and his reproach shall not be wiped away." Prov. vi 32, 33. Compare Prov. vii. 22.

7. They further declare that it leads to general irreligion. "Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart." Hos. iv. 11; Eph. iv. 18, 19.

8. Good writers have dwelt much on the heinousness of those acts which transgress this commandment. They especially notice the fact that two souls are murdered at once. Hopkins says: "Suppose that God should vouchsafe thee repentance unto life; yet art thou sure that his justice and severity will not harden the other in this sin, to which thou hast been the author and persuader?"

9. Everywhere the Scriptures declare the reigning power of this sin to be an infallible token of coming perdition. "This ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." Eph. v. 5. Compare Heb. xiii. 4; Rev. xxi. 8, xxii. 15. There is no room for doubting that he who dies impenitent for violations of the seventh commandment goes to an undone eternity.

V. BEWARE OF SINS AGAINST THIS PRECEPT.

The following thoughts may suggest rules and motives that may be helpful in enabling us to avoid violations of this precept.

1. The time is short, and eternity is near. The Judge standeth before the door. Let every man remember that he is mortal. Let those that have wives be as though they had none; and those that rejoice as those that rejoiced not; for the fashion of this world passeth away.

2. In all things endeavour to be temperate and moderate. Ask yourself, will I approve of my present conduct, when called to give up my last account? • Thou

3. Remember that the Lord is omniscient. God seest me," is a good motto for all occasions.

4. Remember that no mortal ever had exaggerated views of the evil of sin. It burns to the lowest hell. The sweeter the unlawful indulgence to our carnal nature the bitterer will be the cup of repentance or of indignation put into our hands.

5. Let each one remember his own weakness. None but God can preserve any man from falling into the worst of sins. Our strength is nothing. All human resolutions unsupported by divine grace, are like fences of snow before a burning sun. When temptation comes, they soon melt away.

Let

6. Our great business should be to obtain thorough renewal of nature. Without this, we have no guaranty that we may not be overcome at any moment. every man cry, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Augustine found regeneration the only remedy for his wickedness, and so have millions of others.

7. Let each one continually set before him the bright and blessed example of our Lord Jesus Christ, and let us dwell much on his amazing sufferings in our behalf. If our sins are ever effectually mortified, we must nail them to the cross of Christ.

43 *

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. 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

A

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