CHAPTER XXII. THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL. THE honour of religion is deeply involved in the THE course men pursue concerning this commandment, which regulates our labour, our buying, our selling, our expenditures, and our entire civil conduct. We are bound to "provide things honest in the sight of all men." Rom. xii. 17. We are not at liberty to live in needless poverty and wretchedness, nor to let our dependents suffer. "If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own household, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." 1 Tim. v. 8. Compare Eph. iv. 28. This is wholesome doctrine. No religious teacher may keep silent concerning it. The church that disregards it is ruined. Yet we may "not make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Rom. xiii. 14. Our attention to our temporal affairs must not minister to our pride, our sloth, our vanity, our sensuality, our love of the world. 1 John ii. 16; Prov. xxi. 25; Eph. iv. 17, &c. Although man's absolute wants, to be supplied by his personal industry, are not very numerous, nor of long duration; yet they are more than some suppose. And while we ought to be content, yes, and thankful for food and raiment of a simple kind; yet it is lawful, and when practicable it is obligatory on men to secure the comforts of life. Paul exhorts his converts to "do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; that ye may walk honestly towards them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing." 1 Thess. iv. 11, 12. One of the great obstacles to be overcome in some heathen nations is found in the fact that masses of the people feel their wants to be so few, and so easily supplied, that they spend most of their time in idleness, in gambling, in sauntering about, in listening to foolish songs and stories, in witnessing the feats of jugglers, and in attending on vain processions. The same is true of Roman Catholic countries in the south of Europe. There are so many saints' days, that the labouring classes have not time to earn enough to secure the comforts of life. They become discouraged in the attempt, and extreme poverty and squalid wretchedness are perpetuated from generation to generation. Everywhere in Scripture indolence is condemned, and industry commended. Of the virtuous housewife, Solomon says, "She eateth not the bread of idleness." "By much slothfulness, the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through." Eccles. x. 18. "Pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness," were among the causes of the ruin of Sodom and the other cities of the plain. Ezek. xvi. 49. These sins fostered others which provoked the wrath of Heaven beyond forbearance. It is a remarkable fact that Paul himself once addressed a congregation of idlers, who "spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing." Acts xvii. 21. But so far as we know, not one of them received any spiritual benefit. For "when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter." Acts xvii. 32. The only persons mentioned by name among those who profited by his preaching were a member of the chief court of the city and a woman named Damaris. Man was not allowed to be idle even in Paradise; and when he apostatized from God, the sentence to which it is wise ever to submit, was, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou return unto the ground." Gen. iii. 19. Let us consider THE LAW OF HONESTY. There is hardly a word of more varied classical meaning than the word Honesty; and the Latin word Honestas from which it is derived. The same remark is true of the Greek word rendered honesty. In all these the range of meaning is very extended. But when applied to civil affairs, there are two ideas connected with the word, which we may not pass over in silence. One is that of JUSTICE. That which is unjust can never be honest. All injustice ought to · be avoided, and is clearly condemned by Scripture. However refined, or countenanced by society or custom, it is still contrary to God's word and will. No human conscience ever aproved of a clear and decided case of injustice. The other idea inseparably connected with the word honesty, when applied to civil affairs, is that of HONOUR, or good repute. Any dishonourable conduct in temporal affairs is not honest. For a Christian to receive a bribe to do what was his obvious duty, or to refuse to do his duty without reward, is dishonest. So, for one to consent to do an odious thing (for instance, to act as hangman, not because his office required it of him, but because he loved gain,) would be dishonourable and so dishonest. A good man must keep his eye on the things that are lovely and of good report, if he would avoid a stain upon his escutcheon, and a wound on his conscience. All the ordinary and necessary avocations of life, the culture of the soil, the practice of the learned professions, trade, and the useful and ornamental arts, are honest. That it is not enough barely to satisfy one's own conscience of the honesty of a course, or even to meet the demands of the mere letter of God's word respecting rigid justice, is manifest in many ways. The Scripture abounds in proof: "Provide things honest in the sight of all men,"-not merely honest in the sight of God, in the sight of yourself, in the sight of some men-your partial friends and neighbours, or those who practise the same things-but in THE SIGHT OF ALL MEN. Let your probity be above all doubt and suspicion in the eyes of men, who understand what your conduct is. The apostle laid down no more rigid rule for others than he was willing to be governed by himself. He says that he and his coadjutors provided for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but in the Selden says: sight of all men. 2 Cor. viii. 21. "They that cry down moral honesty, cry down that which is a great part of religion-my duty toward God and my duty toward men. What care I to see a man run after a sermon, if he cozen and cheat as soon as he comes home? On the other side, morality must not be without religion; for if so, it may change as I see convenient. Religion must govern it. He that has no religion to govern his morality, is not better than my mastiff dog; so long as you stroke him and please him, and do not pinch him, he will play with you, as finely as may be; he is a very good, moral master; but if you hurt him, he will fly in your face." Let us then look at the great principle of honesty, as it ought to enter into our affairs, and see how it may be and often is violated. I. All robbery, theft, receiving stolen goods, forgery, embezzling, swindling, obtaining goods under false pretences, and cheating in every shape are contrary to the eighth commandment. Ps. lxii. 10; Eph. iv. 28; Ps. 1. 18; Prov. xxix. 24; 1 Thess. iv. 6; Prov. xi. 1, xx. 10; Amos viii. 5. These things are more near akin to each other than some suppose. Mark x. 19. As this part of the subject is generally well-understood, and warmly entertained by most who will read this book, it is not necessary to dwell upon it. A few observations, however, will not be amiss. One is, that the law of honesty makes no extenuation of these or like sins, because they are practised against the rich. It is as dishonest unrighteously to possess the goods of one class as of another. True, in taking unjustly from the poor, we commonly add oppression to dishonesty, and thus perpetrate two crimes. But we are not to grade dishonesty by the worldly estate of him whom we |