M Thou shalt not steal ; " i. «., thou shalt not take what in the sight of God does not belong to you. Gambling falls under the same category where advantage is taken of the unwary or unskilful, to deprive them of their property without compensation. It is, how- ever, impossible to enumerate or to classify the various methods of fraud. The code of morals held by many business and profes- sional men is very far below the moral law as revealed in the Bible. This is Especially true in reference to the eighth command- ment in the decalogue. Many who have stood well in society, and even in the Church, will be astonished at the last day to find the word " Thieves " written after their names in the great book of judgment.
§ 13. The Ninth Commandment,
This commandment forbids all violations of the obligations of veracity. The most aggravated of this class of offences is bearing false witness against our neighbour. But this includes every of- fence of the same general character ; as the command thou shalt not kill, forbids all indulgence or manifestation of malice.
The command to keep truth inviolate belongs to a different class from those relating to the Sabbath, to marriage, or to property. These are founded on the permanent relations of men in the pres- ent state of existence. They are not in their own nature im- mutable. God may at any time suspend or modify them. But truth is at all times sacred, because it is one of the essential at- tributes of God, so that whatever militates against, or is hostile to truth is in opposition to the very nature of God. Truth is, so to speak, the very substratum of Deity. It is in such a sense the foundation of all the moral perfections of God, that without it they cannot be conceived of as existing. Unless God really is what He declares Himself to be ; unless He means what He de- clares Himself to mean ; unless He will do what He promises, the whole idea of God is lost. As there is no God but the true God, so without truth there is and can be no God. As this at- tribute is the foundation, so to speak, of the divine, so it is the foundation of the physical and moral order of the universe. What is the immutability of the laws of nature, but a revelation of the truth of God ? They are manifestations of his purposes. They are promises on which his creatures rely, and by which they must regulate their conduct. If those laws were capricious, if the same effects did not uniformly follow from the same causes, the very ex- istence of living beings would be impossible. The food of one day
438 PART m. Ch. XIX.— the law.
might be poison the next. If a man did not reap what he sowed, there could be no security for anything. The truth of God, there- fore, is written on the heavens. It is the daily proclamation made by the sun, moon, and stars in their solemn procession through space, and it is echoed back by the earth and all that it contains.
The truth of God, too, is the foundation of all knowledge. How do we know that our senses do not deceive us ; that conscious- ness is not mendacious ? that the laws of belief which by the con- stitution of our nature we are forced to obey, are not false guides ? Unless God be true there can be no certainty in anything ; much less can there be any security ; we can have no confidence in the future : no assurance that evil will not ultimately triumph over good, darkness over light, and confusion and misery over order and happiness. There is, therefore, something awfully sacred in the obligations of truth. A man who violates the truth, sins against the very foundation of his moral being. As a false god is no god, so a false man is no man ; he can never be what man was designed to be ; he can never answer the end of his being. There can be in him nothing that is stable, trustworthy, or good.
There are two classes of sins which the ninth commandment forbids. The first is, all forms of detraction ; everything which is unjustly or unnecessarily injurious to our neighbour's good name ; and the second, all violations of the laws of truth. This latter, indeed, includes the former. Bearing false witness, how- ever, being the definite thing forbidden, should be separately con- sidered.
Detraction.
The highest form of this offence is bearing false testimony in a court of justice. This includes the guilt of malice, falsehood, and mockery of God ; and its commission justly renders a man in- famous, and places him outside of the pale of society. As it strikes at the security of character, property, and even of life, it is an offence which cannot be passed by with impunity. The false swearer is, therefore, a criminal in the sight of the civil law, and subject to public disgrace and punishment.
Slander is an offence of the same character. It differs from the sin of bearing false witness, only in not being committed in a judicial process, and in not being attended by the same effects. The slanderer, however, does bear false witness against his neigh- bour. He does it in the ears of the public, and not in those of a jury. The offence includes the elements of malice and falsehood against which this command is specially directed. The circula-