Eighth rule, We must help others according to our power. This is a part of righteousness. In the law it is said, ' It shall be righteousness unto thee before the Lord thy God,' Deut. xxiv. 13 ,when it speaks of the poor's due. Carnal, wicked, covetous men stand upon property ; 1 Sam. XXV. 11, 'Shall I take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers ? ' &c. Thy estate is not thy own, but God's ; it is ours in law, but God's in use, and you are but stewards for him. This will be no plea in the day of judgment to say, It was my own, and I did not rob others : thou art a thief before God. if thou givest not. He that useth not his estate as God would have him use it, is a spiritual thief : Prov. iii. 27, *' Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thy hand to do it.' When the poor are cast upon thee by God's providence, they are a kind of owners ; that whicli thou detainest from them is theirs ; it is not ours when Christ calleth for it, and his members need it. Ambrose saith, Non qui ccrpit aliena, sed qui non dedit sua, d'c. — Though Ave have done no wrong, yet if we have not disposed our goods and estate for God's glory, it is injustice and sin ; as stewards must dispose of goods accord- ing to the mind of the master.
Secondly, What reason have we to look after this grace of righteous- ness, and to be just ?
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1. It is a piece of Grod's image : Eph. iv. 24, ' That ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holi- ness.' Nothing makes us so like God as righteousness ; we must be like God not only in holiness, but in righteousness. See the distinction between these two ; the one signifies purity of nature, and the other justice and equity in our dealing and conversation. For God is holy in all his ways, and righteous in all his works ; his essence is holy, and his administrations just. So the new man is created after God in righteousness and true holiness ; be like God in both.
2. It is an evidence of the truth of grace to walk in all your relations righteously, amiably, and justly. We are bidden ' to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance,' Luke iii. 8 ; that is, such as are meet evidences that there is a change wrought. What are these ? Defraud no man ; * Exact no more than is appointed you,' ver. 13. And when the soldiers came to ask, What shall we do ? he said, * Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages,' ver. 14. And that is the reason the children of God so much stand upon their righteousness, because it is an evidence of their interest in grace : Job xxvii. 6, ' My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go ; ' Acts X. 35, ' In every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh right- eousness, is accepted with him.' Still it is made to be the evidence that God hath taken us into his own grace, and that we are heirs of salvation.
3. It is a delight and rejoicing to God to see his children just and righteous in all their dealings. God exceedingly hates iniquity in traffic and commerce : Deut. xxv. 15, 16, ' Thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have ; that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee : for all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord thy God.' And it is repeated again : Prov. XX. 10, ' Divers weights and divers measures both of them are alike abomination to the Lord.' But now it is said, Prov. xv. 9, ' He loveth him that follows after righteousness.' So Ps. cvi. 3, ' Blessed are they that keep j udgment and he that doth righteousness at all times,'
4. It is necessary for the honour of religion. Grace teacheth us to live soberly and righteously. Truants at school are a reproach and disgrace to the skill of the teacher ; and so carnal professors are a reproach to God. If men are unrighteous, they never learned it of grace. Hypocrites usually abound in acts of worship) and duties of the first table, but they seldom make conscience of duties of the second table, here they bewray themselves. What is the cry of the world? None so unjust and unrighteous in their dealings as those that profess religion ; this brings a reproach upon the ways of God : Neh. V. 9, ' It is not good that ye do : ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies ? ' It is high time to vindicate religion, and do it all the right we can, and make it comely : Piom. xii. 17, ' Provide things honest in the sight of all men.' The wicked world are apt to speak ill of the gospel of God. Now the Lord would have the world know that there is no such friend to human society as his grace. The ancient fathers were wont to make challenges, Dent imperatores tales, tales consiiles, tales exac- toresfisci, talem exerciium, <tc. — Let all the world show such emperors,