A SERMON PREACHED before the RIGHT HONOURABLE THE Lord MAYOR AND COURT of ALDERMEN, AT GVILD-HALL-CHAPPEL, July the 23 th'. 1682.  
By THOMAS PARGITER D. D. Rector of Greetworth in Northamptonshire.  1 THES. 4.6. That no Man go beyond and Defraud his Brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the Avenger of all such. 
LONDON, Printed for A. Green, and are to be Sold by most Book sellers in London and Westminster, 1●●●   

TO THE READER.  
I Suppose that which hath made several Worthy Persons very Earnest and Importunate for the Publication of this Sermon, is the exceeding great Honesty of it, it being directly Leveled against all manner of Fraudulent and Injurious Practices. In it the great, but very much neglected Duty of Doing no Harm or Wrong to one another, is as throughly and fully Pressed upon us, as it could possibly be in so short a time as is allowed for a Sermon; and the hopes that it may do some good towards the making of Men more Just and Righteous in their Deal than generally they are, hath been the chief and prevailing Cause of the Printing of it: And surely the sending abroad of a Discourse upon this Duty of not Wronging one another, cannot be thought Unseasonable or Impertinent in such times as these, wherein the Hearts and the Wits of Men are so much set upon doing Wrong.   

A SERMON PREACHED before the Lord Mayor, AT GUILDHALL Chappel, July 23. 1682. ON  1 THESS. iv. 6. 
That no man go beyond and Defraud his Brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the Avenger of all such.  
THESE Words will afford us very good and fit Matter for a serious, useful, and practical Discourse; and that the ensuing Sermon upon them may be altogether such, I shall observe in them these two things.  
1. A Duty. And,  
2. The Enforcement of that Duty.  
The Duty here enjoined us by St. Paul, is, that we must not go beyond and Defraud our Brethren in any matter. And this Duty the Apostle enforces upon us by such a dreadful Argument, as may well terrify and affright us all into a careful Performance of it; for he tells us, that if we do go beyond and Defraud our Brethren in any matter, the Lord will be the Avenger of us: God will not then suffer us to go Unpunished, but will most surely Execute his Vengeance upon us.  
There is some Controversy among Expositors about the Duty of the Text, and they are not fully agreed what it is that St. Paul doth here enjoin us, when he chargeth us not to go beyond and Defraud our Brethren in any matter. Some of the ancient Expositors, and a late Learned one of our own, do here very much contract and straiten the general signification of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which we translate go beyond and Defraud, and in this place restrain and determine the sense of them only to the matter of Uncleanness, and think that that which the Apostle here enjoins us, is, that we must not injure and wrong our Brethren in the matter of Uncleanness, either by Defiling their Bed, or by drawing them to Commit such unnatural Filthinesses with us, as are not to be named: And that which chief Induced them to make this Interpretation of the Words, is St. Paul's speaking against the Sin of Uncleanness, both before the Text, and also immediately after it. But notwithstanding this, the generality of Ancient and Modern Expositors do not think fit thus to straiten the signification of the Words, nor see reason enough to make such a narrow and scanty Interpretation of the Text, as if it respected only the matter of Uncleanness: But they take the words in a larger and more general Sense, as they may be Applied to any Matter or Business whatsoever that we may have with one another, and so make the meaning of the Text to be, That we must not transgress and overpass the Bounds of Justice in our Deal with one another, we must not go beyond and overreach our Brethren in any matter; we must not Defraud and Circumvent others in any thing whatsoever; we must not any ways wrong them, nor in any kind be Injurious to them. And in this Sense surely the Words may well be understood, and we shall the rather believe that this is the right meaning of them, if we do but consider that this Duty of not Wronging and Defrauding our Brethren, is a thing that St. Paul was very strict and severe in Pressing upon others, and in Practising himself: He chides the Corinthians, and Rebukes them sharply for their Neglect of this Duty, and seems to upbraid them with a great deal of Indignation for their breach of it, 1 Cor. 6.8. Nay, you do wrong and Defraud, and that your Brethren. Nay, in the foregoing Verse of that Chapter, he Presses this Duty farther and with more strictness upon them, than most men are now willing to hear of; for he is there so far from allowing them to do any injury to others, that he earnestly persuades them rather to take Wrong, rather to suffer themselves to be Defrauded, rather to lose something of their own Right, than to go to Law with others upon every Trespass and Offence. And to show these Corinthians how rigid and strict he himself had been in the Performance of this Duty, and how clear he had always kept himself from unjust and dishonest dealing with others, he solemnly Protests to them his own Innocency in this matter, 2 Cor. 7.2. He there washes his Hands clean before them from the doing of any wrong, and lets them know that no unjust Gain had ever cleaved to his Fingers; Receive us, (says he) we have wronged no man, we have Defrauded not Man.  
