They forbid also the trade of the manufacturing of gun-powder, and of
arms or weapons of war, such as swords, guns, pistols, bayonets, and the
like, that they may stand clear of the charge of having made any
instrument, the avowed use of which is the destruction of human life.

They have forbidden also all trade, that has for its object the
defrauding of the king either of his customs or his excise. They are not
only not to smuggle themselves, but they are not to deal in such goods
as they know, or such as they even suspect, to be smuggled; nor to buy
any article of this description, even for their private use. This
prohibition is enjoined, because all Christians ought "to render to
Caesar the things that are Caesars," in all cases where their
consciences do not suffer by doing it: because those, who are accessory
to smuggling, give encouragement to perjury and bloodshed, these being
frequently the attendants of such unlawful practices; and because they
do considerable injury to the honest trader.

They discourage also concerns in "hazardous enterprises," in the way of
trade. Such enterprisses are apt to disturb the tranquillity of the
mind, and to unfit if for religious exercise. They may involve also the
parties concerned, and their families, in ruin. They may deprive them
again of the means of paying their just debts, and thus render them
injurious to their creditors. Members, therefore, are advised to be
rather content with callings which may produce small but certain
profits, than to hazard the tranquillity of their minds, and the
property of themselves and others.

In the exercise of those callings which are deemed lawful by the
society, two things are insisted upon: first, that their members "never