appointment: and, from the apostolic age, the followers of Christ have, in like manner, been honoured as the depositories of the Gospel, whereby alone we are instructed how to obtain favour with God, and secure to ourselves the possession of an eternal inheritance. If we compare the state of Mahometans or Pagans with that of the Christian Church, we shall see how greatly we are favoured ; and what reason we have to adore our God for that light which we enjoy, and of which they have no just conception.
And as there is a difference in men with respect to religious privileges, so also is there in relation to their civil advantages. Some are rich, and possessed of extensive authority; whilst others are poor, and altogether subjected to the will of their superiors. Some enjoy the blessings of a liberal education, whereby their knowledge is expanded and enlarged ; whilst others are shut up in ignorance, and, by a continued necessity for bodily labour, are precluded from all opportunity of en- riching their minds by intellectual pursuits. Some enjoy, without labour, all that the world can give ; whilst others are scarcely able, even by the most unwearied exertions, to obtain what is necessai'y for the support of themselves and families ; or perhaps even to get employment for their in- dustry, or to subsist at all, except by a degi'ading supply of eleemosynary aid.]
Now, to the natural man, these distinctions are an occasion of much murmuring and complaint —
[Men see that such a state of things exists ; and they feel the inconveniences arising from it : and, inasmuch as it arises, for the most part, neither from any exalted merit in the higher classes, nor any peculiar demerit in the lower, they view it with an envious eye and a repining heart. They do not understand what necessity there is for such a state of things, nor how con- nected it is, for the most part, with civilization and the liberal arts. They are not aware, that if the whole system were sub- verted, and all men were reduced to perfect equality, the same inequality would soon arise, and greater evils ensue than those which had been already experienced. The disparity alone is felt; and no wonder if, in an inconsiderate mind, it create a measure of uneasiness and discontent.]
For a season, even the Gospel itself, instead of removing this feeling, is calculated rather to engender it—
[Doubtless, in itself, the Gospel is fitted only to reconcile the mind to every dispensation of providence : but, till it has gained a due ascendant over us, it may, through the corruption of our nature, operate rather as affording an additional ground