r have we any proof of their having receded from this
position, until that strange fusion of church and state under Constantine,
in which it is hard to say whether Christianity mounted the throne of the
Caesars or succumbed to their rule.

Section IV.

Honesty.

*Honesty* relates to transactions in which money or other property is
concerned. In its broadest sense, it forbids not only the violation of the
rights of individuals, but, equally, acts and practices designed to gain
unfair emolument at the expense of the community, or of any class or
portion of its members. It enjoins not merely the paying of debts and the
performance of contracts, but rigid fidelity in every trust, whether
private or public. Its ground is intrinsic fitness; and a sense of fitness
will suggest its general rules, and will always enable one to determine
his duty in individual cases. Its whole field may be covered by two
precepts, level with the humblest understanding, and infallible in their
application. The first relates to transactions between man and man,--Do
that, and only that, which you would regard as just and right, if it were
done to you. The second embraces concerns that affect numbers or classes
of persons,--Do that, and only that, which, were you the responsible
trustee and guardian of the public good, you would prescribe or sanction
as just and right.

*Notwithstanding the undoubted increase of dishonesty* in recent times and
its disastrous frequency, there can be no doubt that *the majority of men
are honest*, and that the transactions in which there is no deception or
wrong, largely outnumber those which are fraudulent. Were this not so,
there could be neither confidence nor credit, enterprise would be
paralyzed, business would be reduced to the lowest demands of absolute
necessity, and every man would be the sole custodian of what he might
make, produce, or in any way acquire. There can, therefore, be no element
more directly hostile to the permanence, not to say the progress, of
material civilization and of the higher interests which depend upon it,
than fraud, peculation, and the violation of trust, in pecuniary and
mercantile affairs, and with reference to public funds and measures. Yet
there are methods, for which to a large degree honest men are responsible,
in which dishonesty is created, nourished, and rewarded. In political
life, if few office-holders are inaccessible to bribes,