I shall take it for granted then, that the meaning of the Text is that which our own and most other Translations speak it to be, and that the Duty enjoined us here is to this effect; That we must not Encroach upon the Rights of our Brethren, nor Defraud them of their Substance, nor Injure them at all in any of their Possessions, but must suffer them to enjoy their own Goods in all quietness and security. We must not take Advantage of the Ignorance or Unwariness, the Unskilfulness or Credulity of others, to beguile them and do them wrong; we must not stretch our Wits and Inventions to hurt them, nor any ways to overreach and Circumvent them in our Deal with them; we must not endeavour by any cunning Devices to take or Detain from them that which is their due; we must not use any subtle Arts or Policies either to get or to keep from them that which is their own, and doth of Right belong to them; or in short, We must not do any manner of Wrong to them, nor in any thing deal Injuriously with them. And that I may the more successfully enforce upon you this Duty of not Wronging others, and the more effectually bring you all over to the Performance of it, I shall handle it both in a Doctrinal and in an Applicatory way. For,  
1. I shall fully Prove it to you, not only by the Apostles, but also by some other Arguments, that we must not do any manner of Wrong to others, nor in any thing deal Injuririously with them. And then,  
2. I shall bring this Duty yet farther home to you by some close words of Application.  
1. I shall clearly and fully prove it to you, not only by the Apostles, but also by some other Arguments, that we must not do any manner of Wrong to others, nor in any thing deal injuriously with them. And,  
1. We must not do this, Because that Nature itself teaches us not to do any Injury or Wrong to others. We are not born Wild and Savage Creatures, and Beasts of Prey: We have not naturally a Disposition in us to by't, and tear, and devour one another: The State of our Nature is not a State of Rapine and Violence, Cheating and overreaching are not any of the Principles of it; as a late Monster of Men and Shame of Mankind, the great Leviathan of Atheism, that vile Asperser and Slanderer of our Humane Nature, hath scurrilously asserted in his Works, to make way for some other of his wretched and forlorn Principles: But on the contrary, our Nature would lead us to all kind of fair and just and honest Deal with one another, if we ourselves did not stifle the Dictates, and suppress the Inclinations of it: Whatsoever the forementioned Traducer of our Nature, or any of his Disciples may or can say to the contrary, we are not left at Liberty by the Principles of our Nature to do what hurt and Mischief we can to one another; but there are natural Principles of Honesty written in legible Characters upon all our Hearts, that would check, and curb, and restrain us from doing wrong, if we were not continually razing them out of our Hearts, by giving way to Pride, and Ambition, and Lust, and Worldly-mindedness; We must wink hard, and be wilfully blind, blinder than ever the Heathens themselves could be, if we cannot find a Law of Nature within us, that plainly Instructs us in this Duty of not wronging others, and strongly Prompts us to the Performance of it. For this Doctrine of doing no Injury or harm to others, is a Doctrine that was always Currant, not only at Jerusalem but at Athens too; not only in the Church of God, but also in the Gentile World: This is a Lesson that was taught not only in the Schools of the prophets, but in the Schools of the Philosophers also; a Lesson that we may learn not only out of the Word of God, but likewise out of the Writings of Heathen men; for many of the Heathens themselves, who had only the Light and the Law of Nature for their Guide, have spoken very excellent things of this Duty of not wronging others, and have been very serious and earnest in pressing the Performance of it, as might easily and abundantly be showed to you out of their Writings: Nay, these Gentiles who were mere Strangers to the Grace of God and his written Word, who had nothing else but the Dictates of their Nature, and the Principles of their Reason, and their Inbred Notions of good and evil to go by, were so far from allowing the doing of any injury to one another, that they had amongst them very severe Laws against Rapine and Violence, against Theft and Cozenage, against Fraud and Deceit, and against all manner of injurious and dishonest Deal, and were also very strict and punctual in the Execution of those Laws. And therefore we are obliged not to wrong others for this reason, because the wronging of them is a plain violation and breach of that very Law of Nature which is written upon all our Hearts, and such a Sin as the Heathens themselves, who were any ways careful to follow the Di●●●●● of their Nature, were quite ashamed to be guilty of. And let us Christians have a care, and look to it, that the Heathens do not rise up in judgement against us in this matter at the last Day, and then in the face and hearing of all the World confound and condemn us in it. But then,  
