rt 169 Long-life, Riches, and Honour, SERM. honefty, and fidelity. It is true, fomething VI. elfe is neceffary to what is commonly called `` -Y"'' credit, that is, the opinion of a man's hav- ing a fund or ability to difcharge the obli- gations he is under in point of right and property ; for the want of ability, as well as of honefty, may be the occafion of his fail- ing in it ; but then there muff neceffarily be an opinion of his integrity ; and what can eftablifh that opinion, and fuch a chara &er in the world, but a virtuous courfe of life, pratifing conftantly the things which are honeft, juft, and true ? And, in the laft place, honour is bellowed by wifdom, or is the effect of virtue. Ho- nour fignifieth that efteem, with the out- ward tokens and expreffions of it, which men have in the world ; and it may be con - fidered as flowing from external advantages, particularly riches and power ; for from thefe inequalities of condition, which affect civil fociety, efpecially power, arifeth a di- ftinUion of refpe& ; and in this fenfe the tendency of virtue to honour may be illu- ftrated the fame way as its tendency to riches ; that is, honour is procured by the fame means by which this ordinary fource of it is procured, namely, by frugality, by diligence ; for, faveth Solomon, Prov. xii. 24. The
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