462 t1NivrnseL RULE or ) tiorri. good offices, whereby society is upheld, must be regulated intha same manner, andby thesame rule ; and the immediateconviction of theequity of it, doth as strongly strike the conscience. There must be a perfect weight, and a just measure, saith the author be- fore-cited; by which all men are mutually obligedto regulate their conduct, in acting and suffering, in commanding and obeying, in giving and receiving : and this can be no other than the equal and righteous rule of the text ; the doing in all cases and to all persons, even as wewould be done unto. There is noone so ab- surd and unreasonable, as not to see, and acknowledge the abso- lute equityofthiscommand inthe theory, howeverhe may swerve and decline fromit in his practice." For, it is founded notonly in thereason of things, and in the common share, and equal inte- rest 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, asa law of behaviourtowards our fellow-creatures. IV. Hence it comes to pass, thatit is a precept particularly fitted for practice, because it includes in it a powerful motive to stir usup to dowhat he enjoins. This character of it, I borrow from the same author, who talks thus upon it : " Other moral maxims propose naked truths to the understanding, which ope- rate oftenbut faintly and slowly on the will and passions, the two activeprinciples of the mind of man : But it is the peculiar cha- racter of this 'rule, that it addresseth itself equally to all these powers, even to the passions, and the will, as well as the under- standing. 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 moving manner, to the performance of it ; for in truth, its seat is not more in the brain, than in the heart of man : It appeals toour verysenses themselves, and exerts its secret force in soprevail- ing a way, that it is even felt as well as understood by us." " There is nothing that we know; that gives a man so true and lively a sense of the sufferings of others, or restrains himso powerfully from doing unrighteous andOppressive things, as his having smarted formerly himself under the experience of them. Now the supposing another man's ill usage to be our own; is the giving ourselves apresent sense, as it were, and akind of feigned experienceof it ; which doth, for the time serve all the purposes of a true one." V. It issuch a rule, as if well applied, will almost always secure our neighbour from injury, and secure us from- guilt, if we should chance to hurt him. God will not impute guilt to us, if we should happen to mistake in a point of doubtful en-
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