SERM. detract or calumniate for advancement of his ends; LXII. he thence will not contribute to the mischiefs and troubles in the world.

Self-interest therefore is the great enemy to the commonweal; that which perverteth all right, which confoundeth all order, which spoileth all the convenience and comfort of society.

It is a practice indeed (this practice of pursuing self-interest so vehemently, so especially above all things) which is looked upon and cried up as a clear and certain point of wisdom; the only solid wisdom; in comparison whereto those precepts which prescribe the practice of strict justice, ingenuous humanity, free charity, are but pedantical tattles, or notions merely chimerical; so the world now more than ever seemeth to judge, and accordingly to act; and thence is the state of things visibly so bad and calamitous; thence so little honesty in dealings, thence so little settlement in affairs are discernible. But how false that judgment is will appear if the case be weighed in the balance of pure reason; and most foolish it will appear being scanned according to the principles of religion.

In reason is it not very absurd that any man should look upon himself as more than a single person; that he should prefer himself before another, to whom he is not in any respect superior; that he should advance his own concernment above the public benefit, which comprehendeth his good, and without which his good cannot subsist? Can any man rationally conceive that he can firmly thrive or persist in a quiet and sweet condition, when he graspeth to himself more than is due or fitting, when he provoketh against himself the emulation,

the competition, the opposition, the hatred, and ob- SERM. loquy of all or of many other persons?

May not any man reasonably have the same apprehensions and inclinations as we may have? may not any man justly proceed in the same manner as we may do? will they not, seeing us mainly to affect our private interest, be induced, and in a manner forced, to do the like? Thence what end can there be of progging and scrambling for things? and in the confusion thence arising, what quiet, what content can we enjoy?

Again; Doth not nature, by implanting in our constitution a love of society and aversation from solitude, inclinations to pity and humanity, pleasant complacencies in obliging and doing courtesies to others, appetites of honour and good esteem from others, aptness to approve and like the practices of justice, of fidelity, of courtesy, of beneficence, capacities to yield succour and benefit to our brethren, dictate unto us, that our good is inseparably connected and complicated with the good of others, so that it cannot without its own impairing subsist alone, or be severed from the good of others; no more than a limb can without suffering and destruction be torn from the whole?

Is there not to all men in some measure, to some men in a higher degree, a generosity innate, most lovely and laudable to all; which disposeth men with their own pain, hazard, and detriment to succour and relieve others in distress, to serve the public, and promote the benefit of society; so that inordinately to regard private interest doth thwart the reason and wisdom of nature?

The frame of our nature indeed speaketh, that

LXII.

SERM. we are not born for ourselves; we shall find man, if LXII. we contemplate him, to be a nobler thing than to have been designed to serve himself, or to satisfy his single pleasure; his endowments are too excelSt. Paul, lent, his capacities too large for so mean and narrow purposes. How pitiful a creature were man, if this were all he was made for! how sorry a faculty were reason, if it served not to better uses! he debaseth himself, he disgraceth his nature, who hath so low conceits, and pursueth so petty designs.

Rom. ix.

Nay, even a true regard to our own private good will engage us not inordinately to pursue self-interest; it being much hugged will be smothered and destroyed.

As we are all born members of the world, as we are compacted into the commonwealth, as we are incorporated into any society, as we partake in any conversation or company, so by mutual support, aid, defence, comfort, not only the common welfare first, but our particular benefit consequently doth subsist; by hindering or prejudicing them, the public first, in consequence our particular doth suffer; our thriving by the common prejudice will in the end turn to our own loss. As if one member sucketh too much nourishment to itself, and thence swelleth into an exorbitant bulk, the whole thence incurreth disease, so coming to perish or languish; whence consequently that irregular member will fall into a participation of ruin or decay: so it is in the state of human corporations; he that in ways unnatural or unjust (for justice is that in human societies, which

Nec sibi, sed toti natum se credere mundo.
-nullosque Catonis in actus

Subrepsit, partemque tulit sibi nata voluptas.

nature is in the rest of things) draweth unto himself SERM. LXII. the juice of profit or pleasure, so as thence to grow beyond his due size, doth thereby not only create distempers in the public body, but worketh mischief and pain to himself; he must not imagine to escape feeling somewhat of the inconvenience and misery which ariseth from public convulsions and disorders.

So doth reason plainly enough dictate; and religion with clearer evidence and greater advantage discovereth the same.

Its express precepts are, that we should aim to love our neighbour as ourselves, and therefore should tender his interests as our own; that we should not in competition with the greater good of our neighbour regard our own lesser good; that we should not seek our own things, but concern ourselves in the good of others; that we should not consult our own ease and pleasure, but should contentedly bear the burdens of our brethren: Look not every man Phil. ii, 4to his own things, but every man also to the things

of others; Let no man seek his own, but every man 1 Cor. x. 24. another's wealth; Bear one another's burdens, and Gal. ii. 6. so fulfil the law of Christ; Charity seeketh not its 1 Cor. xiii. own: these are apostolical precepts and aphorisms; these are fundamental rules and maxims of our holy religion.

It chargeth us industriously to employ our pains, liberally to expend our goods, yea (in some cases) willingly to expose and devote our lives for the benefit of our brethren.

It recommendeth to us the examples of those who have underwent unspeakable pains, losses, disgraces, troubles, and inconveniences of all kinds, for the furBARROW, VOL. III.

D d

5.

SERM. thering the good of others; the examples of our LXII. Lord and of his apostles, who never in any case regarded their own interests, but spent and sacrificed themselves to the public welfare of mankind.

I Cor. xii.

25.

Rom. xii.

15.

It representeth us not only as brethren of one family, who should therefore kindly favour, assist, and grace one another, but as members of one spiRom. xii. 5. ritual body, (members one of another,) compacted by the closest bands of common alliance, affection, and interest; whose good much consisteth in the good of each other; who should together rejoice, and condole with one another; who should care for one another's good as for our own; looking upon ourselves to gain by the advantage, to thrive in the prosperity, to be refreshed with the joy, to be graced with the honour, to be endamaged by the losses, to be afflicted with the crosses of our brethren; so that, If, as St. Paul saith, one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; if one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

I Cor. 12.

26.

These which I have already handled are the principal kinds of vicious self-love; there are further some special acts of kin to them, sprouting from the same stock; which I shall touch: such as vainglory, arrogance, talking of one's self, thinking about one's self. Of these I shall treat more briefly.