816 AN1 APPENDIX TO SERMONS XX. XXI. AND Xxti. places. And when God, by his prophet Malachi, forbids treach. erous dealing with a brother, he gives this reason for it, Have we not all one Father? Flath not one God createdus? Therefore all mankind are brethren in this sense. Our duty to speak and practise truth, arises from our obligations to the law of God ; and since God has not released us by any such exceptions, the lying and deceitful carriage of men does not authorise us to practise deceit and lying. It is indeed a piece of an old latin verse, that is in the mouth of many, a0 Fallere fallentum non est fraus;" which may be Englished thus, To cheat a knave is no cheating : But I know no verse in scripture that gives us this liberty. And I think we may by the same rule steal from them that would steal from us, or plunder those who would plúnder us. . I will readily grant, that when a Contract ör bargain is made, whereby both parties are obliged mutually to perforni something to or for each other, whether this contract be expres- sed in verbal promises, or implied in the nature of things, and by the known customs of mankind, then if one of the parties fail of performance, the other is thereby released from his pro- mise or engagement : and the reason is most evident, becausethe promise or engagement was made in a conditional manner ; and if the condition on one side be not fulfilled, the agreement or bargain on the other side is void, and utterly ceases; so that a man is innocent in this case, though he does not perform his promise. Now this is so well known to all men by the light of nature, and the easiest reasoning, that there is no need to enlarge upon it. According to this general and known rule, suppose a mer- chant order any quantity of goods from his correspondent by the first ship, and promise payment by such a day ; if the sending ofthose goods be neglected; and carelessly delayed, the merchant is not bound to keep his first appointed time for payment. 'An hundred instances there are of the like nature, which a small degree of reason,, and an honest conscience, will easily deter- mine, without intrenching upon truth, Such is the caseof all conditional promises and contracts. But if a man be never'so great aknave, and I should make him a lawful and an absolute promise of any thing, surely I ought to perform it, and not satisfy my conscience in the practice of deceit and falsehood, under a pretence that he had no right to truth, There are other eases which may occur in human affairs, and create difficulty in the minds of sincere christians, a solution, of whichmaybe found in books writtenon those subjects : But I think most of them may be easily answered by the general prin- ciples before laid down : And, to finish this subject, I add, that
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