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SERMON II.

ON MUTUAL SUBJECTION.

I St. PETER v. 5.

-Yea, all of you be fubject one to another.

HE apoftle having, in many parts of this e

cou piftle, given directions to Chriftians concerning the duty of fubjection, or obedience to fuperiors; in the feveral inftances of the fubject to the prince, the child to his parent, the fervant to his master, the wife to her husband, and the younger to the elder; doth here, in the words of my text, fum up the whole, by advancing a point of doctrine, which at first may appear a little extraordinary: Yea, all of you, faith he, be fubject one to another. For it fhould feem, that two perfons cannot properly be faid to be fubject to each other, and that fubjection is only due from inferiors to thofe above them: yet St. Paul hath feveral paffages to the fame purpose. For he exhorts the Romans, in honour to prefer one another;

and the Philippians, that in lowliness of mind they fhould let each efteem other better than themfelves; and the Ephefians, that they fhould fubmit themselves one to another in the fear of the Lord. || Here we find these two great apoftles recommending to all Chriftians, this duty of mutual fubjecjection. For we may obferve by St. Peter, that having

Rom. xii. 10. + Phil. ii. 3. | Eph. v. 21.

having mentioned the feveral relations which men bear to each other, as governor and subject, mafter and fervant, and the reft which I have already repeated, he makes no exception; but fums up the whole, with commanding all to be fubject one to another. From whence we may conclude, that this fubjection due from all men to all men, is fomething more than the compliment of course, when our betters are pleased to tell us they are our humble fervants, but understand us to be their flaves.

I know very well, that fome of thofe who explain this text, apply it to humility, to the duties. of charity, to private exhortations, and to bearing with each other's infirmities; and it is probable, the apoftle may have had a regard to all these. But, however, many learned men agree, that there is fomething more understood; and fo the words, in their plain natural meaning, muft import; as you will obferve yourselves, if you read them with the beginning of the verfe, which is thus: Likewife ye younger, fubmit yourselves unto the elder: yea, all of you be fubject one to another. So that, upon the whole, there must be fome kind of fubjection due from every man to every man, which cannot be made void by any power, pre-eminence, or authority whatfoever. Now, what fort of fubjection this is, and how it ought to be paid, fhall be the fubject of my prefent difcourfe.

As God hath contrived all the works of nature to be useful, and, in fome manner, a fupport to VOL. II.

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each other, by which the whole frame of the world, under his Providence, is preferved and kept up; fo, among mankind, our particular ftations are appointed to each of us by God Almighty, wherein we are obliged to act, as far as our power reacheth, towards the good of the whole community. And he who doth not perform that part affigned him, towards advancing the benefit of the whole, in proportion to his opportunities and abilities, is not only an useless, but a very mifchievous member of the public; because he takes his fhare of the profit, and yet leaves his share of the burden to be borne by others, which is the true principal cause of moft miferies and misfortunes in life. For a wife man who does not affift with his counfels, a great man with his protection, a rich man with his bounty and charity, and a poor man with his labour, are perfect nuifances in a commonwealth. Neither is any condition of life more honourable in the fight of God, than another; otherwife, he would be a respecter of perfons, which, he affures us, he is not: for he hath propofed the fame falvation to all men, and hath only placed them in different ways or flations to work it out. Princes are born with no more advantages of strength or wisdom than other men; and, by an unhappy education, are usually more defective in both, than thousands of their fubjects. They depend for every neceffary of life upon the meaneft of their people befides, obedience and subjection

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were never enjoined by God, to humour the paffions, lufts, and vanities of thofe who demand them from us; but we are commanded to obey our governors, becaufe difobedience would breed feditions in the ftate. Thus, fervants are directed to obey their mafters, children their parents, and wives their hufbands; not from any respect of perfons in God, but becaufe, otherwife, there would be nothing but confufion in private families. This matter will be clearly explained, by confidering the comparison which St. Paul makes between the church of Chrift, and the body of man for the fame resemblance will hold, not only to families and kingdoms, but to the whole corporation of mankind. The eye, faith he, cannot fay unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more, those members of the body which feem to be more feeble, are necessary. And whether one member fuffer, all the members fuffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. The cafe is directly the fame among mankind. The prince cannot fay to the merchant, I have no need of thee; nor the merchant to the labourer, I have no need of thee. Nay, much more, thofe members which feem to be more feeble, are neceffary. For the poor are generally more neceffary members of the commonwealth than the rich: which clearly fhews, that God never intended fuch poffeffions for the N 2 fake

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fake and fervice of thofe to whom he lends them; but because he hath affigned every man his particular ftation to be useful in life, and this for the reafon given by the apoftle, that there may be no fchifm in the body.

From hence may partly be gathered, the nature of that fubjection which we all owe to one another. God Almighty hath been pleased to put us into an imperfect ftate, where we have perpetual occafion of each other's affrftance. There is none fo low, as not to be in a capacity of assisting the highest; nor fo high, as not to want the affiftance of the lowest.

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It plainly appears, from what hath been said, that no one human creature is more worthy than another in the fight of God, farther than according to the goodness or holiness of their lives and that power, wealth, and the like outward advantages, are fo far from being the marks of God's approving or preferring thofe on whom they are bestowed, that, on the contrary, he is pleased to suffer them to be almoft ingroffed by those who have leaft title to his favour. Now, according to this equality wherein God hath placed all mankind with relation to himself, you will obferve, that, in all the relations between man and man, there is a mutual dependence, whereby the one cannot fubfift without the other. Thus, no man can be a prince without subjects, nor a mafter without fervants, nor a father without children. And this both explains and confirms

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