and requires simplicity in Bargaining and faithfulness in performing Covenants The former respects chiefly the Dignity of Persons this latter the Equality of Things The common Instruments of this sort of Justice are Weights and Measures the use of which was introduced by natural Reason and Necessity Commerce and Traffick became necessary as soon as Mankind became multiply'd and divided into Colonies For God in his wise and good Providence has so ordered that there is no condition of Life wherein one does not stand in need of another whether we respect private Families Communities or Kingdoms And this for the preservation of Society and to promote and spread abroad Love and Friendship over the Face of the Earth Now it is not easie to imagine how this necessary Commerce could be effected without these Instruments of Justice Weights and Measures Neither is it material to enquire when and by whom they were invented seeing we are sure they are as old as Traffick in the World And indeed Authors disagree much in this point as Polydore Virgil has observed from whose account we can only gather thus much that some Nations invented them before others Diogenes Laortius affirms Lib. 9. Antiq. That Pythagoras first invented them for the Grecians and Josephus tells us that it is credible That Cain the Son of Adam first establish'd the use of them but there are no Footsteps of this in Scripture There seems to me to be more ground for a Conjecture That Tubal Cain the Son of Lamech contrived these and the like Instruments seeing he is recorded for an Instructor of every Artificer in Brass and Iron Gen. 4.22 Him Vossius takes to be the same with Vulcan But as to that particular Instrument The Balance The first Invention of it is by the Heathens attributed to Astrea who is therefore deified for the Goddess of Justice and her Balance is advanced among the Celestial Signs to denote the extreme Value of this Invention and the sacred Regard they had to the use of it But now if the Balance and Weights be of humane Invention how will this Proverb of Solomon's be accounted for which plainly ascribes 'em to Divine Institution A just Weight and Balance are the Lord's By which we are not only to understand that the Lord approves of 'em and requires 'em in all our Dealings of Traffique with one another But that he claims this Ordinance of Justice as his own Institution intimating that his over-ruling Hand was imployed in the Workmanship of all and every of these Instruments All the Weights of the Bag are his Work This seeming difference is easily made up For as Dr. Taylor observes Tho' this part of Justice depends upon the Laws of Man directly and takes its Estimate and Measures from civil Sanctions and private Agreements yet it is built upon the Laws of God by plain Consequence and undeniable Inference as I shall undertake to prove from three Topicks First From the Law of Nature Secondly From the Revealed Laws of God Thirdly From the Established Laws of his Vicegerent established in this Kingdom First If we examin the Law of Nature we shall soon find that all the Instruments of just Dealing are ultimately resolved into God's Workmanship For who taught the first Inventers of them this useful Art Who imparted to them this Skill in Geometry Who guided the Workman's Hammer Who gave Men that Natural Sagacity to find out the critical Rules of Proportion Who but the God of Nature Who but that Omniscient Workman who writ his first Law the Law of Nature in the Hearts and Minds of all his Servants This Natural Principle furnish'd Men with common Rules of Justice as is evident from the Moral Precepts and Practice of the Heathens Commerce says Tully in his excellent Book of Offices consists in buying and selling hiring and letting and exchanging Commodities but there can be none of this Dealing says he without Justice Offic. Lib. 2. And therefore in another place he condemns it as a pernicious Error That they had a cunning artificial sort of People in great admiration misstaking Craft for Wisdom And that the like fraudulent Abuses of this Divine Institution were practised in former Ages we learn from the Testimony which Aristotle gives of the Merchants in his time For the remedying of which Abuses the Ancients did appoint divers Officers call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wilkins who were to overlook the common Measures of Justice So sacred a Regard had those Moralists for this piece of Natural Religion that they worship'd Justice for a Goddess complaining that she had left the Earth and was retired in Heaven from whence she came leaving only her Scales as I hinted before within our sight in the Zodiac as a sign that our Dealings with Men should be equally divided as the Globe is with the Equinoctial Line Lucan adjustae pondera Librae Thus Nature it self directs us to Heaven for the Author of the Balance as Virgil sings Jupiter ipse duas aequato examine Lances Sustinet Intimating that the Righteous God weighs all the Actions of Mortals as in the Scales of Justice whence the