Secondly. We must not do any manner of wrong to others, nor in any thing deal injuriously with them, because that this is a thing that is not only taught us by the Law of Nature, but is expressly required of us also by the Word of God. The Will of God in this matter is sufficiently regaled to ●o in the Scriptures, and his Commands both in the Old and in the New Testament are very full and frequent to this purpose, that we must not imagine mischief in our Hearts against others, nor do them any wrong, nor injure them at all. The Law of Wioses is plain to this purpose, as plain at words can make it, Levin. 19.13. Thou shalt not Defraud thy Neighbour and again in the Thirty fifth Verse of that Chapter, Ye 〈◊〉 do no unrighteousness in Judgement, in Mete-yard, in Weight, or in Measure, that is, Ye shall not allow of any manner of falsehood and wrong amongst you, nor give way to any kind of Fraud and Deceit whatsoever in any of your Deal and concerns with one another.  
And perhaps this Duty of not wronging others was dearly signified to the Jews under the Law, by the very Nature and Temper of those Living Creatures which they were to offer in Sacrifice: For none of the Birds of the Air, or Beasts of the Field were chosen and appointed by God for Sacrifice, but such as were harmless and inoffensive, and of a mild Temper, and of a gentle and good Nature and Condition: And the appointment of such only for Sacrifice might be to teach the Jews, that they ought to be , Loving, and Gentle towards one another, and to live in all peacableness together, and to do no hurt, or injury, or wrong to one another.  
And then as for the Prophets, they are very full and express in enjoining this Duty of not doing any wrong, and it would be endless to instance in places out of them to this purpose; for they do all with open and with one Mouth exclaim and inveigh against the Jews for those injurious practices and unrighteous Deal which they were given to, and call aloud upon them to lay aside their unjust and fraudulent cours●s, and to live uprightly, and deal honestly with one another. All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the Law and the Prophets, says our Saviour, Matth. 7.12. that is, this is the very sum and substance of that which the Writers of the Old Testament have taught us concerning our Duty to one another, that we should carefully observe amongst us that great Natural Rule of Equity, To do as we would be done to; that as we would not that others should do any injury to us, so neither should we do any wrong to them. And this Duty of not wronging others is very much improved in the New Testament, and our Saviour hath there advanced it to an higher pitch than it was before; for he is there so far from giving us leave to do the least wrong to others, that he hath strictly commanded us to be kind to our very enemies, and to do good to those very Persons that hate us and deal evilly with us, and to suffer the greatest injuries from others, rather than to do the least harm to them: And we may observe that most of the Precepts delivered by him in his famous Sermon upon the Mount, are such as put us upon a severe honest course of Life, and leave no room at all for any kind of crooked and deceitful dealing amongst us So that now under the Gospel it is more especially our Duty to be of an innocent and harmless conversation, to live without Guile and Deceit in the World, and to keep our Hands pure and clear from violence and wrong, and from all manner of unjust dealing. The ancient Christians that lived in the first Ages of the Church, thought themselves strictly obliged, by the Doctrine of Christ to do so, as plainly appears by that well known and that often cited account which Pliny gave of them in a Letter to Trajan the Emperor, when he had begun a Persecution against them; for in his Letter to that Heathen Emperor he tells him, that all that could be proved against his Christians was only this, that they used at set times to meet together early in the Morning before day to Worship Christ; and that they did then bind themselves not to Rob, or Steal, or commit Adultery; not to break their Word, or falsisie their Trust, or the like. Thus honest had these former Christians their conversation amongst the Gentiles; thus harmlessly and inoffensively did they behave themselves in the World; and thus carefully were they to abstain from the very appearance of doing any wrong; so that the Heathens themselves, who watched for their halting, could find no other fault with them, nor charge any other crime upon them, but only this, that they were Christians. And though the Christians of our days, to their shame be it spoken, are in their temper and their carriage very unlike to these Christians of old, yet the Doctrine of Christ in this matter is still the same, and doth as strictly require us to forbear the doing of any wrong, as ever it did them. But farther yet.  
