409 / 514
SÈRM.
xtrv.1
CHRISTIAN
MORALITT,
VIZ.
JIÍSTICE,
&C.
401
am
bound
to love
or
serve every
brother, or every sister,
with
equal
degree
of
affection
and kindness, whatsoever
their
character
be,
whether virtuous or
vicious
:
Nor
to
bestow
equal
benefits
upon
them, where
there
is
not equal
necessity
;
this
can never
be
of
a
divine
appointment.
And though
there
is
some duty,
some
kindness, some
assistance
always
due
to those
that are
our
near
relatives,
yet
this
very
rule
of
justice
obliges us to give
more
re-
spect
or love to those
that
are
in
themselves more ho-
nourable
and
worthy;
and those
who
merit more
at
our
hands, may
reasonably expect
it.
This
will
farther ap-
pear
from the
next particular.
III.
Another instance
of justice
is,
love to those
that
love
us,
and gratitude
to those
that
have done
us
good.
Those
that
have
been
serviceable
to
us
in
the concerns
of
our
souls,
or our
bodies,
demand kindness
from
us,'
and
returns
of
service,
according
to
their
benefits,
and
our
capacity.
Let
us first
take notice
of
the
gratitude
that
is
due for
spiritual
benefits.
The christian Galatians,
who
were
converted
from
idolatry and
heathenism,
and reconciled
to
God
by
the preaching
of
St.
Paul; had
such
a power-
ful
and penetrating
sense
of
their
obligations
to him,
that
if
it
were
possible,
saith the apostle,
I
bear
you
record,
ye
would have
plucked
out
your
own
eyes,
and
given
them to
me.
Gal.
iv. 15.
And
when
the same
apostle
writes
to
Philemon,
who was
converted
to
the faith
by
his
ministry, he gently
insinuates the obligations
he
was
under;
though
I
do
not think
proper
to tell thee;
saith he,
how
thou
owest
unto
me even
thine ownself
:
ver.
19.
St
Paul
speaks
upon
this
principle
in
many places
of
his
epistles.
1
Cor.
ix. 11.
If
we
have
sown
unto you
spiri
-'
tual
things,
is
it
a
great
thing
we
shall
reap
your
car
-'
nal
things?
And
when
he gives
an
account of
the con-
tribution
which
the christians
of
Macedonia.
and Achaia
made for the
poor
saints
at
Jerusalem,
he
expresses him-
self thus
:
It
hath
pleased
them
verily
to makè
this
con
-.
tribution,
and their
debtors they are.
For
if`
the
gentiles
have
been
made
partakers of
Their
spiritual.
things;
their
duty
is
also to
minister
unto
them
in
carnal
things
:
be
cause
it
was
from the
Jews that
the gospel first came
forth,
and
was
preached among the
gentiles; Rom.
xv
.
There
is
some
sort
of
gratitude due
Also-to
`those.
who
VOL.r.
2n