I read, then, in this parable, that a man had better make up his mind to be righteous, to be fair, to do what he can to pay what he owes, in any and all the relations of life--all the matters, in a word, wherein one man may demand of another, or complain that he has not received fair play. Arrange your matters with those who have anything against you, while you are yet together and things have not gone too far to be arranged; _you will have to do it_, and that under less easy circumstances than now. Putting off is of no use. You must. The thing has to be done; there are means of compelling you. 'In this affair, however, I am in the right.' 'If so, very well--for this affair. But I have reason to doubt whether you are capable of judging righteously in your own cause:--do you hate the man?' 'No, I don't hate him.' 'Do you dislike him?' 'I can't say I _like_ him.' 'Do you love him as yourself?' 'Oh, come! come! no one does that!' 'Then no one is to be trusted when he thinks, however firmly, that he is all right, and his neighbour all wrong, in any matter between them.' 'But I don't say I am all right, and he is all wrong; there may be something to urge on his side: what I say is, that I am more in the right than he.' 'This is not fundamentally a question of things: it is a question of condition, of spiritual relation and action, towards your neighbour. If in yourself you were all right towards him, you could do him no wrong. Let it be with the individual dispute as it may, you owe him something that you do not pay him, as certainly as you think he owes you something he will not pay you.' 'He would take immediate advantage of me if I owned that.' 'So much the worse for him. Until you are fair to him, it does not matter to you whether he is unfair to you or not.' 'I beg your pardon--it is just what does matter! I want nothing but my rights. What can matter to me more than my rights?'