SERMON X. ON THE TENTH COMMANDMENT. EXODUS, CHAP. XX. VER. 17. UNLIKE the human laws which are established for the protection of society, and to defend man against the encroachments of his fellow-creatures, the commands of God seem to be calculated to promote the separate welfare of each individual, and to reconcile man to himself; not content with pointing out to us the certain means of obtaining happiness, God commands us to be happy, making the observance of his statutes so easy to be practised and so conducive to our well being, and the breach of them attended with such immediate inconvenience to ourselves, that even if we were not actuated by a principle of obedience to God, we should be almost compelled for our own interest to keep his laws. This commandment in particular is not directed like the former, to restrain us from committing acts of violence against each other, but to curb the desire of the heart, to prevent us even from wishing for any thing that may tend to encourage uneasiness and vexation of spirit, and destroy our peace of mind. Covetousness, in whatever sense we take it, for its meaning is extensive, and branches out with various signification, is a professed enemy to that content which alone constitutes true felicity. In some it implies an insatiable desire of possessing wealth; in others ambition, or the love of honours and fame; in others the gratification of the sensual appetite; so that in every light it not only militates against the love of our neighbour, but is evidently destructive of our own quiet. Let us first consider this vice in the sense in which it is commonly taken, that of consuming our whole lives, and wasting the precious moments of human happiness with never-ceasing anxiety to aud to what we already possess to heap up riches, whether for the purpose of expending them in the purchase of future pleasures; or, like the miser, merely to gaze upon our stores, without adding to our enjoyment. Covetousness in this sense, is clearly destructive to our own happiness, and liable to be equally prejudicial to our fellow-creatures; for by accustoming ourselves to envy the seemingly prosperous state of our neighbours, and to covet their possessions, we may be led to make use of unjustifiable means to obtain what we so earnestly desire. But whether we gratify this inclination to possess the property of another, or are restrained from putting our desires in execution by the fear of all laws human and divine, the very wish itself creates such restless anxiety in our own breasts, that it is impossible ever to enjoy what we actually possess, however innocently or honestly. The appetite that is perpetually craving for more, can never be satisfied, it is the worm that never dies. How then can we be happy, if we are not content. If it were possible there could be an equal distribution of property in the world, there might be some shew of reason for one man's repining at the superior situation of his neighbour, and envying him the pos→ session of that wealth to which he felt himself equally entitled; but whatever the case might have been in the infancy of the world when the inhabitants of the earth were so few, that all might partake of an equal and ample portion of its produce; yet in the present multiplied state of things, it would be absurd to suppose it possible that all things should be possessed in common. The infinite and daily increase of the human race, the various talents assigned by Providence to different individuals, and the very passions of men require different degrees of subordination, for the protection of the human species, and the proper estab lishment of civil society, and different degrees of wealth and power to support that necessary subordination, and encourage the exertion of those talents; for it would be equally subversive of reason and equity to require that the idle and inactive should be entitled to the same advantages as the active and industrious, that they should |