54
THE
UNitVERSAL ROLE
OF
EQUITY'. [SERr4.
kxXIII.
spirit of
all
social
duties, and summed them up
in this
short
sentence
:
Let not
the disciples
of Christ forget
this rule
;
nor
let
-the
most
eminent and exalted christians
think
it
beneath their study and their practice. The
love of God
and
Christ
is
not
the whole
of
our
duty,
nor
can
we
be
christians indeed,
if
we
neglect
to love
our
neighbour. How
vain
are
all
our pretences
to
faith
in
Christ, and piety toward God,
if
we
grow
careless
in
our conduct
toward men?
All
our fancied
attainments
in the school
of
Christ,
how
they
are
disgraced and de-
stroyed,
if
we
abandon
this
rule
of
moral virtue,
and
treat
our neighbours contrary
to
this divine
principle of
equity
and love
?
What
shall
we
answer
in
the great
judgment
-day
to
an
enquiring God,
when in flaming
fire
he
shalt
put
us
in
mind
;
" I
gave
you
a
plain
and
easy
rule
of
righteous-
ness
in my
word,
I
wrote
it
in
your hearts
also,
in
very
legible characters
:
If
you had
but
looked carefully
into
your
consciences,
you
might have
read it there
;
But
you
resolved
to sacrifice all to
your
lusts
:
you have
wronged
and defrauded your brethren, and exposed yourselves to
my
righteous
sentence, for
your
wilful
practice
of
unrigh-
teousness against
so
plain a
law
?"
It
is
a
just
remark
which has been often
made
on
this
occasion
:
"
The heathen emperor
Severus shall rise up
in
the
judgment
with such a
generation
of
christians,
and
condemn them
:
For
he, by
the light
of
nature,
was
taught
highly to
reverence
this
precept,"
when he
had
learned
it from the professors
of
christianity.
You
might read it
upon
the walls
of
his
palace
;
it
was
en-
graven there
to
govern
his
court
in the times
of
peace
;
and
it
is
said, he
carried it
to
war with
him
in
the
ban-
ners of
his
army,
that
it
might
regulate
his
conduct, upon
all
military occurrences.
What
a pity
it
is
that
Severus
was
a
heathen
!
Or
ra-
ther, what
a
shame
and sorrow
it
is,
that
there
should
be
so few
of
this
character
in the courts,
in
the armies,
in
the
markets, the
shops,
and
the
families
of
christians
!
When
will
that
blessed day come,
that
shall
bring
this
departed
glory back again to
the
.church, of Christ?
When
shall
the
spirit of
faith and charity
be
poured
down
from
on high,
and righteousness
come from heaven
to
dwell
among
us
?
,_.4