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with their peculiar circumstances and training as a people to allow it; but they were not forbidden to lend to the people of other nations upon interest.

(10.) Theft relating to Contracts.

748. This relates to driving bargains that we know are too hard, or insisting rigidly on the performance of them after they appear to be so; making no abatements, when bad times or unexpected losses, or other alterations of circumstances call for them; not inquiring into the grounds of complaints when there is a likelihood of their being just; keeping persons to the very word and letter of an agreement, contrary to the equitable intention of it; or, on the other hand, alleging some flaw or defect in the form, to get loose from an agreement which ought to have been strictly observed. Though some of these things may not be illegal, yet they do not comport with the spirit of this commandment. Human laws cannot provide for all cases, and sometimes the vilest iniquity may be committed under their authority, and by their means.

To the illustrations given under this head we may add another: it is when hired servants, or workmen of any sort, are ill used in their wages, whether by giving them too little, or, which is full as bad, deferring payment too long. The word of God forbids the last in strong terms: "Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him; the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee (meaning, if demanded or wanted) all night until the morning. At his day shalt thou give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it." But this matter we have considered under the Fifth Commandment.

(11.) Thefts of Mischief.

749. There are those whose habits of injustice, envy, or some other base passion, prompt them "to mar and deface handsome buildings and fences, to root up or cut down trees and shrubs planted for shade and for ornament. One would think that, in the view of such minds, beauty and elegance were public nuisances, and that to have contributed to adorn one's country with the delightful productions of nature and art is a trespass upon the common good.

"Another class of frauds, possessing the same nature,

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is seen in most places, at least in this country, in the abuses of public property. Public buildings are almost everywhere injured and defaced: the windows are broken; the doors, wainscoting, pillars, and other appurtenances formed of wood, are shamefully carved and hacked; the courts, balustrades, and other vulnerable articles are mangled and destroyed-in a word, injuries of this nature are endless, and all of them are scandalous frauds, useless to the perpetrators, wounding to every man of integrity and taste, discouragements to public improvement, and sources of public deformity and disgrace."

(12.) Thefts of Litigation.

[Dr. Dwight.]

750. It is a breach of the spirit of this commandment, when one person puts another to the charge and hazard of law, unjustly or needlessly; or in ever so necessary a lawsuit, occasions unnecessary expenses, and contrives unfair delays: in short, when anything is done by either party, by the counsel that plead or advise in the cause, or by the judge who determines it, contrary to real justice and equity.

(13.) Theft of Withholding.

751. When persons, by any means whatever, withhold from another his right; either keeping him ignorant of it, or forcing him to unreasonable cost or trouble to obtain it; this, in its proportion, is the same kind of injury with stealing from him. This is often practiced upon the poor; but not unfrequently also upon the rich. Though the person who is wronged be ever so wealthy, still his wealth is his own, and no one can have more right to take the least part of it from him without his consent, than to rob the meanest wretch in the world. The same remarks apply to the government, or the public, when defrauded. The crime is the same, whoever be the sufferer.

:

(14.) Theft of Participation.

752. Whatever things it is unlawful to do, it is also unlawful to advise, encourage, help, or protect others in doing hence the buying, receiving, or concealing stolen goods, known or suspected to be such, is becoming a partner in the stealth. The being in any way, a patron, Q

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THEFTS OF FORGERY AND OF GAMBLING.

assistant, or tool of injustice, is no less evidently wrong, than being the immediate and principal agent in it.

(15.) Thefts of Forgery and Counterfeiting.

753. The first of these consists in making or altering any written instrument with the intention to defraud or wrong any person. The other consists in making false and base coin; in preparing false bank-notes or fraudulently altering true notes. The civil law makes it criminal not only to make or pass such coins or notes, but to hold in possession any engraved plate or notes unsigned, which are intended to be used for such purposes.

(16.) Theft of Gambling.

754. This is a direct method by which we injure the property of others. It cherishes, and calls into exercise, the desire to acquire what others possess, and thus leads to a violation of the law of God.

There are but two possible methods by which we can acquire property from others honestly: either by free gift, or by rendering an equivalent for what we receive. In gambling it is received in neither of these ways. The gambler may lay his account with losing a certain sum, but not with freely giving away; and the only equivalent which he obtains is the chance, as it is called, of depriving another, contrary to his intention, of a part of his property. Nor would he hazard his own at all, but that it is necessary for him to do so, in order to get possession of that which is not his. The money lost is lost contrary to the wish, the design, and consequently to the proper consent of the persons losing; while the winner holds it by no better tenure, according to the laws of morality, than the thief or the robber.

The gambler, therefore, is guilty of a direct violation of the law of God, in plundering the property of others, and reducing them to poverty and wretchedness; and proves himself by such conduct to be void of piety, benevolence, or humanity. He is a source of evil by his example, as well as by his actions; a corrupter of youth, stealing from them not their property only, but what is infinitely more valuable, their virtue and their happiness; and doing all in his power to prevent their retreat from the road that inevitably leads to present and future ruin.

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If it be said by the advocate of gambling, that every man has an exclusive right to the use of his property, it is to be remarked, by way of qualification, that every man is also a steward, and is accountable to the Proprietor of all for the way in which he employs it. As it is manifestly the design of God that the gifts which he bestows should be expended in useful and beneficent purposes-in diffusing happiness-we are not at liberty to appropriate them to other ends, or foolishly to waste them much less, dispose of them for unworthy purposes -for encouraging vice.

[Dewar.]

These are some of the various modes in which the commandment relating to property is violated. Others might be specified. We shall add but one more.

(17.) Theft of Persons and Personal Rights.

755. This being the most serious and criminal kind of theft, has been reserved for consideration last. It brings to view one of the most vexed and difficult subjects in the whole range of moral discussion; one which in late years has awakened more interest, and occasioned more acrimony and danger, than almost any other; one, however, that cannot with propriety be omitted in a work of this kind; one upon which a right opinion should be formed, and right action taken by every American citizen. No subject has the author approached with more diffidence and fear than this; lest amid the great discordance of views entertained even by great and good men, he should fail to present such a view of the matter as the divine law, and the Scriptures generally, sanction and require. He claims no superior wisdom or judgment, but is obliged, under a sense of his personal responsibility, to present what he considers the sober truth upon the great question of AMERICAN SLAVERY; and, as in other parts of the work, so in this, he will freely introduce the thoughts and language of other and abler minds than his own. No attempt will be made, for there is not space, to present the subject in all its bearings; but to offer only some general views, such as are demanded in a treatise on Moral Philosophy. Those who desire a more full discussion can obtain their object by reading the works of Albert Barnes, Drs. Fuller and Wayland, and Dr. Channing.