SERMON XXV. 349 of the Canaanites, with his thumbs and his great toes cut off by Joshua, and confessing the justice of the great God. Three- score and ten kings, saithhe, with their great toes and their thumbs cut of, have gathered their meatunder my table : As I have done, so God bath requited me; Judges i. 7. See the dogs licking up the blood of Ahab in the place where he slew Naboth the Jezreelite, in order to take unjust possession of his vineyard ; 1 Kings xxi. 19. These things which were written of old time, remainupon recordfor our instruction in the days of christianity. But let us take more special notice what influences may be derived from the gospel, and from the name of Christ, to enforce the practice ofjustice among men. I. If we look to our Lord Jesus Christ as a law-giver, how various and how plain are his solemn and repeated commands, not only in his sermon upon the mount, but upon other occasions too, that justice be practised between man and man. He bath explained to us that glorious rule of equity, on purpose to make the practiceof justice easy, plain, and universal, love your neigh- hour as yourself; that is, do to others, as ye would that others du to you. We cannot but think that the holy soul of our Lord Jesus was concerned to secure the practice ofjustice and righteousness among his followers, when we read his terrible rebuke to the pharisees for the neglect of it, and a curse pronounced upon them ; Mat. xxiii. 23. " Woe unto you scribes and pharisees, hypocrites : for ye pay tythe of mint, andanise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. Judgmentin that place may signify commutative and distributive justice: all manner of exercise of righteousness towards their fellow-creatures. Under apretence of serving God better thanyour neighbours, and crowding his temple with your presence, and his altar with sacrifices andgifts, ye abandon common justice, ye neglectthe righteousness due to your fellow- creatures. There is a woe denounced uponyou, and my Fa- ther will inflict the curse, for he hates robber)for burnt-offering ; Is. lxi. 8. Nor will the Godof heaven excuseyou from paying your dues to, men on earth, under pretence of paying honour or sacrifices to him. There aremany other threatenings in the New Testament written against those that neglect justice, and pronounced by the apostles in the name and authority of Christ, their exalted Lord The covetousand extortioners, thosethat take away the light of their fellow-creatures, are shut out from the heavenly blessed- ness ; 1 Cor.vi. 10. " Know ye not, says theapostle, that none ofthese shall inherit the kingdomof God ?" . As much as to say, it is so very obvious a thing, that an unjust mancan never enter
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