lf." But Abraham answered, "No! I will not
take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, and I will not take any
thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham
rich." Now, this was just an occasion when he might have fairly
claimed remuneration from the recovered plunder, but no! he was far too
scrupulous. He knew of what that plunder consisted--it was made up of
the household goods of the inhabitants of the towns of Sodom and
Gomorrah; of all the sticks of furniture, and clothes, and crockery,
and household ornaments that the people valued. He would not deprive
them of one, lest they should think that Abraham had enriched himself
at their expense. He puts an extreme case,--lest some poor woman
should lament that she had lost all her thread wherewith to mend her
torn clothes, and say, "Ah! I had plenty of thread once, but Abraham
has it now," or another should say, "I have no buckle to my shoe,
Abraham has taken of the spoil, and my shoe-buckle he has got now."

Well, now listen to what follows immediately. This upright conduct of
Abraham so pleased God, that we read, "After these things the word of
the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abraham: I am
thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward."

How many are there now who act like Abraham? How many who fear lest it
should be said of them that they had been enriched by those whose money
they had no right to take? There would be fewer failing banks, and the
little stores of widows and orphans swallowed up, were the bankers more
of the mind of Abraham. There would be fewer swindling speculations
swallowing up the savings of the thrifty, if men shrank from taking
that which is not lawfully and fairly their own.

II. All purchases, and all agreements for labour, are contracts. The
purchaser asks for one thing, and of that thing a certain amount, and
if for his money he is given another thing, or a smaller amount than
that for which he has paid, then there is dishonesty. If you went to a
shop and asked for a pound of tea, and were given something which was
not tea, or tea which weighed less than a pound, you would be dealt
with dishonestly. So if you go into another shop to buy flannel, and
purchase three yards, and then when you come home and measure it, you
find that it is six inches short, you would have been dealt with
dishonestly. In both cases you would be exceedingly angry with the
traders, and justly so. But consi