Thirdly, We must not do any manner of wrong to others, nor in any thing deal injuriously with them; because that it is required of us that we should love them. The loving of one another is the Royal Law of Christ, and that which is peculiarly his Commandment. It is indeed an, old Commandment, as old as the Law of Moses, nay, as old as the Law of Nature itself; for long before Moses made it Written Law, God himself had made it a branch of the Law of Nature within us. But our Saviour hath now so fully instructed us in it, and in such a special and particular manner obliged us to the performance of it, that he, calls it his New Commandment. And indeed this Commandment of loving our Brethren he doth every where in the Gospel so strictly enjoin us, so earnestly recommend to us, and so vehemently press upon us, as if he almost required nothing else of, us in comparison of this. And if it is thus strictly and indispensably required of us that we should love others, then to be sure we must not any ways wrong them, or be injurious to them: for how can the doing of any wrong to them be any ways consistent with, our loving of them? This would certainly be but a very cross and untoward way of showing that kindness and affection to others, that Christ hath Commanded us to have for them. But farther yet than this:  
Fourthly, We must not do any manner of wrong to others, not in any thing deal injuriously with them; Because that it is not only required of us that we should love others, but also that we should love them as ourselves. Indeed that known Precept, Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thyself, respects rather the quality than the quantity of our Love towards others, and doth not command a parity but a likeness of it; for we are not bound to Love others equally, or so much as ourselves, but with the like manner and kind of Love, that we do ourselves. Our Love then to others, like the Love to ourselves, must not be false, and feigned, and hypocritical; but true and real, and without all manner of dissimulation. Now if we are commanded to proceed so far in our kindness, and good will, and affections towards others, as to Love them as truly and sincerely as we do ourselves, than it is passed all doubt that we must not do any manner of wrong to them; for there are none of us that Love ourselves so little, as to be willing that any kind of hurt or injury should be done to us. But now,  
5. To make use of the Apostle's dreadful Argument, to Enforce this Duty, and set it fully home upon you: We must not do any manner of Wrong to others, nor in any Matter whatsoever deal Injuriously with them; Because that the Lord will be the Avenger of all such. There is not one of all those that do so, that shall escape the Vengeance of God, and go away unpunished; For the God that is above them, doth narrowly observe all the Fraudulent Courses which they take, and all the Injurious Practices which they use to the hurt of Others, and will in due time call them to a very strike and severe Account for them, and fully pay them that which they have Deserved.  
They that break through all the Bounds of Equity and Justice to go beyond and overreach their Neighbours, that use any subtle Arts and Devices to defraud their Brethren of their Possessions, and endeavour to increase their own Substance, by the Spoil which they make of other men, are such Transgressor's as God is highly Displeased with, and doth usually sooner or later Plague even here in this World, as well as in the World to come. Sometimes he sends his secret Curse into their Houses, which there sticks fast by them and like a Canker eats into their Estates ' and wastes away their Goods, and by degrees devours and consumes all that they have. And sometimes he causes the Hand of Public Justice to find them out, and to pluck the Spoil out of their Teeth, and to gripe them, and handle them roughly, and make them Vomit up those forbidden Morsels, those Morsels of Violence and Deceit, which they had so glibly devoured.  
And sometimes, nay oftentimes indeed, he takes the Matter more openly into his own Hand, and punishes them in an extraordinary manner, and in some signal way doth Execution upon them, when they think themselves safe from fear, and far enough from danger.  
