SERM. deal with others, as right Reason and IX. our Confciences inform us, that we 4 ought to deal with them. For, after all, when we have made Another Man's Cafe Ours, we are still left to judge, what, under fuch a Change of Circumftances, we might, in Equity and Reason, expect from him, before we can determine, after what manner we are to behave our felves towards him: And, therefore, which way foever we take the Measure of our Duty; to the Bar of Equity and Reason we must, it seems, in order to the fixing it, always finally appeal. But the Maxim 'Tis true, we muft of the Text is That, which, of all others, doth most effectually affift us towards making a free use of our Reason, and forming right Judgment of things, on fuch Occafions: For, by the Means of it, we are able to confider our Duty without prejudice, and to state the Bounds of it impartially and fairly. When we determine amifs concerning the Obligations incumbent upon us, in respect of other Men; 'tis by reafon of that strong weight of IX. of Self-love, which, like a Byafs, in- SERM. clines, and fecretly fways our Minds towards That Side, on which our Own Interest lies. To fet this Error right, we suppose our Selves to be the Men, who are to receive this Treatment from Others, which we are about to practise toward Them; and, then, the fame Selfish-Principle makes that appear ve ry hard and unreasonable, which before it inclin'd us to approve; and thus our warp'd and perverted Judgment, by being bent as much towards the Oppofite fide, recovers its ftraitness. The Rule of the Text, therefore, is, at the Bottom, a wife Art of rebating one degree of our Partiality by another; it enables us to take two several Views of our Duty, to eye it in different Situations, and under different Lights; and by that means, more diftinctly and thoroughly to difcern it And, in this Senfe, Measuring our felves by our felves, and comparing our selves with 12. our felves, we take the furest way to be both Juft, and Wife, 2 Cor, X. There's SERM. There's nothing, we know, that gives a Man fo true and lively a Senfe of the Sufferings of Others, or reftrains him fo powerfully from doing Unrighteous and Oppreffive things; as his having fmarted, formerly, himself, under the Experience of them. Now, the fuppofing another Man's ill ufage to be Ours, is, the giving our felves a prefent Sense, as it were, a kind of Feign'd Experience of it; which doth, for the time, serve all the Purposes of a True one. Upon these Accounts it is, that the Precept of the Text carries greater Evidence, and a fuller degree of Conviction in it, than any other Rule of Morality; its apparent Equity and Reasonableness, is what we are next to confider. And this is fo plain a Point, as not to want, or indeed be capable of, a Solemn Proof: For the Precept manifeftly aims at That, which is the known Foundation of Equity and Justice, in all Matters of Intercourse between Man and Man; the reducing things to one Common Standard, by IX. Deut. xxv. 13,14 by the Application of which they are all SERM. to be examin'd, and try'd. Thou shalt not have in thy Bag, or in thine Houfe (faid the Levitical Law) divers Weights, and divers Measures; a Great and a Small [i. e. one, wherewith to Buy; and another, wherewith to Sell:] But thou shalt have a perfect and just Weight, a perfect and just Meafure fbalt thou have. What is faid here of ordinary Traffick and Dealing, holds as true of the General Commerce of Human Life, and that Exchange of Good Offices by which Society is upheld: There must be a perfect Weight, and a juft Measure, by which all Men are mutually oblig'd to regulate their Conduct, in acting and fuffering, 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 Cafes, and to all Perfons, even as we would be done unto. There is no one fo abfurd and unreasonable, as not to fee: and acknowledge the Abfolute Equity of this Command, in the Theory, how ever he may fwerve and decline from it in his Practice; and to agree upon it as SERM. that Golden Mean, which, if univer IX. fally obferv'd, would make the World univerfally Happy; every Man a Benefactor, a good Angel, a Deity, as it were, to his Fellow-Creatures; and Earth, the very Image of Heaven! I need, I can fay no more, concerning the Reasonablenefs of this Precept: However, it may help to excite and quicken your Defires, and Hopes of obeying it, if I proceed, as I propos'd, to point out fome Diftinguishing Properties and Advantages of it. The First of which is, that it is alike eafie and obvious to all Understandings, to the meanest, and most ignorant Men, as well as to those of the greatest Parts and Improvements. God is, on this, as well as on other Accounts, no Refpecter of Perfons; having made that which is moft neceflary, moft common, and, confequently, fuited this Principle, which all Men have equal occasion to use, equally to the Apprehenfions of all Men. They, therefore, who are incapable of |