430 / 514
42
CHRISTIAN MORALITY, VIZ. JUSTICE,
&C.
[SERI.
XXV.
men to speak flattering falsehoods
in
their
daily
dealings,
and
some
of
them make an hourly
sacrifice
of truth
to
the
gain
of
a
penny.
It
is
from
this
principle
that
they break
their
promises
of
payment
;
they
with-hold
the
money
that
is
due
to
their
neighbour, beyond
all
reasonable
time, and that
for
no
other reason
but
to
gain
by
the loan
of
it
:
They
delay the
payment
of-their
poor creditors
for
many months, or perhaps for
years,
and
put
the advan-
tage
which they make
of
this delay
into their
own
purse.
This
is
a
frequent,
but an
unrighteous practice
in
pur day:
For
the profit
that
accrues
by
the detaining of
money
that
is
due
to
another
beyond the
'customary
or contracted
time
of
payment, should doubtless
be given to
the
person
to
whom
the principal
money
was
due;
or
at
least
he
should have such
a
valuable
share of
it
as may
compen-
sate the damage or
loss
he
sustains
by the. delay.
It
is
a
covetous desire
of
gain
that
tempts
men
to
prat-
tise
extortion, and
to prey
upon
the necessities
of
those
they
deal with.
When the
buyer
wants_
any conveniency
of
life,
they force
him to give
much more
than
it
is
worth, because
he
stands in the utmost need
of it
:
Or
they
constrain
the seller
perhaps
to
part
with some
of
his
most valuable
possessions
for a
trifle,
because
he
is
under
special necessity and
present
distress.
This
was
the ex-
tortion
which
Jacob
practised upon
his
brother Esau,
when
he
made
him
sell his
birth
-right
for a mess
of
pot-
tage,
while
he
was
faint
with
hunting. And
it
is
the same
iniquity
,when we
impose
upon the ignorance or
known
unskilfulness
of
the.
persons
we
deal
with
;
and especially
when we make
our advantage of
children or servants, or
of
persons
who confess
their
own
ignorance,
and
leave
the
choice
of
the goods, or the
determination of
the price,
to
the.
conscience
of
him
that
sells.
We
may
indeed set a
just
value upon
our
own
goods;
but
we
must not set a price upon
any man's pressing
ne-
cessity,
nor
raise
a
tax
upon
his
ignorance.
It
can
ne-
ver
be
certainly determined
how
much
it
is
lawful for
a
trader
to
get
by his
merchandize
:
Doubtless
he
may
sometimes
make a
greater
gain
of
the
same things
than
at
another.
And
this
is
often necessary,
in
order
to com-
pensate the
losses,
the, risks
or
dangers
that
he passes
through. He
may lawfully
make those advantages which
the
change
of
things,
and the
divine providence often
puts
411to
his
hand
:
1Vór
is
it unlawful for
hirn
to
take more
of