of their employer, without making him a just return. Those who are guilty of any of these practices commit sin against God.
Again, to defraud the Government in the payment of duties and taxes is a violation of this Commandment. The writings of the Church teach that our country is our neighbor, in a high degree, even more so than an individual; for it is composed of millions of individuals. To take, therefore, from the Government, by withholding its dues, is robbing or stealing, as truly as it would be to take from an individual. Says the New Church Doctrine, "In regard to the payment of duties and taxes—those who are spiritual pay them with one disposition of heart, and those who are merely natural, with another. The spiritual pay them with good-will, because they are collected for the preservation of their country, and for the protection of it and the Church, and for the services performed by officers and rulers, to whom salaries and stipends are to be paid out of the public treasury. Wherefore those who regard their country and also the Church as their neighbor, pay them willingly and cheerfully, and consider it iniquitous to deceive or defraud. But those who do not regard their country and the Church as the neighbor, pay them unwillingly and reluctantly, and whenever opportunity is given, they withhold them or use deception; for with such, only their own house and their own flesh is their neighbor."[1]
Unfaithfulness or negligence in discharging debts (a very common evil) is also stealing. Not to pay
- ↑ T. C. R., n. 430.