Poets stile him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the High and Heavenly Holder of the Balance Such Honour and Reverence do the Disciples of Nature pay to the Balance as the noblest of all Mechanical Instruments and worthy of a Divine Author But Secondly A just Weight and Balance are the Lord's by the Laws of Reveal'd as well as Natural Religion The Divine Institution of this Ordinance of Justice is frequently repeated in the Old Testament and confirm'd by general Rules of Righteousness laid down in the New First Hear the Voice of the Lord in the Law given by Moses Ye shall do no Vnrighteousness in Judgment Lev. 19.35 in Meteyard in Weight or in Measure Just Balances just Weights a just Ephah and a just Hin shall ye have I am the Lord your God Observe that solemn Confirmation IAM THE LORD He stamps the Mark of his Royal Authority upon them Again This Law is enforced by a promised Blessing and the contrary Practice prohibited under pain of an heavy Curse Deut. 25.13 Thou shalt not have in thy Bag divers Weights or as it is in the Original a Stone and a Stone a great and a small i.e. the greater to Buy with and the lesser for Selling or the one for public Shew and the other for private Vse Likewise Thou shalt not have in thy House divers Measures a great and a small but thou shalt have a perfect and a just Weight a perfect and a just Measure shalt thou have that thy Days may be lengthened in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee For all that do such things that is do falsify Weights and Measures are an abomination unto the Lord thy God i. e. highly abominable as the Abstract signifies Accordingly we find God expressing a more than ordinary Displeasure against his own People for this fradulent
Fraud being really a Wilful Sin but so called with respect to the smallness or inconsiderableness of the matter wherein such Sins are committed It is to be feared says a pious Author that more Souls perish by these supposed small Sins than by the grossest Acts of Wickedness We naturally fly with greater Fear from great Dangers than from less And the true Reason why idle Words and sinful Thoughts are oft'ner committed than more hanious Sins is because the Soul is not so much awaken'd by Fear and Care to make Resistance and Love needeth the Help of Fear in this our weak Condition We easily yield to what we think little Sins and those lead us on and betray us into greater He that hath brought himself to take an unjust Penny without regret may in time be prevail'd with to take a Purse when Want and Opportunity joyn together to make the Temptation strong Covetousness has no Bounds if a Man be in for Grains and feels no Remorse he will quickly bribe the Balance to lie and cheat by Ounces When a Man is successful in the little ways of Sinful Gain he naturally desires to become a Proficient and to try his skill in greater matters He that can dexterously counterfeit a Half-peny will hardly stop his eager Fancy till he come to the Half-crown nor there till he come to the Halter Thus Little Sins bring Great Punishments and Injustice in the smallest Weights will sink the Soul down to Hell Beware therefore O young Man of making little Transgressions in any kind habitual And let every Transgressor break off his ill Custom before it be too strongly rooted in him It is easier to check covetous Appetites at the first than to stop them in their Course for if Reason and Religion do not resist them in the begining they will go on in spite of us Nothing but the Powerful Spirit of God which in that wicked course we have no reason to hope for can reclaim us Let the young Man therefore I say again be cautious and jealous of every little Encroachment of Sin and stand upon his Guard against the first Onsets of Temptation to Injustice And if he resolutely bears the first Shock he will by God's Grace carry the Day and attain at last a Crown of Righteousness infinitly more worth than all the unjust Lucre of the World Now to Counter-balance the many Temptations that entice Men to commit these Frauds I shall endeavour by way of Application to lay the forementioned Obligations to the strict Observance of Commutative Justice more home to Men's Consciences and set before them the Rewards and Terrors of the Lord of Righteousness You have heard by how many Titles these Instruments of Justice belong to God and now by way of plain Consequence or Inference you shall hear more particularly what Obligations the Laws of Nature Religion and our Civil Constitution lay upon Vs to maintain these Ordinances of Commutative Justice And that these Arguments may have their due Force and Effect upon Men I will set forth how every Dealer in the World ought often to lay these Considerations to Heart and Examin his Soul by these Rules and Measures as First Whether he has regarded the Natural Obligations and Eternal Reasons of this Moral Duty such as these That the Nature of Man in Society claims just Dealing from every Man he deals with That the God of Nature who made Man a sociable