding maintain, that we labour under that Diftemper, and not they. Now we are not fo thoroughly convinced, that our Understanding and Way of Thinking is perfectly right in all Points, as that we have the full Enjoyment of our Eye-fight: And this makes us fo angry with the one, while we pity the other. Enfure your own Salvation as much as you can, but do not think hardly of thofe, who differ from you even in fundamental Points, much lefs confign them over to Damnation. Our bleffed Saviour, who difapproved the Worship of the Samaritans, as appears from his Converfation with the Samaritan Woman at the Well, yet fingles out, in his beautiful Parable, one of that Nation to do a generous Action to the wounded Traveller, on Purpose, one would think, to obviate this contracted Turn of Mind, and to recommend those to our Love, whofe religious Notions we diflike.

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diflike. Whether a good Man, who is a SERM.III. Misbeliever in fome Points, without any Faultiness or Irregularity of Will, will be damned for his erroneous Way of Thinking, may be a Question among fome People; but I think it admits of none, that a Man will be damned for an uncharitable Way of thinking and acting.

3dly, You must not pass a hard precipitate Cenfure upon a whole Nation or Country. Can any Thing good come out of Nazareth? was a low, confined, ungenerous Thought: Goodnefs is not limited to, or excluded from, any Place: The Good are diffused throughout all Nations, all Sects, all Perfuafions, all Ranks and Orders of Men. True Charity ever dwells with a Largenefs of Soul, which takes in all Mankind, fincerely wishing, that all, who are in any material Error, may embrace the Truth; and all, that embrace it, may hold a pure Faith in a pure Confcience. And I question whether a generous fpirited Way of Thinking, a noble and exalted Ardor of Soul, with ftrong Paffions, which fometimes transport a Man into Exorbitances, be not, upon the whole, much more commendable; than an infipid Regularity, and VOL. II. G a flat

SERM.III. a flat Correctnefs of Life, which creeps on in one dull Tenor, without ever éverflowing: with too little Spirit to reach any Heights in Virtue; too languid Paffions to be guilty of any flagrant Vice: Juft as the Critics have preferred the Sublime in Writing, with á great many Inaccuracies and Inequalities, to a Middling Stile, though very faultlefs.

In short, true Charity is to deteft nothing but Vice; and to defpife nothing but contracted, illiberal Notions, which would confine God's Favour, and most certainly limit our Affections, within a narrow Circle. Form as amiable Sentiments as you can, of Nations, Communities of Men, and Individuals. If they are true, you do them only Juftice; if falfe, though your Opinion does not alter their Nature, and make them lovely; you yourself are more lovely, for entertaining fuch Sentiments. When you feel the bright Warmth of a Temper thoroughly good in your own Breaft, you will fee fomething good in every one about you. It is a Mark of a Littlenefs of Spirit, to confine yourself to fome minute Part of a Man's Character; a Man of generous, open, extended Views; will grafp the whole of it; without which he cannot

pafs