How secure did Ahab and Jezebel, that wretched Pair of Wrong-doers, think themselves, when they had overreached Naboth, and defrauded him of his Vineyard in a Court of Judicature, and under a Form of Justice, and with a show of a Legal Proceeding against him?  
Having this way gotten from him the Ancient Inheritance of his Father, they thought themselves safe enough in the possession of it, and free from any Harm that might follow. But a time of Recompense, and the Day of the Lord's Vengeance came upon them at last, and that with a Witness too, in a very Remarkable Way and Manner; for, as the Prophet Elijah had foretold, in the place where the Dogs licked the Blood of Naboth, there they also licked the Blood of Ahab; and there they not only licked the Blood of Jezebel, but there they eat her up too, and left nothing of her Carcase remaining, but her Skull and her Feet, and the Palms of her Hands. And it is farther observable, that the evil which befell their Son King Joram, did overtake and seize upon him in the Portion of Naboth the Jezreelite; for there Jehu met him in his furious march against him, and there he smote him thorough the Heart with an Arrow, and killed him; and there he commanded his Body to be pulled down out of the Chariot, and cast upon the open ground; so that he lay weltering in his own blood in that very plat of ground, which his Parents had defrauded Naboth of, and got unjustly from him. And indeed it is usual with God, as the Histories of all Ages will inform us, to punish those that wrong others even in this World, either in their own persons, or in their Posterity, or in both, and that in some strange and fearful manner too: Nay, so strangely is God provoled to Anger by this Sin of Wronging Others, and so severe is he against it, that he many times plague's a Community, and punishes a whole Land and Nation for it; for we cannot read the Prophets with any heed and observation at all, but we must needs take notice that this is frequently mentioned by most of them, as one of the main Sins and great Abominations for which God delivered up the Jews into their Enemy's hands, The Jews, as we find up and down in the Prophets, were strangely bend upon Violence and Wrong; their Houses were full of deceit, and they were continually setting Traps, and laying Snares for their Brethren, and devising how they might overreach and defraud one another; and for these sins especially it was, that the Wrath and Vengeance of God fell so heavy upon them: For it is very observable, that no sins are so much insisted upon by the Prophets, as these, to be the Cause of their Desolation, and of those great and terrible Judgements that came upon them. Nay, it is yet farther observable, that in the Seventh Chapter of Zachariah, Injustice, and Oppression, and Wrong-dealing are the only sins that are mentioned, for which God sent them away into Captivity, and laid their Land desolate and waste: for the Prophet there tells them, that because they refused to execute true Judgement, and would not show Mercy and Compassion to their Brethren, but went on still to oppress the Widow, and the Fatherless, and the Stranger, and the Poor, and to imagine evil in their Hearts against their Brethren; therefore there came a great Wrath from the Lord of Hosts: For these sins such a storm of his Anger fell upon them, as scattered them with a Whirlwind among all the Nations whom they knew not. But if those that wrong others, and deal injuriously with them, should escape the Vengeance of God in this World, and go down into their Graves, without having any remarkable Punishment inflicted upon them here; yet shall they not for all this always go unpunished; for the Wrath and Vengeance of God will pursue them into the other World, and there finally overtake them, and come upon them to the uttermost, and their latter end will be, that they shall perish for ever. Tho these men may here by their wit or their Wealth, by their power or their Friends, or by any other means escape the Judgement of Man, yet shall they not hereafter by all the Arts that they can use, escape the righteous Judgement of God: for God hath appointed a Day, wherein he will judge the World in Righteousness; and when that Day of recompenses is come, he will then render to every man according to his Deeds: to those that have done justly, and have been righteous in all their ways, and upright in all their Deal, he will render Glory, and Honour, and Peace, and Immortality, and eternal Life: But to those that have done wrong, and been unjust; to Oppressors and Deceivers; to the men that have been Injurious to their Brethren, and Inventors and Practisers of evil things against them; He will render Indignation and Wrath, Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of them. They that have done Wrong, howsoever they may escape here, shall then receive in full measure for the wrong which they have done; their violent Dealing shall then fall down upon their own Heads in Eternal Showers of Vengeance, and God will for ever pay them home for all their Villainies and Mischiefs which they have been guilty of. He will then make his whole Displeasure to arise against them, and will cast the fury of his wrath upon them, and punish them with everlasting death and destruction from His Presence, and be always terrible in his do towards them. He will then turn them into Hell, that frightful place of torments, where they must always have their Habitation amongst Devils and damned Spirits, and dwell with devouring Flames, and suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire, and for ever endure the heaviest Plagues and punishments, that the vindicative Justice of an angry and incensed God can heap upon them.  
