Transactions are Secrets and
such as they can only be accountable for to God and their Conscience,
the more Latitude they have of being Knaves without being discover'd.
Should now a Man of a Business, where he has great Opportunity of
defrauding others with Impunity, be a cunning Sharper, a covetous
Miser, and a wicked Hypocrite; can it be a Question, whether he is not
more likely to get a great Estate, with the same setting out in a few
Years, than a charitable, religious Man, whose chief Care is not for
this World, in the same or any other Calling, equally beneficial to
fair Dealers? I am not ignorant of what may be said against me, about
God's Blessing, and on whom it is most likely to fall. The Dispositions
of Providence are unfathomable, and the Distribution of what we call
Good and Evil in this World, is a Mystery not to be accounted for by
the Notions we have of God's Justice, without having Recourse to a
Future State; therefore I need not to take this in Consideration here.
The Question is not, which is the readiest Way to Riches, but whether
the Riches themselves are worth being damn'd for.

There never was yet, and it is impossible to conceive, an opulent
Nation, without great Vices: This is a Truth; and I am not accessary to
its being so, for divulging it. When I have shewn the Necessity of
Vice, to render a Society great and potent, I have exposed that
Greatness, and left it to them, the Members of it, whether it is worth
buying at that Price; and I defy all my Enemies to shew me, where I
have recommended Vice, or said the least Tittle, by which I contradict
that true, as well as remarkable Saying of Monsieur _Baile_. _Les
utilites du vice n'empechent pas qu' il ne soit mauvais._ Vice is
always bad, whatever Benefit we may receive from it.--But I have been
strangely treated.

Should a thriving Youth in Athletick Health, almost arriv'd at Manhood,
industriously waste his Flesh for no other Purpose, than to weigh less,
I would 'count him a Fool for his Pains; because he runs the Risque of
doing himself great Injury. But he must ride; the Match is made; he has
a Master to oblige, and he is undone it he refuses: So he is managed
accordingly against the Time. If I had a Mind to expose this Practice,
and, laying open the whole Regimen Men are to go through in order to
waste, acquaint the World with the sharp Liquors they take, how they
are purged, sweated, stinted in their Food, and debarr'd from their
natural