l8 ON THE UTILITY OF LAW-SUITS. May I»» 



Meeknefs and charity are the llriking traits of the 

 Chriftian character. The haughty pagan trampled, with 

 exultation, on his proftrate foe: But the humble vota- 

 ry of Chrillianity is taught to bewail the misfortune of 

 an enemy. The mild precepts of our holy religion are 

 calculated to refine the morals, to improve the under- 

 ftanding, and to better the heart : And perhaps it was 

 owing to their intrinfic value, and fuperior tendency to 

 , civilize mankind, that the refinement and polillied man- 

 ners of the moderns have fo far exceeded thofe of the 

 ancient inhabitants of Italy and Greece. 



What befits the man of morality, is not furely re- 

 pugnant to the funftions of a Chriflian. Both ought 

 to feel the philanthropic glow; both ought tu yield 

 to the fympathetic fenfations of friendftiip and bei»evo- 

 lence. It is the duty of both to heal the diiFerendes' of 

 mankind : But furely neither can be juflly ceufured for 

 aiding the injured in their claims of redrefs of wrongs. 

 That an individual has proftituted his profeffion ; that 

 hundreds have faffered by tiie chicanery of the terriers 

 of the law, c:m no more be obje(Eled to the liberal pro- 

 feflor, than the affumed prerogative of the Koman pon- 

 tiff in the remifTion of fins, can vilify religion, or the 

 petty larceny of a taylor can ftamp a ftigma on the 

 trade. 



Having thus premifed, I fliall proceed to ftate fome 

 of the advantages which mankind derive from law- 

 fuits : And, 



I. Philofophers tell us, that man, in a flate of na 

 ture, or in the firft ftages of civil life, is guided folely 

 by his inftinfts and paffions ; and that the felfifh and 

 groffer affeftions predominate. The defires of the la- 

 vage are limited to his food, his female, and ileep. If 

 he is diflurbed in the enjoyment of thefe by the intru- 

 Con of his neighbour ; if the latter feizes the prey or 

 the wives of the former, what is the confcquence ? the 

 immediate forielture of life : The keennefs of appetite 

 or infatiate revenge prompts the one to butcher the o- 



