Page:Sermons on the Ten Commandments.djvu/146

 Open falsehood is forbidden by this commandment, as it is in other parts of the Divine Word; for instance, in the 101st Psalm, "He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight." But this is a vice so gross and shameless that most men will refrain from it for the sake of character, if on no other account. But secret falsehood, which in the Lord's sight is the same as open falsehood,—secret falsehood, under all its various forms of misrepresentation, deception, cunning, is daily and hourly committed by how many? by how many, too, who think that they would scorn to be guilty of a direct falsehood? Look through the business world. Follow the shop-keeper or merchant to his place of business—stand by him, while he sells his goods—set down a black mark (as a black mark is graven on his heart) every time he misrepresents and deceives the buyer—and then, at evening, count up those marks—and see how that man has blackened over his soul in one day—see how many times he has broken this Divine commandment!

Nor does the seller stand alone in his iniquity: how ready is the buyer, too, to take selfish advantage when he can! how does he strive to cheapen the article, to "beat down" the price to the lowest possible point, not considering that a truly honest man will not desire anything at less than its fair value. But the sin of falsehood is not confined to those; go through the whole world of business—in town and in country, wherein there is trading and dealing of one man with another—and witness, alas! the fraud and