SERM. XXVIII.7 A LOVELY'CARRIAGE, &C. 4$9 the great apostle recommends a few verses before my text. Phil. iv. .5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. And our blessed Lord himself gives the mode- rate man this illustrious encomium, blessed are the meek, who submit rather than quarrel, for they shall inherit the earth: Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God, Mat. v. 5, 9. Happy souls whom the God of truth, and the God of peace, acknowledges for his children, and to whom he promises a large inheritance ! And let it be observed-also, that whatsoever hard usage the sons of peace may meet with, while the ferment of parties is hottest, and the storm is high, yet when the clamour and rage are sunk and calm, when the party- fury bath spent itself, and is grown cool enough to suffer men to bethink themselves, and to see all things in their true colours, then the man of moderation stands approv- ed of men as well as of God; the divine virtue appears in its own lovely form, and receives a becoming share of honour. III. Humility is a lovely virtue. It is beautiful and becoming for a man todivest himself of all affected gran- deur, and not to exalt his head above his neighbour. O that we were all clothed with humility ! It is an orna- ment that becomes sinners well. Let us put it on with our daily raiment, and strive to vie with each other which shall practise this grace in the greatest perfection. How unlovely a carriage is it to boast ourselves of any superior quality we possess, or to assume lofty airs, because we have more money than our neighbours ! To aggrandize ourselves in our own esteem, in our own lan- guage, in our behaviour, because we fancy ourselves to be better dressed, or better fed than our fellow-crea- tures! And if we have a' little honour put upon us by the providence of God, it is a criminal vanity for us to grow haughty and insolent upon that account. I am in pain whensoever I hear a man treat his servant us he does his dog : as though a poor man were not made of the same clay, nor born of the same ancient race as his master: As though Adam, whose name is dust, was not our common father, or a lord had not the same original as other men. Nay, the nobler possessions of the mind, ingenuity
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