The following are transgressions against this Commandment such as are likely to occur among people in modern times :

(1.) It is dishonest to gain anything by what another person has stolen; or by what another person has come by in any dishonest way.

(2.) It is dishonest to cheat in buying or selling. As by selling anything for good which is known by the seller to be bad, through adulteration or any other circumstance which makes it inferior to what it is said to be. As by taking more for anything than is known to be a fair price. As by using unjust scales, weights, or measures, of which it is said in Prov. xj. 1, "A false balance is abomination to the Lord." As by undervaluing anything for the sake of getting it cheaper than its fair price, of which it is also said in Prov. xx. 14, “It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth."

(3.) It is dishonest to keep back taxes which are lawfully due. As by making out our income to be less than it really is, for the sake of lowering the amount of Income Tax. As by refusing to pay tithes, churchrates, or any other tax of the kind which is intended for the service of God; even if it cannot be recovered by law. Thus our Lord says, "Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's." [Matt. xxij. 21.] And St. Paul says, "Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom." [Rom. xiij. 7.]

(4.) It is dishonest to get money or money's worth on any false pretence, as Gehazi did [2 Kings v. 20-27 ;] or the unjust steward in the parable. [Luke xvj.

1-7.] Of a similar nature was the sin committed by Ananias and Sapphira when they sacrilegiously misrepresented the value of the land which they gave up for God's service, and kept back part of the money for which they had sold it. [Acts v. 1-11.]

(5.) It is dishonest for masters to give servants less than their due wages. And it is equally dishonest for servants to give their masters less work than is due, or to waste their master's time. [James v. 4; Col. iv. 1; iij. 22-25.]

(6.) It is dishonest to borrow and not to pay. "The wicked borroweth and payeth not again" [Ps, xxxvij. 21]; not to pay our debts when we can; Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give, when you hast it by thee" [Prov. iij. 28]; or to run in debt when we know that we shall not be able to pay for what we profess to buy.

By this commandment we are forbidden: (1.) To be dishonest ourselves. (2.) To encourage others in dishonesty. (3.) To gain by the dishonesty of others. (4.) To conceal the dishonesty of others.

If we have at any time been tempted to break the Eighth Commandment it is our duty to make amends, if possible, to the person towards whom we have been dishonest. Thus Zacchæus said, "If I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." [Luke xix. 8.] If restitution cannot be made to the person defrauded, it should be made by almsgiving to the poor. [Eph. iv. 28.] But it not unfrequently happens that persons who repent of former dishonesty are quite unable to make restitution in any way however much they may desire it; and such

inability is part of the bitter fruit and punishment of the sin.

The best ways to avoid temptations to transgressions against the Eighth Commandment are—(1) Never to live in idleness; (2) Not to go in debt for more than we have good reason to think we can pay; (3) Not to live above our station in life, spending more than we can well afford.

§ 9. Sins of False Witness.

THE words of the Ninth Commandment are, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour;" which are explained in the summary of our 66 duty to our neighbour," as requiring each one of us, "to keep my tongue from evil-speaking, lying, and slandering."

The most direct form in which the sin of false witness is committed, is by one person declaring what is untrue against another before a judge or magistrate when the person so declaring has taken an oath to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

This form of false witness is perjury, which is forbidden in the Third Commandment as a sin against God, and in the Ninth Commandment as a sin against our neighbour.

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It was this kind of false witness which was brought against our Lord when His words were misrepresented at the time of His trial before the High Priest, [Mark xiv. 56-60], and which had been prophesied in the Psalm, “False witnesses did rise up; they laid to My charge things that I knew not." [Ps. xxxv. II.] In Prov. xix. 5, it is declared, “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape."

But the Ninth Commandment not only forbids per

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ury against our neighbour; it also forbids us to say anything of another person which we know to be untrue; as, for example, to misrepresent his character, by saying or suggesting that he is dishonest or intemperate, when we know that he is honest and sober.

Such false witness is slander. It is wrong to bear such false witness either openly or secretly, in jest or in earnest. In Ps. cj. 5, it is written, "Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I destroy." And in Exod. xxiij. 1, it is commanded, "Thou shalt not raise a false report."

If it is our duty to speak about the sin of others, we should take great care to speak within the truth, and not to make them out worse than they are. If it is not our duty, it is best to say nothing, or as little as possible about them. [Matt. vij. 1-5.]

We should not willingly listen to evil-speaking of others any more than we should speak evil of them ourselves; for by encouraging it we are making ourselves partakers in the sin. It is also our duty to correct any false accusations made against a person when we have proof that they are false.

If persons have borne false witness against ourselves, it is our duty to forgive them in the spirit of our Lord's words, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." [Matt. v. 44.] And it is in such a spirit that the prayers of the Litany are framed; "That it may please Thee to forgive our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and to turn their hearts, We beseech Thee to hear us, Good Lord." "From envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness, Good Lord, deliver us."

§ 10. Sins of Wrong Desire.

THE words of the Tenth Commandment are, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his.” In the summary of our duty to our neighbour in the Catechism this is explained in the words, 66 Not to covet nor desire other men's goods; but to learn and labour truly to get mine own living, and to do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me."

There are several conspicuous examples of covetousness and its consequences recorded in Holy Scripture. Gehazi coveted the wealth of Naaman, [2 Kings v. 20-27]; his covetousness leading him into telling an untruth to Naaman for the sake of getting the money and goods, and to Elisha for the sake of keeping what he had got. God punished these sins by making him a leper, and the Jews have a tradition that the words, "The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever," have been literally fulfilled to the present time.

Ahab, king of Israel, coveted the vineyard of Naboth, [1 Kings xxj. 1-4]; his covetousness leading him to partake in the sin of murder. [1 Kings xxj. 5-16.] God punished the sin of Ahab according to the words of Elijah, "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine." [1 Kings xxj. 19; xxij. 38; 2 Kings ix. 36.]

Judas, one of the twelve Apostles, was a dreadful example of covetousness, since this sin led him to the great wickedness of betraying our Lord to death for