A fourth volume containing one hundred and fifty sermons on several texts of Scripture…

8th 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. 24.13. when it speaks of the Poor's due. Carnal, wicked, covetous Men stand upon Property; 1 Sam. 25.11. 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. 3.27. With-hold 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 which thou detainest from them is theirs: it is not ours when Christ calleth for it, and his Members need it. Ambrose saith, Non qui capit aliena, sed qui non dedit sua, &c. Though we 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 according to the Mind of the Master.

Secondly; What reason have we to look after this Grace of Righteousness, and to be just?

1. It is a piece of God's Image, Ephes. 4.24. That ye put on the New Man, which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness. 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.