I. Abraham was a very scrupulous man. In all his dealings he was perfectly just and honourable. Once five kings came into the valley of the Jordan, and made a sudden onslaught on the towns there; they carried away all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and thoroughly sacked the cities. They did not only that, but they carried off as well a great number of the inhabitants as captives. Then Abraham lent his servants to the king of Sodom to help him to recover the booty and liberate the captives, and there was a battle, the result of which was that the five kings were defeated, and all the spoil and the prisoners recovered. Then the King of Sodom offered Abraham the booty in repayment for his valuable services. He said, "Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself." But Abraham answered, "No! I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, and I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham rich." Now, this was just an occasion when he might have fairly claimed remuneration from the recovered plunder, but no! he was far too scrupulous. He knew of what that plunder consisted--it was made up of the household goods of the inhabitants of the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah; of all the sticks of furniture, and clothes, and crockery, and household ornaments that the people valued. He would not deprive them of one, lest they should think that Abraham had enriched himself at their expense. He puts an extreme case,--lest some poor woman should lament that she had lost all her thread wherewith to mend her torn clothes, and say, "Ah! I had plenty of thread once, but Abraham has it now," or another should say, "I have no buckle to my shoe, Abraham has taken of the spoil, and my shoe-buckle he has got now." Well, now listen to what follows immediately. This upright conduct of Abraham so pleased God, that we read, "After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abraham: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." How many are there now who act like Abraham? How many who fear lest it should be said of them that they had been enriched by those whose money they had no right to take? There would be fewer failing banks, and the little stores of widows and orphans swallowed up, were the bankers more of the mind of Abraham. There would be fewer swindling speculations swallowing up the savings of the thrifty, if men shrank from taking that which is not lawfully and fairly their own.