65 / 674
SERNI.
XXX111.j
THE UNIVERSAL RULE
OF
EQUITY.
45
as soon
as
it
is
mentioned, strikes the conscience with
conviction
of
the
justice
alt.:
And what
is
said here of
traffic
and dealing, holds
as
truly
of
.the general
coni-
merce.between
man and man,
ín
all the
ordinary and
extraordinary
'affairs
of
life
:
That
mutual exchange
of
good
offices,
whereby society
is
upheld,
must
be
regu-
lated in the same manner,
and
by
the
same
rule
;
and
the
immediate .conviction
of
the
equity
of
it,
loth
as
strongly
strike the conscience.
There must
be
a
perfect
Weight,
and
a
just
measure, saith the
author
before cited,
by which
all men
are mutually
obliged
to
regulate their
conduct, in acting
and
suffering, in
commanding and
obeying, in giving
and receiving
:
and
this
can
he
no
other
than
the
equal and
righteous.
rule of
the
text
;
the
doing
in all cases
and
to all persons, even as
we
would
be done unto.
There
is
no one
so
absurd and
unrea-
sonable,
as
not
to,
see,
and acknowledge
the
absolute
equity of
this
command
in
the
theory, however he
may
swerve
and decline
from
it
in
his..
practice."
For,
it
is
founded.
not
only
in
the
reason
of
things,
and
in
the
common share,
and equal interest,
that
we
all have in
human
nature
;
but
it
is
also
written
in
the most sensible
and the
tenderest
part of
our constitution
;
and
from.
thence it
is
derived
to the
mind
and
judgment,
as
a
law
of
behaviour towards
our
'.fellow-
creatures..
IV.
Hence
it comes
tò pass,
that
it
is
a
precept parti-
cularly fitted for practice, because it includes
in
it.á
pow-
erful.motive to
stir
us up to
do
what it enjoins. This cha-
racter of
it,
I
borrow from the
same
author,
who
talks
thus
upon
it:
"
Other moral
maxims
propose naked truths
to the
understanding,
which
operate
often
but
faintly
and
slowly
on
'the
will
and
passions, the two
active principles
of
the mind
of
man
:
But
it
is
the peculiar
character
of
this
rule,
that it
addresseth itself equally
to all
these
powers, even to
the
passions,
and
the
will,,
as well as
the
understanding.
It
not
only
directs,
but influences;
it
imparts
both.
light and
heat;
and
at
the
same time
that
it
informs
us
clearly what
we
are
to do,
excites
us
also in,
the most
tender and
moving
manner,
to the performanc.e
of
it;
for
in
truth,
its
seat
is
not
more
in
the
brain,
than
in
the
heart
of
man
:
It
appeals
to
our
very senses
them-
selves,
and exerts
its
secret force
in so
prevailing
a
way
,.
that
it
is
even felt
as well
as
understood
by
us."
,