Christian ethics -- Fiction; Christian fiction; Conduct of life -- Fiction
1. They are not to be found in the house of the good and godly man, for
he, as his God, abhorrs them; but they are to be found in the house
of evil doers, {109b} such as Mr. Badmans is. Are there, saith the
Prophet, yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
and the scant measure that is abomination? {109c} Are they there yet,
notwithstanding Gods forbidding, notwithstanding Gods tokens of anger
against those that do such things? O how loth is a wicked man to let
goe a sweet, a gainful sin, when he hath hold of it! They hold fast
deceit, they refuse to let it goe.
2. These deceitful Weights and Measures are not to be found in the
house of the Mercifull, but in the house of the Cruel; in the house
of them that love to oppress. {109d} The Ballances of deceit are in
his hand, he loveth to oppress. {109e} He is given to oppression and
cruelty, therefore he useth such wicked things in his calling. Yea
he is a very cheat, and as was hinted before, concerning Mr. Badmans
breaking, so I say now, concerning his using these deceitful weights
and measures, it is as bad, as base, as to take a purse, or pick a
pocket; for it is a plain robbery, it takes away from a man that which
is his own, even the price of his money.
3. The deceitful Weights and Measures are not to be found in the house
of such as relieve the belly, and that cover the loyns of the poor,
but of such as indeed would swallow them up. {109f} Hear ye this,
ye that swallow up the needy, and that make the poor of the land to
fail, saying, When will the new Moon be gone that we may sell corn,
and the Sabbath that we may set forth Wheat, making the Ephah small
and the Sheckle great, (making the Measure small, and the Price great)
and falsifying the Ballances by deceit, that ye may buy the poor for
silver, and the needy for a pair of shooes, and sell the refuse of the
Wheat. The Lord hath sworn by the excellencie of Jacob, surely I will
not forget any of their works. {109g} So detestable and vile a thing is
this in the sight of God.
4. God abominates the thoughts of calling of those that use false
weights and measures, by any other term than, that they be Impure ones
{110a} or the like: Shall I count them pure (saith he) with the bag of
deceitful weights? {110b} no by no means, they are impure ones, their
hands are defiled, deceitful gain is in their houses, they have gotten
what they have by coveting an evil Covetousness, and therefore must and
shall be counted among the impure, among the wicked of the world.
Thus you see how full and plain the Word of God is, against this sin,
and them that use it. And therefore Mr. Badman, for that he used by
these things thus to rook and cheat his neighbours, is rightly rejected
from having his Name in, and among the catalogue of the godly.
Atten. But I am perswaded, that the using of these things, and the
doing by them thus deceitfully, is not counted so great an evil by some.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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