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SERMON
XXXIII.
TIIE
UNIVERSAL RULE
OF
EQUITY.
MAT. VII.
12.
All things whatsoever ye would
that
men
should
do
unto you, do
ye
even
so
unto
them;
for
this
is
the
law
and
the
prophets.
THEN our
blessed
Lord took upon
him the
public
office
of a.prophet
or
teacher amongst
men, he
found
it
was
not
Only
necessary
to
instruct
them
in
the sacred
mysteries
of
religion, and inform them
of their
duty to
God
his
Father, and
to
himself,
but
he
employed much
of
his
ministry
also,
to
teach
them
the
practice of
social
virtue,
arid how
they should behave
toward
their
fellow»
creatures.
In
the
heathen
world the
rules
of
morality
were
lost
in
a
great
measure,
as well
as
the
rules
of
piety
and
worship
;
and
the Jews; the
peculiar people
of
God;
had
grossly
corrupted
both the one and the other.
As
our
Saviour
refined the
practice of religion towards God,
and
raised it
by
his
gospel, to
a
high and
heavenly degree,
beyond what mortals had
known before,
so
he
explained
and
established the rules
of
moral virtue,
in a
more glo-
rious and convincing
manner than the
world had been ac-
quainted
with.
Read
his life,
and observe
how
often
he
takes
occa-
sion
in
the several seasons
of
his
preaching, to give
parr
ticular
directions for
our conduct
toward
our
neighbours.
But after
all,
he knew
that
the
nature of
man was.cor-
rupt,
his
passions strong, his memory frail;
and
that
he
would
be
ready
to
neglect
or forget
his
various
sacred
precepts, when there
was
most need to practise them
;
and therefore he thought it
proper
to
give
one
short and
comprehensive rule
of
equity to
regulate
all
our conduct,
-that
should be
written
as
it
were in
our
very souls
:
And
this
is
contained
in
the words
of
my
text,
"Whatsoever
ye
would
that
men should
do unto
you,
-do
ye
even
so
unto
them
;
for this
is
the
law :and
the
prophets."
.
To dilate
a
little
upon this subject, and refresh.
a
living
sense;
of
it
upon your
memories and your consciences,
I
Shall follow this
method,
and enquire,
D4