A just weight, &c., are the Lord's Are God's work, as it follows; made by his direction and appointment, so that no man can corrupt or alter them, without violating God's rights and authority, and incurring his displeasure. In other words, the administration of public justice by the magistrate is an ordinance of God; in it the scales are held, or ought to be held, by a steady and impartial hand; and we ought to submit to it for the Lord's sake, and to see his authority in that of the magistrate, Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13. The observation of justice in commerce between man and man is likewise a divine appointment. He taught men discretion to make scales and weights, for the adjusting of right exactly between buyer and seller, that neither might be wronged. And all other useful inventions, for the preserving of right, are from him. He has also appointed, by his law, that men be just; it is, therefore, a great affront to him, and to his government, to falsify, and so to do wrong under colour and pretence of doing right, which is wickedness in the place of judgment.

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