the cement of society, and the only foundation of mutual confidence. Feeble motives, alas! when opposed to violent selfishness, under temptations to gain, by the sacrifice of honesty and truth.

The glorious God, on the contrary, is your encouragement and support, O Christian, in the exercise of this temper. Truth is what he commands, and delights in. "These are the things that ye shall do," saith the Lord; "Speak ye every man truth to his neighbour," Zech. viii. He stigmatizes the want of sincerity, and threatens every false tongue with endless woe. In the character given of a member of Christ, and an heir of glory, you are assured he hateth lying, Prov. xv, and speaketh the truth in his heart, Psal. xv. "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord," Prov. xii. "A mark that men are of their father the devil, and the lusts of their father they will do," John viii. "And that whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, shall be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone," Rev. xxi.

A desire, therefore, to please God, a regard to his high and amiable authority, and a fear of incurring his righteous displeasure, all work together, so that you can meet with no evil great enough to deter, or bribe sufficient to make you violate truth and sincerity. Add to this, the Holy Ghost, which every true believer in Christ receives, is the Spirit of truth, and his fruit is in all righteousness and truth: it is not, therefore, possible to be a Christian, and at the same time false and insincere, for the sake of your own paltry interest and worldly gain.

If your conscience, therefore, accuses you in this matter, your religion is vain. Be assured, it is not making many prayers, glorying in your experience; it is not extolling free grace, or affecting to cover yourself with the righteousness of Christ, or any zeal you may express for his honour, that will ci

ther excuse or screen you in your falsehood and in. sincerity. On the contrary, if you can thus abuse the grace of God, it proves your idea of him is infinitely despicable; you make him even worse than yourself, a God pleased with what kindles resentment in your breast, deceitful fair speeches, and designing flattery, as if, for the sake of such nauseous compliments, he would dispense with the weighty matters of the law. Every Christian is called upon to lay this matter much to heart, and be careful, above all things, his sincerity be put beyond a doubt; because a general suspicion is entertained, and too much cause in a thousand instances has been given for it, that religious people, of all others, are not to be trusted, thinking themselves at liberty to deal deceitfully with men, whilst they profess extraordinary fervours of devotion, and zeal for the honour of God and Christ; a practice mean and odious to the last degree; a rock of offence to all the world; and a greater hindrance, than any other, to the progress of true religion in it.

With the love and practice of sincerity, there is joined, in every real Christian, the love and practice of justice too. Has the providence of God invested you with the dignity of a magistrate, senator, or judge? you will see that the poor and oppressed have right, and punish the oppressor; you will be active to put salutary laws in execution, to establish and promote peace.

Mindful of God, the high ordainer of all govern ment, to whom every one intrusted with any part of it stands accountable, you will discharge your duty. "Ye shall do no unrighteousness," saith the Lord, "in judgment. Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty, but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neigh bour," Lev. xix. "He that ruleth over men"

(like the prince of peace, whom these words describe) "must be just, ruling in the fear of God, and he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain," 2 Sam. xxiii.

Have you numerous dependents? From the abun dance of your wealth, if a Christian, you will be just towards them all; you will scorn to extort the utmost your estates can produce, till honest hus. bandmen under the load of rents extravagantgroan ly advanced; you will abhor the custom of owing large sums of money for furniture, equipage, apparel, or the table, whilst your tradesmen are distressed to pay their creditors for what you have pretended to buy of them, but never paid for: to distress them with fear of bankruptcy, if you refuse to discharge your debts to them, or of starving through your cruel resentment, if they attempt to recover their right.

The sacred rule of your conduct is, Owe no man any thing: and the opposite practice, though there be no remedy against it for tradesmen, but such as they are most unwilling to use, is marked as the object of God's severe displeasure. "Behold the hire of the labourers, who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped, are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton." The application of this alarming word to those who keep their tradesmen an unreasonable time out of their money, is direct, and must make effectual impression on all who fear God.

Are you occupied in trade and merchandise? Here the energy of your Christian faith is to shine. It will not suffer the love of money to lay waste your con

science, or seduce you to take advantage of the igno. rance or distresses of those you deal with; to put off bad for good commodities, or take exorbitant gain for what you sell. It is said, with great assurance, no man can live thus honestly as the world now is. A righteous man, dealing with conscience amidst those who have none, is a sheep among wolves, sure to fall a prey; and if he will not give over his busi ness, he must soon lose all his substance. This reasoning I allow is plausible; and very difficult it is not to be carried away with the general practice of using first little frauds, till grosser succeed, and give no pain, and till the acquisition of a large estate be judged man's supreme good, and a scanty income the greatest evil.

Nevertheless, every real Christian must be a truly honest man; for though, before the truth is received, men are not able to stem the torrent, nor face a threatening storm; afterwards, no room is left for infidel excuses, constantly urged to palliate unjust dealings, as if there was no provision for this life in a strict observance of justice.

The Lord, whose is the earth and the fulness thereof, gives you his own inviolable promise, and pawns his honour for your maintenance and prosperity, if you will deal uprightly. "Thou shalt not

have in thy bags, says he, divers weights, a great and a small," [the one to buy, the other to sell with]; "thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small; but thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have, that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee; for all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord thy God," 25.15. Deut. xi. You say, iniquity in trade is almost universal; but is it the less evil, or the less abhorred

of God on that account? "Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins," Micah vi.

If it be said, love to yourself and family must gain the ascendent, and prevail over you to use common frauds, I answer, this temptation will be withstood from a clear conviction which every real Christian possesses, that he and his family become obnoxious to God by presumptuous offences. "The curse of God is in the house of the wicked. Woe unto him that buildeth his house with unrighteousness. Be not deceived, the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

Besides, the Lord who redeemed you, and from whose grace you expect eternal life, whose eyes is ever upon you, strictly requires, "All things whatsoever you would that men should do unto you, even so do unto them; for this is the law and the prophets."

After these full instructions, clear commands, and denunciations, all righteous and unalterable, were you to give in to the frauds so common in trade, or do any thing unjustly, you must bid farewell to peace of conscience, and to that delightful communion with God which has been the sweetest comfort of your life. You must exchange the pleasing hope of a blessed immortality for sharp self- condemnation, and a certain fearful looking-for of fiery indignation, to devour the adversaries.

Comparing, therefore, your spiritual with your