formation, whether vice and impiety have influenced your conduct, or whether the sins of omission have rendered you unworthy members of his holy com munion. Persevere, ye righteous, in faith and good works, and whatever be your fate in this world, the promises of a redeeming God shall be realized in the next, and "life eternal" your glorious and never failing reward. 115 ON THE EQUALITY OF MAN. "The rich and the poor meet together; the "Lord is the Maker of them all *." MAN is a dependent being; dependent upon his fellow-creatures, sometimes for support, sometimes for com→ fort, and for that general good fellowship, which a social intercourse is calculated to promote. The rich could not exist without the poor, neither could the poor look forward to the reward of their industry without the aid and concurrence of the rich. Whence then proceeds that unfeeling arrogance of spirit, so general in the one, and that * Prov. xxii. 2. blameable discontent in the other? If God be the universal Creator, is he not also the universal distributor of this world's goods? That the prosperous man should be proud of terrestrial distinctions, and conceive himself to "be "better than other men are," argues an irreligious mind, careless or ignorant of the great end of its being. Spiritual equalization can only be alluded to in the words of the text; there ever has been, there ever should be, a proper distinction in the temporal acquisitions of men, and the dissemination of a contrary opinion could only be productive of evil. That man should arrogate to himself a yain superiority from the possession. of riches, if not so often confirmed by experience, could hardly be credited by those who rightly consider the instability of all worldly possessions, the uncer. tainty of their enjoyment, and the sure approach of death and retribution. Man is our fellow-worm, however costly the trappings with which we are encircled; and every destitute Lazarus at the rich man's gate is an equal candidate for the prize of immortality. Our Saviour has said, that "it is easier for a camel to go 66 through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom "of heaven; and that many that are "first shall be last." Of the instability of worldly possessions, many examples might be adduced within the compass of our own experience. How often have "riches "made themselves wings and fled away!" how often has pride been levelled, though not always conquered, by unexpected adversity! Our own extravagance, the misconduct of a friend, the various chances of this mortal life, have exchanged the luxurious dwelling and the sumptuous repast for the humble tene |