1. That God is the judge of human actions; he will take cogni- sance of this, whether you do to others as they do to you, and you shall hear of it in your dealing Avith God ; that is the first and lowest thing ; and remember, you have to do with God as much as they have to do with you. He shows this to bridle the excesses of those that are in power. There are a sort of men that think they may do anything if they can do it safely: Micah ii. 1, ' That do evil because it is in the power of their hand.' They eagerly prosecute their j)urposes and desires when they have power to effect them. Now a Christian should pause upon the matter, and consider not only what is possible to be done, but what is just and lawful to be done ; and conscience should put a severe restraint when nothing else can hinder us ; as Joseph said. Gen. xlii. 18, ' This do, and live ; for I fear God.' He had a full advantage against them that wrought him so much mis- chief, but he had an inward principle laid up in his heart which begat a tenderness, ' I fear God.' But when men will do everything they are able to effect, and will do anything as far as their power will reach, remember you must come before God, and God can requite it, though they cannot. It is not conscience wliich governs the greatest jxart of the world, but interest. When it is not for men's interest, they will do no wrong ; but when they have power enough to do what they intend, they care not how they trample upon their own brethren, liate and pursue them with all that is evil. It is hard to avoid this snare when we are in power. Men forget God and abuse their power, and many times, by a strange providence, they are brought to suffer the like hardness themselves. When we see the oppressions of the innocent, and things carried so perversely, we are apt to say, Lord, who shall call these men into question ? who shall accuse them ? Why, the sighs and groans of tlie oppressed before God's tribunal upon^ all persons depend every moment, these will be more authentic witnesses than any matters of fact can be i)roduced in a lower court.
2. It implieth this, and it enlargeth the rule, that whatsoever usage we expect to meet with at God's liands, the same in some measure we should dispense and deal out to others. He is willing to give all, pro- vided you are willing to do to others as you would be done unto. All
^ Qu., " upon whom " ? — Ed,
]\IaT. VII. 12.] THE EIGHTEENTH SERMON. 381
the mercy and goodness we expect from him, that must sway our practice and conversation with men. Whatever need others have of us, the same need have we of God : Eph. vi. 8, ' Whatsoever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.' So for other relations. In the practice of this rule Christians are to consider not only how they would be dealt witlial by men, but with God himself for Christ's sake, which carrieth the precept far beyond the heathen latitude, and mightily enlargeth the rule. Alas ! from God we have nothing but undeserved mercy, pardon of sins, &c. So we are to practise this rule, not only to those that love us, but to our enemies ; we must show mercy to the worst for Christ's sake. Strict justice, by the light of nature, requires the injurious should suffer according to the wrong is done to me. Ay 1 but what do I expect from God ? Therefore, I am to consider how God will deal with me if I am rigid, severe, exact, and stand upon all things to the uttermost.
3. Another consideration which mightily enforceth the rule is, that if you do such things to others as you would not have them do to you, God will do that to you Avhich you have done to others ; for vengeance is his. They are not to do the same to you again, nor exact nor desire it, but God will. It is good to consider God's judgment, of counter- passion or retaliation : ' As thou hast done, so shall it be done to thee ; thy reward shall return upon thine own head,' Obad. ver. 15. They that were pitiless, merciless to their brethren in the day of their flight from Jerusalem, God will pay them home in their own coin : ' And Avith what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again,' Mat. vii. 1,2; Gen. ix. 6, '' Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.' It is not only a law what is to be done, but a rule of providence, what God will do. What more usual than malefactors to be dealt withal according to their own wickedness ? There are many instances of this judgment of counter-passion, God doing to them what they have done to others.
Adonibezek, when the people caught him and cut off his thumbs and his great toes, said, 'Threescore and ten kings having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table : as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.' Usually this is the dealing of God. The Israelites had their children drowned in the water by Pharaoh. What then ? Pharaoh and all his host, within a little while, all his nobility and men of war, were all drowned in the water. Ahab's blood was lapped up by dogs in the place where they shed the blood of Nabotli ; and Jezebel, being more guilty, was devoured with dogs. Ahab only permitted this contrivance, but Jezebel acted it. Ahab humbled himself, therefore he was buried with honour ; but Jezebel Avas entombed in the belly of dogs, and her flesh devoured by them. A gallows, we read, was made for Mordecai, and Haman was hanged on it himself Henry the Third of France, in that very chamber where the massacre was contrived against the Protestants, there he was slain; and his brother before him, Charles the Ninth, was found flowing in blood in his bed, who had shed so much of the blood of God's saints. Judges ix. 18, 19, compared with ver. 23, 24. When the men of Shechem had done great injury to the house of Jerubbaal, ' Ye are risen up against my father's house, and have slain his sons, threescore