Workmen who do not do a just day’s work, or employers who cheat their workmen out of wages earned; merchants who charge unjust prices and seek unjust profits; dealers who give light weight or short measure or who misrepresent goods; those who speculate rashly or gamble with the money of others, and those who borrow with no intention or only slight hope of being able to pay back, all violate this Commandment.  You violate it also by not paying your just debts or by purchasing goods that you know you will never be able to pay for.  Moreover, besides the injustice, it is base ingratitude not to pay your debts when in your power to do so.  The one who trusted or lent you helped you in your need and did you a great favor, and yet when you can you will not pay, and what is worse, frequently abuse and insult him for asking his own.  Though such dishonest and ungrateful persons may escape in this world, they will not escape in the next, for Almighty God will make them suffer for the smallest debt they owe.

Again, others often suffer for the dishonesty of those I have mentioned, for when some good person who really intends to pay is in great need and wishes to borrow or be trusted, he is refused because others have been dishonest.  Everyone should pay his debts, and even keep from buying things that are not really necessary till he is thus enabled to pay what he owes.  You must pay your just debts even before you can give anything in charity.

374 Q. What are we commanded by the Seventh Commandment?  A. By the Seventh Commandment we are commanded to give to all men what belongs to them and to respect their property.

“Respect their property”—­that is, acknowledge and respect their rights to their property and do nothing to violate these rights.

375 Q. What is forbidden by the Seventh Commandment?  A. The Seventh Commandment forbids all unjust taking or keeping what belongs to another.

“Taking,” either with your own hands or from the hands of another; for the one who willingly and knowingly receives from a thief the whole or part of anything stolen becomes as bad as the thief.  Even if you only help another to steal, and receive none of the stolen goods, you are guilty.  There are several ways of sharing in the sin of another; namely, by ordering or advising him to do wrong; by praising him for doing wrong and thus encouraging him; by consenting to wrong when you should oppose it—­for instance, a member of a society allowing an evil act to be done by the society when his vote would prevent it; again, by affording wrongdoers protection and means of escape from punishment for their evil deeds.  This does not mean that we should not defend the guilty.  We should defend them, but should not encourage them to do wrong by offering them a means of escape from just punishment.  We share in another’s sin also by neglecting to prevent his bad action when it is our duty to do so.  For example, if a police officer paid for guarding