EdUALITY OF MANKIND. 





thirst, cold and heat, motion and rest, are com 

 mon to all orders and conditions of men ; and in 

 order to supply and alleviate such wants, the aid 

 of* our fellow-men is indispensably requisite, to 

 enable us to obtain food, raiment, light, warmth, 

 comfortable accommodation, and shelter from the 

 blasts of the tempest. We all stand in need of 

 comfort, and advice in the hour of difficulty and 

 danger ; we all long for the love, and friendship, 

 and good offices of those around us ; and we all 

 thirst for an increase of knowledge, happiness, 

 and joy. And those wants and desires can be 

 supplied and gratified only by the kindly inter 

 course and affection of kindred spirits. 



All are exposed to the same sorrows and af 

 flictions. Disappointments, anxiety, disgrace, 

 accidents, pain, sickness, disease, loss of health, 

 fortune, and honour, bereavement of children, 

 friends, and relatives, are equally the lot of the 

 prince and the peasant. The prince in the cradle 

 is a being as weak and feeble, as dependent on 

 his nurse, has as many wants to be supplied, is 

 liable to as many diseases and accidents, and 

 requires as many exertions to learn to lisp, to 

 speak, and to walk, as the new-born babe of his 

 meanest subject. Nay, the rich and the power 

 ful are frequently exposed to miseries and vexa 

 tions from fancied insults, affronts, and provoca 

 tions, from frustrated hopes, from pride, vanity, 

 and ill-humour, from abortive projects and dis 

 concerted plans, to which the poor are generally 

 strangers. If we enter into one of the abodes of 

 poverty, where one of the victims of disease is 

 reclining, we may behold a poor emaciated mor 

 tal, with haggard looks and a heaving breast, 

 reposing on a pillow of straw, surrounded by 

 ragged children and an affectionate wife, all 

 eager to sooth his sorrows and alleviate his dis 

 tress. If we pass through a crowd of domestics 

 and courtly attendants into the mansion of opu 

 lence, where disease or the harbinger of death 

 has seized one of its victims, we may also behold 

 a wretch, pale, blotched, and distorted, agonizing 

 under the pain of the asthma, the gravel, or the 

 gout, and trembling under the apprehensions of 

 the solemnity of a future judgment, without one 

 sincere friend to afford him a drop of consola 

 tion. Neither the splendour of his apartment, 

 nor the costly crimson with which his couch is 

 hung, nor the attentions of his physicians, nor 

 the number of his attendants, can prevent the 

 bitter taste of nauseous medicines, the intolera 

 ble pains, the misgivings of heart, and the pangs 

 of conscience which he feels in common with 

 the meanest wretch who is expiring on a duns- 

 bill. 



Lastly, All ranks come to the same termina 

 tion of their mortal existence. &quot; Dust thou art, 

 and unto dust thou shall return,&quot; is a decree 

 wnich has gone forth against every inhabitant of 

 our globe, of whatever kindred, rank, or nation. 

 The tombs of mighty princes, of intrepid gene- 



rals, of illustrious statesmen, ma) be adorned 

 with lofty columns, with sculptured marble, and 

 flattering inscriptions ; but within these var 

 nished monuments their bodies present putrid 

 carcasses, as loathsome, and as much the prey of 

 worms and corruption, as the corpse of their 

 meanest vassal. Their eyes are equally impe 

 netrable to the light of day, their ears are equally 

 deaf to the charms of music, and their tongues 

 are equally silent in this land of deep forgetful- 

 ness. This consideration of itself fully demon 

 strates, if any demonstration be necessary, the 

 natural equality of mankind, and that there is 

 no essential difference between the noble and the 

 ignoble, the emperor, and the slave. And since 

 mankind are all equally liable to afflictions and 

 distresses, and are all journeying to the tomb, 

 nothing can be more reasonable than the exercise 

 of love, with all its kindred affections, towards 

 every class of our fellow-men, in order to alle 

 viate their sorrows, and to cheer them on their 

 passage through this region of mortality. 



Thus it appears, that there is a natural equal 

 ity subsisting among mankind, in respect of their 

 origin, their corporeal organization, their intel 

 lectual powers, their moral depravity, their 

 wants, their afflictions, their pleasures, and en 

 joyments, and the state to which they are reduc 

 ed after they have finished the career of their 

 mortal existence. The illustration of such cir 

 cumstances would be quite unnecessary, were it 

 not that a certain proportion of mankind, under 

 the influence of pride and other malignant pas 

 sions, are still disposed to look down on certain 

 classes of their fellow-mortals as if they were a 

 species of beings of an inferior order in the scale 

 of existence. To the propriety of the senti 

 ments now stated, the sacred Scriptures bear 

 ample testimony. &quot; The rich and the poor meet 

 together ; the Lord is the maker of them all.&quot;* 

 &quot; Did not he that made me in the womb Ipake 

 my servant, and did he not fashion us alike ?&quot;f 

 &quot; God hath made of one blood all nations of men 

 for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath 

 determined the times before appointed, and the 

 bounds of their habitation.&quot;! 



Since, therefore, it appears, that mankind are 

 equal in every thing that is essential to the hu 

 man character, this equality lays abroad founda 

 tion for the exercise of universal love towards 

 men of all nations, tribes, conditions, and ranks. 

 It must obviously appear contrary to every prin 

 ciple of reason, repugnant to every amiable feel 

 ing, and inconsistent with the general happiness 

 of the species, that intelligent beings, who are all 

 children of the same Almighty Parent, members 

 of the same great family, and linked together by 

 so many fraternal ties, &quot;should &quot; bite and devour 

 one another,&quot; engage in hostile enterprises 

 against each other, look ckown with scorn and 



Prov. xxii. 2. t Job xxxi. 15. I Acts rvll. 28. 