And so I have done with the First thing, and I think have sufficiently proved it to you by the Apostles, and by some other Arguments, that we must not do any manner of wrong to others, nor in any matter whatsoever deal injuriously with them. And now  
2. I shall bring this Duty yet farther home to you by some close words of Application. And that this may be the better done.  
1. Let us suffer a few words of Rebuke, and be persuaded to hear a little, how very careless and negligent most of us are in the performance of this Duty. And then,  
2. Let us also suffer some words of Exhortation, and be persuaded for the time to come, to be more strict and careful in the Performance of this Duty, than hitherto we have been.  
1. Let us suffer a few words of Rebuke, and be persuaded to hear a little how extremely careless and negligent most of us are in the Performance of this Duty. Though this Doctrine of not wronging others, is very clear and evident, both from Reason and Scripture, and a Doctrine that cannot be gainsaid, yet it is not received and entertained amongst us, as it ought to be; for who is there that believes our report in this matter, that hath any regard to what we say in this thing? or that follows the Advice and Counsel that we give them in it? who are the Persons, and where are they now almost to be found, that behave themselves aright in this case, and are as careful as they ought to be, not to go beyond and defraud their Brethren? Are not the Hearts of most Men fully set in them to do Evil to one another? Do not their inward Thoughts altogether run after Mischief? And are they not continually plotting how they may compass their villainous Designs, and bring about those pernicious Devices which they have devised to the hurt of others? do not the generality of Men amongst us make account that their Wits are their own, and that they may use them as they please for their own Interest and Advantage here? Do not they think that they may be as wise in their Generation, and as crafty as possibly they can, for their worldly Gains, and that to enrich themselves, they may overreach their Brethren in any of their Deal and Concerns with them? And may not we make the same complaint of our Age, as Petrarch somewhere doth of the Age wherein he lived; That Hunters and Fowlers cannot use greater cunning in laying their Nets and Snares for wild Beasts and Fowls, than we do in setting Traps for one another? For what mysteries of cheating and cozenage have Men  got amongst them? What Arts and Stratagems do they use to inveigle and ensnare those that are unwary, and make a Prey of them? And how skilful are they grown at all the ways of circumventing and overreaching their Brethren? How subtle and politic are they in their fraudulent and deceitful Courses? What cunning Fetches and Devices have they to wrong their Neighbours, and do them Harm? And how many Wiles and Inventions have they found out to work this their Iniquity by? So many indeed, that if I should declare and speak of them, they would be more than I should be able to express: Nay, it might justly bring a Man's Honesty into suspicion to have the Skill, and be able to reckon them up. And therefore in a word; how busy and active are the Men of this Generation in invading the Rights of their Neighbours, and injuring them in their Goods and Possessions? How greedy are they to enrich themselves by Fraud and Deceit, and to enlarge their Estates, though it be by unjust Gain, and the Spoil of others? And how ready are they to take every Advantage that they can over their, Brethren, and to bring any kind of hurt and damage upon them, if by so doing they may any ways profit themselves? But now,  
2. Let us suffer some words of Exhortation also, and be persuaded for the time to come to be more strict and precise, more exact and punctual in the performance of this Duty, than hitherto we have been. Let us not hereafter any ways wrong our Brethren, nor defraud them in any matter, nor in any respect whatsoever do them the least hurt; but let us walk honestly amongst them, and in all things deal well and truly with them, and in no kind be injurious to them. Let us consider what Obligations we have upon us not to wrong others: Let us consider, that the Law of Nature itself, that very Law that is written upon all our Hearts, teaches us not to do others any wrong: Let us consider also, that the Laws of God are very full and express to the same purpose, and that the Old and the New Testament do abound with Precepts of this nature, that we must not harm others, nor imagine Mischief in our Hearts against them, nor take any thing from them that doth of right belong to them. Nay, let us consider, that the Commands of God do carry the business somewhat