Creature gave him that Right And moreover That the Eternal Justice and Righteousness of that God should be a Standard of our upright Dealing with Men i. e. as our Lord is Righteous in all his Works so should we be in all Ours by vertue of the Natural Relation that Servants have to their Lords No thinking Man can be ignorant of these everlasting Reasons of Righteousness we are directed by a Law within us to help and assist one another in matters of Commerce and that Law tells us that as there is a Benefit accrews by the exchange of Things so each Party has a right to a Share of it that the Buyer may have the worth of his Price and be thereby furnished with such Conveniencies of Life as he wants and the Seller may have the full worth of his Commodity otherwise instead of answering the great Design of Society which was to be mutually helpful one to another we become cruel Oppressors of our Brethren Thus we are to consider that the Great Balance of Nature gives every Man his due and equally divides the Profits and Advantages of our Traffique And that Man who is not contented with his Share but ingrosses all the Profits of Exchange to himself is rather a Wen of the Body Politic as Dr. Scot well expresseth it that draweth all the Nourishment to himself and starveth the neighbouring Parts than a Regular Member that contenteth itself with a proportionate Share and gladly permitteth his Fellow-members to live and thrive as well as he The Heathens who attended to these Moral Obligations needed no other Laws of Justice they praised it in their Sayings practised it in their Dealings and punished the Transgressors of it And what a Reproach is this to some Christian Professors who seem to have put off the Nature of Men while they make profession of Faith as Christians and have as little Regard to Moral Equity as if it was no part of our Religion In truth such Men are so far from Religion that they are not honest Heathens yet the Gentiles which knew not God shall rise up in Judgment against them and condemn them It was pardonable Superstition for Heathenish Ignorance to pay Divine Honour to the Goddess of Justice but for Christian Knowledg to have Hand and Heart offered up as it were in Sacrifice to the unrighteous Mammon is abominable Idolatry Their Worship terminated in Heaven but We fall down and worship the Earth Again Let every Dealer further consider in the second Place that as Injustice is repugnant to the Principles of the Light of Nature so likewise as has been proved to the Positive Laws of God revealed to us from Heaven That Divine Word which declares that the Weights and Balance belong to God does plainly declare that just Dealing belongs to Vs for whose sake these Instruments were ordained All the Laws of Heaven are Just as well as Holy As Christ came not to destroy the Moral Laws delivered by Moses so Moses made no Alteration as to the Laws of Nature Moses confirmed 'em all and Christ improved 'em all and both set a particular Estimate upon Justice And how can it be otherwise since Justice is a Ray nay a mighty Beam of Divinity as Eternal as the Godhead as Immutable and Indelible as the Image of God in the Rational World which tho' much defaced in some Individuals yet preserves its Lustre over the Universe and will for ever determin those Men to deal justly with one another who attend to the Dictates of Nature or the Laws of Religion and
A SERMON Against False Weights Balances Preach'd at SHEFFIELD JANVARY the 10th 1696 7. BY NATH DRAKE M. A. and VICAR there Suum regit Omnia pondus LONDON Printed by W. Onley for A. Bosvile at the Dial against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street and N. Simmons Bookseller in Sheffield Yorkshire 1697. TO THE Gentlemen and Others Inhabitants within the Town and Parish of Sheffield my Beloved Parishioners SIRS SEeing at last you have taken such an effectual Course to oblige me to comply with your Requests in making this Sermon public which was the farthest thing from my Thoughts when I pen'd and preach'd it I am sorry that I resisted your Importunities so long because That which at first chiefly commended this Discourse I mean the Seasonableness of it is much worn off since it was deliver'd Not but that the Subject of it Commutative Justice will ever be Seasonable and the just Balance always in Fashion but the ill Occasion which has of late so busily employ'd it and so foully corrupted it is now declining and far spent It is well for us that it is so for we have labour'd too long under the mortifying Effects of Corrupt Practices those especially relating to the Coin and the Balance To prevent and put a stop to the growing Corruptions of this latter was the Design of this Composure and I thank God I had my End in Preaching it beyond what I cou'd hope for I wish you may have yours in Publishing it viz. that it may be an acceptable Monitor to all Tradesmen that it may excite them effectually to Resist the Impulse of Covetous Affections That the treacherous Dealer may deal no more Treacherously nor the Land