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SEAM.
XXV.] ERRISTIAN MORALITY, VIZ. JUSTICE,
&C.
417
curse pronounced
upon
them
;
Mat.
xxiii.
3.
Woe
unto
sou
scribes
and
pharisees,.
hypocrites
:
for
ye
pay tithe
of
mint,
and
anise,
and
cumnain,
and
hare
omitted the
weightier
matters
of
the
law,
judgment,
mercy,
andfaith.
Judgment
in
that
place may
signify
commutative and
distributive
justice
;
all
manner
of
exercise
of
righteous-
ness towards
their
fellow-
creatures.
Under
a
pretence
of
serving
God better than your
neighbours, and crowd-
ing
his
temple
with
your
presence, and
his
altar
with
sa-
crifices
and
gifts, ye
abandon
common
justice,
ye
neglect
the
righteousness due
to
your
fellow
-
creatures. There
is
a
woe
denounced upon
you,
and
my
Father
will
inflict
the
curse, for
lie
hates robbery
for
burnt-
ofering;
Is.
lxi.
8.
Nor
will
the
God
of
heaven excuse you from
paying
your
dues to men
on
earth,
under pretence
of
paying honours or
sacrifices to
him.
There are
many
other threatenings
in
the
New
Testa-
ment
written against those
that
neglect
justice, and pro-
nounced
by
the apostles
in the
name and
authority
of
Christ,
their exalted Lord. The
covetous and
extorti-
oners, those
that
take
away
the
right of their
fellow
-crea-
tures, are shut
out
from
the
heavenly blessedness
;
1
Cor,
vi.
10.
"
Know
ye not,
says
the
apostle,
that
none
of
these
shall
inherit
the kingdom
of God
?"
As
much as to
say,
it
is so
very obvious a thing,
that
an
unjust
man can
never enter into
heaven, whatsoever
pretence
he
makes,
that
I
may
appeal
to the
meanest
capacity,
ye all
know
it.
God
will
repay vengeance
to
them
that
do
wrong
to
their
neighbours,
whether
they be
great
or
mean, for
there
is
no respect of persons
with
him.
Col. iii. 25.
II.
Consider Christ
as a
pattern ofjustice
and
righte-
ousness.
Look
to
the example
of
our Lord
Jesus
;
you
see him, who
was
the sovereign
Magistrate and Lord
of
all, who
could
distribute crowns and
kingdoms to men,
submitting himself
to
commutative
justice
among crea-
tures.
Behold the
son
of
God,
who was
the brightness
of
his
Father's
glory,
and the delight
of
his
soul before
the crea-
tion
;
behold
him
stooping down
to
our world,
and
taking
flesh
and
blood
upon
him to become
our brother, that
he
might
shew us how we
ought
to
love
our brethren.
It
was
an
unparalleled instance of
divine love
that
Christ
has
given
us,
when
he
came down from
heaven
t9 become
VOL.
I.
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