higher, and oblige us to love others, and to love them, though not in the same degree, yet with the same Truth and Sincerity of Love, that we do ourselves, and to endeavour their good, as we would our own. And let us not break these Bonds asunder, nor cast away these Cords from us, nor sin against these Obligations which Nature, and the God of Nature hath laid upon us, not to be injurious and hurtful to others. But if these things will not signify any thing with us, as perhaps with many of us they may not; then let us consider farther, how very great the danger is that we run, in doing wrong to others. Let us bethink ourselves, that if we do injure and oppress, and defraud our Brethren, it is very likely that the Wrath of God will break out against us in this World, and that we shall be sound punished for it here; but to be sure, we shall smart severely for it hereafter: for then God will at last come in flaming Fire to take Vengeance on us, and will condemn us to the Punishments of the other World, to those dreadful Pains and Torments there that will last to eternal Ages, and never have an end. And let these Terrors of the Lord scare us out of all our unrighteous Practices, and fright us from all manner of Fraud and Injustice in our Deal with one another. Before we venture upon the wronging of our Brethren, let us consider it well in our minds, whether we can bear up and support ourselves under the Vengeance of God that will follow. Is our Damnation a thing that we can lightly pass over, and make no great matter of? Can we withstand the Power of God's Wrath, when he shall accomplish all his Anger upon us? Can we for ever bear up under the weight of his Indignation, and without any anguish of Mind lie under the strokes of his eternal Vengeance and Fury? Can our Hands be strong in the day that an avenging God shall deal with us in his Justice, and set all his Terrors in array against us? Can our Hearts endure when he shall come in flaming Fire to take Vengeance on us, and turn us into Hell for the wrong that we have done? Can we then with any Comfort dwell in the midst of devouring Flames and everlasting Burn? Can we then suffer the Vengeance of eternal Fire, without shrinking or being daunted at it? Can we then take any Contentment in the company of cursed Angels, and damned Spirits? And can we then cheer up ourselves against the horror and remorse of our own guilty Consciences, and with Patience endure the Stings and Bitings of that Worm that never dies? If we cannot do these things, as to be sure we cannot, then what desperate Folly and Madness will it be for us to run into the commission of that Sin, which will most certainly be avenged upon us by such dismal Punishments as these are.  
Surely, if we would sometimes consider how terrible God will be in his deal with all injurious Persons, and how dreadful the Works of his Vengeance will for ever be upon them, we durst not defraud our Brethren, and do them Wrong so commonly as now we do.  
Would any dare to turn aside the needy from Judgement, and take away the Right from the Poor, and make Widows their Prey, and rob the Fatherless, if they did but consider with themselves, that a Father of the Fatherless, and a Judge of the Widows is God in his holy Habitation; and that from thence he sees the Oppression of the Poor, and hears the sighing of the Needy, and will at length arise for their defence, and maintain their righteous Cause, and plague all those that have harmed them wrongfully, and dealt injuriously with them?  
Would Men covet Fields, and take them by violence; and Houses, and take them away: and so oppress a Man and his House, even a Man and his Heritage? Can they be so very busy and industrious as they are in invading the Rights of others; in defrauding the Brethren of their Goods, and injuring them in their Possessions; if they did but once take it into their Thoughts, that they must be called to a strict account for these things before the righteous Judge of all the World, who loves Justice and Judgement, and will be sure to punish the wrongdoer, and break in pieces the Oppressor, and spoil the Soul of all those that have spoiled others?  
How durst the subtle and the cunning Sinners hold fast Deceit, and go on in their fraudulent and mischievous Courses? How dared they deal so treacherously, and endeavour by their circumventing Skill to go beyond and overreach their Neighbours, if they did but call to mind, that God sees all their Fetches and their Devices, all their lesser and greater Mysteries of Iniquity, and will at last bring them into Judgement for all those wicked Arts and Stratagems, which they have so often made use of to ensnare the ignorant and unwary, and make them fall a Prey into their Nets?  
