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SERi6i.
THE UNIVERSAL
RVLE
OF
EQVITY.
43
conscience
judges they should deal
with
you."
but
this
leads
me
to
the
Third
enquiry,
viz.
wherein
do
the peculiar excellen-
ties
of
this
rule
appear:
This golden
rule
hath many
excellent properties
be-
longing
to
it.
I
shall
mention
a
few
on
purpose
to
im-
press
it
on
your
consciences with more conviction, plea-
sure, and power.
,
I.
It
is
a rule
that
is
easy
to be
understood,
and-
as
easy to be
applied
by
the meanest and weakest
under-
standing.
It
is
so
plain,
that what
is
said
by
Isaiah
con-
cerning
all
the precepts
of
the
gospel,
is
more eminently
true of this;
"it
is
a
highway
of
holiness, and
the
way-
faring man, though
á
fool,
shall
not
err therein," Is.
xxxv.
8.
The
laws
of
man
are often expressed
in such obscure
language and terms
of
art,
that
they
puzzle
us
to find
out
the meaning
of
them:
And the nice
distinctions
and
subtle reasonings
of
men,
oftentimes add
to
their dark-
ness,
and raise
new
disputes
:
But
this
is
a
law
that
every man
understands; nor
is
it
easy to
be
clouded by
the
comments
and
glosses
of
crafty
men,
if
we
are but
sincerely resolved to
judge
and practise according to
it.
By
the
means
of
this rule,
they
who
never studied the
civil
law,
nor took
pains
in
enquiring the moral dictates
of
the light
of nature
;
they
who
never examined
the sta-
tutes of a nation, nor the rules of
natural
justice,
are
all
furnished
with
a
law or
rule
of
equity
in
their
own minds,
by which to
manage their whole
practice,
with
regard
to
their
neighbours.
Those
who
are
not capable of long
trains of
reasoning,
or
of
applying several general rules
to all their
particular
cases
;
yet are able
to look
into
their
own
hearts,
and
to ask this easy
question,
"
Would.
I
myself
be
content
to have
others deal thus
with
rue
?
Why then should
I
deal thus with
another
?"
II.
It
is
a very
short
rule, and
easy to be
remember.
ed
The weakest memory
can
retain
it;
and the
Mean-
est
of mankind
may
carry
this
about
with them,
and
have
-it
ready upon
all
occasions.
It
is
.of
admirable
use
to
solve
a thousand
cases
of
conscience
that
may
arise
on
the sudden,
and
may
perplex our
minds with difficulty.
`
It
lies
ready,"
says
a considerable
author,
_"
for pre-
sent
use
upon
all exigencies
and
occasions.
We
can
4