tremble and mourn for Fraud and Oppression What Occasion there is and of late has been for Discourses of this Nature I need not say nor wou'd I seem to lay this as a particular Indictment against this Parish The kind Entertainment that this plain Sermon has generally found among you purely for the sake of Justice is an evident Proof of your Love of that Vertue I am bound to thank you for the exceeding Good-will with which you receiv'd it and for your Respect and Kindness which I know you intended me in your repeated Wishes that it might be made Public But indeed you have no reason to thank me for my forced Obedience I shall ever readily obey you in any Instance relating to my Calling and limited within my Compass but when you wou'd oblige me to launch out beyond my Bounds and incur the Hazard of public Censure you must give me leave to dispute your Commands I am not so well assur'd of the Charitable Construction of Others as I am of Yours However You stand hereby engaged to be accountable for this Adventure And for my part I shall concern myself no further then to accompany it with my Prayers that it may have the same good Effect upon others that it had upon you and in all Temptations be a Remembrancer to you of the Sacred Rules and Measures of Justice And now my Brethren may the Blessing of God upon your just Dealing make or rather continue you a prosperous People and may all your Kindness to me find its Reward in the happy Success of the Ministry of GENTLEMEN Your Obliged and Faithful Servâ—â—â— N. D. PROV XVI xi A Just Weight and Balance are the Lord's all the Weights of the Bag are his Work I Dare so far pretend my Brethren to be a Judge of your Thoughts as to assure my self that upon the very naming of this Text you all look upon it as a Word in Season suited as well to the Place as Time wherein we live Indeed Commutative Justice or Honest Dealing 'twixt Man and Man is a Subject always seasonable because the thing is always necessary but it is much more so in such a critical Juncture as this when by the many Difficulties under which the present Government labours such Advantages are given to Designing Persons and such Temptations are laid before all Men of more Dexterity than Honesty to deceive and defraud under the Colour of Justice The Tempting Advantages I mean are chiefly such as relate to that noted Instrument of Justice the Balance the use of which has been corrupted by ill Practisers in all times But sure Opportunities for such Corruptions were never more than at this time when besides common Wares and Merchandize That which answers them all is brought to the Standard I mean Money itself comes to be bought and sold by Weight and that at different Rates Upon this Account it is as much in every trading Man's power if he be charitably inclin'd to favour the poor Man without any damage to himself as it is to cozen and over-reach him if he be a deceitful Dealer I do not mean that any Man is bound to take the poor Man's Money to his own loss but surely both Justice and Charity oblige us to make allowance to the utmost Farthing that we can with safety lest by taking advantage of his Necessity we cause Complaining in our Streets Let it not be therefore thought an improper Undertaking if from the Pulpit I a little inspect your Weights and Balance and interpose some pious Caution and impartial Advice in a Point wherein both Charity and Justice are concern'd I look upon it as the Duty of every Faithful Minister to be particularly watchful against Public Temptations and preserve as many as he can from Sin and Danger as also to plead for the Poor and Needy in the Day of Evil. Now when we hear the Poor complain that they scarce receive Justice where they expect Charity and on the other hand consider that Temptations to this sort of Fraud infect most in such populous trading Towns as this I cannot think a Discourse of this Nature tho' unusual to be either improper or unseasonable and therefore shall make no further Apology save that to prevent Censure I desire to enter this serious Protestation that I undertake this Argument upon a truly honest religious and charitable Design without any reflection upon particular persons And as Solomon was a Faithful Monitor to his People in this matter as we find by many repeated Cautions in this Book so I shall only represent to you the Reasons that we have to attend to those wise and just Observations and particularly improve these remarkable Words A just Weight and Balance are the Lord's all the Weights of the Bag are his Work Justice is a Natural principle and the measure of it is to do to others as we would have done to our selves This Justice is either Commutative or Distributive Distributive Justice consists in rendring to all such Dues as without any express compact or agreement may be challeng'd by right of a Divine Command by the Laws of Nature or Religion or the civil Constitution such are Tribute Honour Impositions Tyths Customs c. Commutative Justice supposes a mutual Contract and Exchange of things profitable