Would Men covet an evil Covetousness to their Houses, that they might set their Nests on high? Would they go to raise their Families by that which they wrongfully take from others, if they considered that their illgotten Wealth will bring such a Curse of God along with it into their Houses, as will root out all their Increase, and quickly be the ruin and Dectruction of them and their Posterity? Would they dare to suffer any unjust Gain to cleave to their Fingers? would they not presently with all the haste imaginable, shake their Hands from holding of it, if they considered further, that the heaping up of this is but the laying up of Vengeance in Store, and the Treasuring up of Wrath for themselves against the great Day of Wrath?  
Would men be tampering in the very Courts of Justice, and be devising Subtleties there how they may Circumvent their Brethren, and thrust them out of their apparent Rights, if they considered that they must in another Court of Justice, and at Gods own Tribunal, give an Account of this, and there have the Sentence of Eternal Condemnation Passed upon them for it?  
Would any Persons have the boldness to be Givers or Takers of Bribes to Afflict the Innocent, if they considered that a God of Infinite Justice looks upon them, when their Hands are either opened to Receive, or Stretched out to give the Wages of Unrighteousness, and that he will be an Avenger of all those that use such foul and Indirect Practices against their Brethren?  
With what Confidence could any men talk deceitfully, and speak in any matter to wrest Judgement and pervert Equity, if they did but bethink themselves that the God of Faithfulness and Truth knows every word that is in their Mouths, and that he utterly abhors all those that love Lying rather than to speak Righteousness, and will at last Condemn them to those eternal Flames, where they shall never be allowed one drop of Water to cool their false Tongues, which have framed Deceit? What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false Tongue? It is David's Question, Psal. 120.3. And his Answer to it in the next Verse is very dreadful: Sharp Arrows of the Mighty, with coals of Juniper: That is, as some of the Jewish Interpreters expound it, piercing Plagues here, and Hell fire hereafter: This shall be the Portion of those men whose Tongues devise Mischief, and who love all Devouring words that will do hurt.  
What fearfulness and trembling would seize upon the false Swearers? what an horrible dread would presently overwhelm them, if they did but call to their remembrance that the just Lord hath taken notice of all their Perjuries, of all those Oaths which they have Sworn falsely by his Name, to the hurt and Prejudice of others? And that he will not hold them Guiltless, nor suffer them to go Unpunished for these heinous Crimes, but will most certainly let lose the fierceness of his Anger and Displeasure upon them, and pursue them with Wrath and Vengeance all their days here, and throughout all the days of Eternity hereafter?  
And as for the high and mighty Transgressor's, the haughty and imperious Sinners, that have no regard at all either to the Laws of God or Man in this case, but do their Brethren hurt with as great a Confidence as others do them good; how would their Courage sink, and their hearts fail them, if they would but take it into their Consideration, that there is a great God above them to whom they must be accountable for all the Hurt and Mischief they have done, and that he will be no Respecter of their Persons in Judgement, nor Spare them any more than the meanest Sinners in the day of his Wrath?  
And to draw to a Conclusion, for I think it is time so to do; Let us all be persuaded very frequently and seriously to consider what this terrible place and Text of Scripture puts us in mind of, That the Lord will be a sure and severe Avenger of all such as go beyond and Defraud their Brethren in any matter; and let the fear of his Eternal Vengeance keep us within the strictest Rules of Equity and Justice, and restrain us from doing the least Injury or wrong to others. That we may escape that dreadful Wrath of his that is to come, let us forsake all our overreaching, and fraudulent and deceitful Courses; and let us do justly, and live honestly, and neither devise nor practise any harm against our Brethren; and then when God comes to Judge the World, he will not be an Avenger, but a Rewarder of us; then we may all with Cheerfulness and Comfort stand before his Judgement Seat at the last and final Judgement of all the World; for then the Judge of all the World will pass a joyful Sentence upon us, and before the greatest and most solemn Assembly that ever appeared before, all the Angels and all the Devils, and before all the Good men and all the Bad men of all Generations, will Pronounce us Blessed for evermore. And God grant that we may all be so Just to one another now, that the Lord may be Merciful to us all at that Day, and Receive us up into his Heavenly Kingdom, to be Partakers of all the Joys of it, and there to make our Eternal abode in his most glorious and delightful Presence. Amen.  
FINIS.