332 CIIRISTIAIV MORALITY: mend justice to your meditation and practice.V. Propose t few directions hów to guard yourselves against temptations to in- justice, or rather point out some of the chief springs of injustice, that you may avoidthem. And while I proceed in this work; you will rejoice inwardly _if you find your own consciences sincerely answering to the cha- racters of this virtue in any good measure : And if there be any shall find himself a guilty sinner, and very deficient in this prac- tice, let him be reproved, ashamed, and amend. First then, Let 'us consider the nature of this justice, and whatis the most universal rule of it. Ingeneral, justice consists in giving to every one their due. According to thestations inwhich God has placed us, and accord- ing to the severalrelations in which providence has joined us to our fellow=creatures, everyperson we converse with hath some- thing due to him ; and this we are boundtopay as men, and much snore as christians. But since cases and circumstances are infi- nite, and it is impossible for any book to contain, or any man to receive and remember somany special rules for justice, as there may be occurring circumstances in the world, which require the practice of it ; our.Lord Jésus Christ has therefore given us one short rule whereby to judge what is due to every man, and fitted, it to every purpose : Mat. vii. 12. All thingswhatsoever yewould that men should do sunto you, do ye even so to them; For this is the law and theprophets. I confess there may happen inhuman affairs some cases of such exceeding intricacy and difficulty, that very few persons have skill enough to determine precisely what is due, or. what -could be strictly just and righteous : Nor will this rule infallibly'. leadus into the perfect knowledge of it ; but even in such cases, a sincere honest man consulting his own conscience, and asking, what he thought reasonable that his neighbour, in the like case, should do to him, would seldomwander far from strict justice; and by practising agreeably to this general law, would approve' hisconduct both in the sight of God and men. Thus our blessed Saviour hath set up a court of equity in. the breast of everyman. This rule is easy to be understood, and ready to be applied upon every occasion. The meanest of them., may learn and practise it, and the highest are bound to obey it. Thisis that divine and comprehensiverule of justice or righteous- ness, by which you must regulate all your actions, and give every one their due : " Do to others, as you would have them do to you :" Not as an unreasonable self-love -would wish to receive from others, but as your own conscience would think it reason- ableothers should do to you, as Ihave explained it at large in a sermon on thattext.* S See Sermon XXXIII.
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