Sin to the other; and if that Lye be confirm'd Sunday by any Oath, as it is too ufually, then the yet XII. greater Guilt of Perjury comes in alfo; and then, what a Heap of Sins is here gathered together? abundantly enough to fink a poor Soul to Deftruction, and all this only to skrew a little more Money out of his Neighbour's Pocket, and that fometimes fo very little, that 'tis a Miracle that any Man that thinks he has a Soul, can fet it at fo miferable and contemptible a Price. A fecond Means of concealing, is, by ufing fome Art to the Thing, to make it look fair, and to hide the Faults of it; and this is acting a Lye, tho' it be not speaking one, which amounts to the fame Thing, and has furely in this Cafe as much of the Intention of Cheating and Defrauding, as the most impudent Forfwearing can have. A third Means is, the picking out ignorant Chapmen: This is, I believe, an Art too well known among Tradefmen, who will not bring out their faulty Wares to Men of Skill, but keep them to put off to fuch whofe Unskilfulness may make them paffable with them. And this is ftill the fame Deceit with the former; for it all tends to the fame End, the Cozening and Defrauding of the Chapman, and then it is not much odds, whether I make use of my own Art, or his Weakness, for the Purpose. This is certain, he that will do justly, muft let his Chapman know what he buys; and if his own Skill enable him not to judge,

nay,

Sunday nay, if he do not actually find out the Fault, XII. thou art bound to tell it him; otherwise, thou

His Over

makeft him pay for fomewhat which is not there, he prefuming there is that good Quality in it, which thou knoweft is not; and therefore thou mayeft as honeftly take his Money for fome Goods of another Man's, which thou knoweft thou canft never put into his Poffeffion, which I fuppofe no Man will deny to be an arrant Cheat. To this Head of Concealment may be referred the Deceit of falfe Weights and Measures: for that is the concealing from the Buyer a Defect in the Quantity, as the other was in the Quality of the Commodity, and is again the making him pay for what he hath not. This fort of Fraud is pointed at particularly by Solomon, Prov. xi. 1. with this Note upon it, That it is an Abomination to the Lord.

6. The second Part of Fraud in the Seller, Vating it. lies, in Over-rating the Commodity: Though he have not difguifed or concealed the Faults of it, and fo have dealt fairly in that respect, yet if he fet an unreasonable Price upon it, he defrauds the Buyer. I call that an unreafonable Price, which exceeds the true worth of the Thing, confider'd with those moderate Gains which all Tradefmen are prefumed to be allowed in the Sale: Whatever is beyond this, muft, in all likelihood, be fetch'd in by fome of these ways; as, first, by taking Advantage of the Buyer's Ignorance in the Value

of

of the Thing, which is the fame with doing
it in the Goodness, which hath already been
fhewed to be a Deceit : Or,fecondly, by taking
Advantage of his Neceffity; Thou findeft a
Man hath present and urgent Need of fuch a
Thing, and therefore takeft this Opportunity
to fet the Dice upon him: But this is that
very Sin of Extortion and Oppreffion fpoken
of before; for it is fure, nothing can juftly
raife the Price of any Thing, but either its
becoming dearer to thee, or its being fome
way better in itself: But the Neceffity of
thy Brother caufes neither of thefe; his
Nakednefs doth not make the Cloaths thou
felleft him, ftand thee in ever the more, nei-
ther doth it make them any way better; and
therefore to rate them ever the higher, is to
change the Way of Trading, and fell even the
Wants and Neceffities of thy Neighbour,
which fure is a very unlawful Vocation. Or,
thirdly, it may be by taking Advantage of
the Indifcretion of the Chapman. A Man
perhaps earnestly fancies fuch a Thing, and
then fuffers that Fancy to over-rule his Rea-
fon, fo that he refolves to have it upon any
Terms. If thou findest this in him, and there
upon raifeft thy Rate, this is to make him buy
his Folly, which is of all others the dearest
Purchafe; tis fure his Fancy adds nothing to
the real Value, no more than his Neceffity did.
in the former Cafe, and therefore fhould not
add to the Price. He therefore that will deaf
justly

unday

XII.

Sunday juftly in the Bufinefs of Selling, muft not XII. catch at all Advantages, which the Temper of

Fraud in

his Chapman may give; but confider foberly, what the Thing is worth, and what he would afford it for to another, of whom he had no fuch Advantage, and accordingly rate it to him at no higher Price.

7. On the Buyer's Part, there are not ordihe Buyer. narily fo many Opportunities of Fraud; yet it is poffible a Man may fometimes happen to fell fomewhat, the Worth whereof he is not acquainted with, and then it will be as unjuft for the Buyer to make Gain by his Ignorance, as in the other Cafe it was for the Seller: but that which often falls out, is the Cafe of Neceffity, which may as probably fall on the Seller's fide as the Buyer's. A Man's Wants compel him to Sell, and permit him not to ftay to make the beft Bargain, but force him to take the firft Offer; and here for the Buyer to grate upon him, because he fees him in that ftrait, is the fame Fault which I before fhewed it to be in the Seller.

Many Tem

Deceit in

8. In this whole Bufinefs of Traffick, there prations are fo many Opportunities of Deceit, that a Traffick Man had need fence himself with a very firm Refolution, nay, Love of Juftice, or he will be in danger to fall under Temptation; for as the Wife Man fpeaks, Ecclef. xxvii. 2. As a Nail Sticks faft between the joynings of the Stones; fo doth Sin ftick faft between Buying and Selling. It is fo interwoven with all Trades,

fo

fo mix'd with the very firft Principles and Sunday Grounds of them, that it is taught together XII. with them, and fo become part of the Art; fo that he is now-a-days fcarce thought fit to manage a Trade, that wants it; while he that hath moft of this black Art of defrauding, applauds and hugs himself, nay, perhaps, boafts to others how he hath overreach'd his Neighbour.

What an intolerable Shame is this, that we The ComChriftians, who are, by the Precepts of our monnefs of Mafter, fet to thofe higher Duties of Charity, juice, Reproach fhould, inftead of practising them, quite un-to Chrifti learn those common Rules of Justice, which anity. mere Nature teaches? For, I think, I may fay, there are none of these several Branches of Injustice towards the Poffeffions of our Neighbour, which would not be adjudged to be fo by any fober Heathen: So that, as St. Paul tells those of the Circumcifion, that the Name of God was blafphemed among the Gentiles, by that Unagreeableness that was betwixt their Practice and their Law, Rom. i. 24, fo now it may be faid of us, that the Name of Chrift is blafphemed among the Turks and Heathens, by the vile and scandalous Lives of us who call ourselves Chriftians, and particularly, in this Sin of Injustice. For fhame, let us at laft endeavour to wipe off this Reproach from our Profeffion, by leaving those Practices; to which, methinks, this one fingle Confideration fhould be enough to perfuade us.

1