the noblest and highest ends of their creation. By the law of creation
Another [Cicero], speaking of men of public spirits, saith, 'Such ennobled spirits, they are the dear offspring, the delight and care of God; a divine race it is; from the heavens they comedown to us, and to the heavens again, whenever they take their leaves of us, shall they triumphantly return.'
A Catiline, says the satirist, a trouble of mankind, grows as the weed, almost everywhere; but a Brutus, a worthy patriot, that bears the welfare of others, the true prosperity of his native land, upon his heart, and sets his eyes perpetually thereon for good; such an one is a rare jewel, worthy of all honour and embraces wherever he is found.
Men of public spirits, of all men, do most exalt the Lord, and honour the Lord; and therefore the Lord, first or last, will most exalt them and honour them, 1 Sam. 2:30. In all the ages of the world, and in all the nations of the world, men of most public spirits have been best beloved, and most highly honoured. A man of narrow spirit is like the hedge-hog, that never goes abroad but to gather what he can for himself, whoever suffers by it; but a man of a public spirit is like the pelican, that draws out her own blood for the good of others; and therefore the light of nature, as well as the law of grace, will lead men by the hand to honour such.
4. Fourthly, Men of public spirits do most and best answer to one of the noblest and highest ends of their creation. By the law of creation every man is bound to serve the public, to serve his generation. A narrow, a private-spirited man is a shame to his creation, because he walks so contrary to the great intendment of God in it. It is a base and unworthy spirit for a man to make himself the centre of all his actions. The very heathen man could say, 'That a man's country, and his friends, and others, challenge a great part of him.' That man sins against the very law of his being who is swallowed up in his own
private interests. Men of public spirits should not bear the sword of justice in vain, for by the law of creation they are bound so to handle it as to be 'a terror to evil-doers and a praise to them that do well,' Rom. 13:3, 4. It is cruelty to the good to spare the bad; it is wrong to the sheep to let the wolves alone; it is the death of the lambs to spare the lions. 'If you will pity Cataline,' says one, 'pity Rome much more;' let the whole have a share in your pity rather than a part. Pereat unus magis quam unitas, Better have one injurious person sit mourning than a whole nation languishing, &c. Men of public spirits should be for the ease of all, and the peace of all, and the comfort of all, and the encouragement of all, and the safety of all. But this age is full of drones and ciphers, and of spiritless, lifeless men, who look at nothing, who design nothing, who aim at nothing, and who endeavour nothing, but how to raise themselves, and greaten themselves, and enrich themselves, and build up themselves, though it be upon other's ruins. How many are there who are so swallowed up in their own interests and private concernments, that Gallio-like, Acts 18:17, they care not whether the public sink or swim. These put me in mind of Jotham's parable, Judg. 9:8–11, &c. The trees went forth to anoint a king over them. They go to the olive, to the fig tree, and to the vine. But shall I leave my fatness? saith the olive; shall I leave my sweetness? saith the fig-tree; and shall I leave my wine? saith the vine, and go up and down for other trees? This is the very temper, spirit, and carriage of many in our day. If you go to them and desire them to lay out themselves for the public good, What, say some, shall we leave our ease, our pleasure, our profits? and, say others, shall we run this and that hazard? shall we lose such and such friends, and create to ourselves such and such enemies, to serve other men, to save other men, to advantage other men? We cannot do it, we will never do it. Learned Tully was a zealous patriot and lover of his country; he wished two wishes, though he never saw either of them effected. One was, that he 'might see Rome settled in