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SLIìh1.
XXXIII.
THE
UNIVERSAL
RULE
OF
EQUITY.
THE
RECOLLECTION.
Blessed Saviour, how
great
is thy goodness,
to
give us
so
complete,
so
plain,
so easy,
and
so
divine
a rule,
to
square
all
our actions
in the social life
!
How happily
hast
thou comprized Moses
and the prophets
in two
short
lines,
that
is,
the command
of
a
supreme love
to
the
Lord
our God, and
a love
to
our neighbour
like:
that
which we
bear
to
ourselves
?
Remember,
O my soul, this
short and comprehensive
lesson
;
and amongst
all thy
duties and
zeal
toward thy
God, forget
not
this rule .of;conduct toward
thy fellow-
creatures.
I
can never complain,
it
is
too
high
and hard
for
my
understanding
to
apprehend,
or too tiresome
and
painful for
my
memory
to
retain, or too burthensome to
carry
it
about
always with
me.
I
am
convinced, fully
convinced,
of
the
justice
of
it
It
strikes upon
my
con-
science
with-strong light and evidence, and sometimes
I
feel the
force
of
it,
like
an inward
motive,
awakening
me
to the
practice
of
all
that
it enjoins. O
that
I might ever
live
under 'its
.pnevailing influences,
and then I might
humbly
appeal
to
God,
that
I
have
transacted
my
affairs
with men;
by
the
principles of sincere
godliness, truth,,
and
justice.
Forgive,
O
my
gracious
God,
all
the wretched instances
of
my
departure
from
this
sacred
law
of
equity. This
sa
-.
cred
law.
will awaken
the
soul to
repentance,
as well as
direct
it
to
duty;
and
whatever station
of
life
I
am
en;.
gaged
in,
whatever
rank, character,
office,
or
relation
I
bear in the
world,
or
in
the
church
of
Christ;
let
me
form all
my
future
conduct
by
this
command
of
my Sa-
viour, let
me
bring
all my
past actions
to
this
holy test,
and
let
my
conscience
repent or
rejoice.
O how
bright
a
lustre would
be
cast
on
the religion
of
Jesus, and
on all
the professors
of
it,
if
this rule were
al-
ways
in use
!
But,
alas
!
it
lies
silent
in
our
bibles,
and
we
hear
it
not;,
qr it
sleeps in
our
bosom,
and
we
awake
it
not, when
we
have most need
of
its
assistance. We
read
and
we
forget
even'
this
short rule
of
righteousness,
and
thus
we
practise iniquity daily,
and
injure our neighbours
without remorse. O wretched
creatures that
we
are
!
How
great
is
our
negligence,
and
our
guilt,
that
we
do
not
so
much
as ask
our.
consciences honestly,
how we
should
E4