"3 ful and commendable employments, as to have no leisure for vices, and to govern themselves by such rules of temperance and prudence, that every sensual appetite may be kept in subjection to the dictates of reason, and the laws of religion; always remembering that Christianity both delivers to us the strictest precepts of holiness, and sets before us the strongest motives to it; our peculiar relation to a holy God and Saviour; our being "the temples of the Holy Ghost," which "temple, if any man defile, him will God destroy ;' our being "pilgrims and strangers on earth," not intended to have our portion here, but to inherit a spiritual happiness hereafter; and "every one that hath this hope, must purify himself " even as God is pure." I shall conclude, therefore, with St. Paul's exhortation: "Fornication, "and all uncleanness, let it not be once named "among you, as becometh saints; neither filthi66 ness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are "not convenient; for this ye know, that no "whoremonger, nor unclean person, hath any "inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of "God. Let no man deceive you with vain words; "for because of these things cometh the wrath of "God upon the children of disobedience. Be not 5 ye, therefore, partakers with them; walk as chil"dren of light, and have no fellowship with the "unfruitful works of darkness."6 (2) 1 Cor. vi. 19. (3) 1 Cor. iii. 17. (4) 1 Pet. ii. 11. (5) 1 John iii. 3. (6) Eph. v. 3-11. LECTURE XXVI. Eighth Commandment. UNDER the Eighth Commandment is comprehended, our duty to our neighbour, in respect of his worldly substance. And, to explain it distinctly, I shall endeavour to show, I. What it forbids; and II. What, by consequence, it requires. I. As to the former: The wickedness of mankind has invented ways to commit such an astonishing variety of sins against this Commandment, that it is impossible to reckon them up, and dreadful to think of them. But most, if not all of them, are so manifestly sins, that the least reflection is enough to make any one sensible, how much he is bound conscientiously to avoid them. And he who desires to preserve himself innocent, easily may. The most open and shameless crime of this sort, is robbery; taking from another what is his, by force; which, adding violence against his person, to invasion of his property, and making every part of human life unsafe, is a complicated transgression of very deep guilt. The next degree is secret theft; privately converting to our own use what is not our own. Το do this in matters of great value, is confessedly pernicious wickedness. And though it were only in what may seem a trifle, yet, every man's right to the smallest part of what belongs to him, is the same as to the largest; and he ought no more to be wronged of one than of the other. Besides, little instances of dishonesty, cause great disquiet; make the sufferers distrustful of all about them; M sometimes of those who are the farthest from de serving it; make them apprehensive continually, that some heavier injury will follow. And, indeed, almost all offenders begin with slight offences. More heinous ones would shock them at first, but if they once allow themselves in lesser faults, they go on without reluctance, by degrees, to worse and worse, till at last they scruple nothing. Always, therefore, beware of small sins. And always remember, what I have already observed to you, that, when any thing is committed to your care and trust, to be dishonest in that, is peculiarly base. But, besides what every body calls theft, there are many practices, which amount indirectly to much the same thing, however disguised in the world under gentler names. Thus, in the way of trade and business; if the seller puts off any thing for better than it is, by false assertions, or deceitful arts; if he takes advantage of the buyer's ignorance, or particular necessities, or good opinion of him, to insist on a larger price for it, than the current value; or if he gives less in quantity than he professes, or is understood to give; the frequency of some of these things cannot alter the nature of any of them; no one can be ignorant that they are wrong, but such as are wilfully, or very carelessly ignorant; and the declaration of Scripture against the last of them is extended, in the same place, to every one of the rest. "Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small; thou shalt not "have in thine house divers measures, a great "and a small. For all that do such things, and "all that do unrighteously, are an abomination "to the Lord thy God." 66 On the other hand, if the buyer takes advan (1) Deut. xxv. 13-16. tage of his own wealth, and the poverty or present distress of the seller, to beat down the price of his merchandise beyond reason: or if he buys up the whole of a commodity, especially if it be a necessary one, to make immoderate gain of it; or if he refuses or neglects to pay for what he hath bought; or delays his payments beyond the time, within which, by agreement, or the known course of traffic, they ought to be made; all such behaviour is downright injustice, and a breach of God's law. For the rule is, " If thou sellest aught "to thy neighbour, or buyest aught of thy neigh"bour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another." Again, borrowing on fraudulent securities, or false representations of our circumstances, or without intention, or without proper care afterwards to repay; preferring the gratification of our covetousness, our vanity, our voluptuousness, our indolence, before the satisfying of our just debts; all this is palpable wickedness. And just as bad as the contrary wickedness, of demanding exorbitant interest for lending to ignorant or thoughtless persons; or to extravagant ones, for carrying on their extravagance; or to necessitous ones, whose necessities it must continually increase, and make their ruin, after a while, more certain, more difficult to retrieve, and more hurtful to all with whom they are concerned. The Scripture hath particularly forbidden it in the last case, and enjoined a very different sort of behaviour. 66 "If "thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay "with thee; then shalt thou relieve him; yea, "though he be a stranger, or a sojourner. Thou "shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor "lend him thy victuals for increase; but fear thy "God, that thy brother may dwell with thee."3 And the Psalmist hath expressed the two opposite (3) Lev. xxv. 35, &c. (2) Lev. xxv. 14. characters, on these occasions, very briefly and clearly: "The wicked borroweth, and payeth "not again; but the righteous showeth mercy, "and giveth."4 Another crying iniquity is, when hired servants, labourers, or workmen of any sort, are ill used in their wages; whether by giving them too little; or, which is often full as bad, deferring it too long. The word of God forbids this last in "Thou shalt not defraud very strong terms. "thy neighbour, neither rob him; the wages of "him that is hired, shall not abide with thee (meaning, if demanded or wanted,) all night "until the morning. At his day shalt thou give him his hire; neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it; lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, "and it be sin unto thee."7 Nay, the son of Sirach carries it, with reason, (as I observed to you on the Sixth Commandment) further still. 66 The bread of the needy is their life; he that “defraudeth the labourer of his hire, is a blood"shedder."8 But, besides all these instances of unrighteousness, there are many more that are frequent, in all kinds of contracts. Driving bargains, that we know are too hard; or insisting rigidly on the performance of them, after they appear to be so; making no abatements, when bad times, or unexpected losses, or other alterations of circumstances, call for them; not inquiring into the grounds of complaint, when there is a likelihood of their being just; throwing unreasonable burdens upon others, merely because they dare not refuse them; keeping them to the very words and (4) Psalm xxxvii. 21. (6) For-or when. (5) Lev. xix. 13. (8) Ecclus. xxxiv. 12, 22. |