Sermon

Exodus 20:15. You shall not steal.

As the holiness of God sets him against uncleanness, You shall not commit adultery, so the justice of God sets him against rapine and robbery, You shall not steal. The thing forbidden in the commandment is meddling with another man's property, You shall not steal. The civil lawyers define Furtum, stealth or theft, to be the laying hands unjustly on that which is another's: the invading another's right.

Quest. 1. From where does theft arise?

Resp. 1. The internal causes are, (1.) Unbelief. A man has a high distrust of God's Providence. Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? (Psalm 78:19). So says the unbeliever, Can God spread a table for me? No, he cannot. Therefore he is resolved he will spread a table for himself, but it shall be of other men's cost, and both first and second course shall be served in with stolen goods. (2.) Covetousness. The Greek word for covetousness, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], signifies an immoderate desire of getting. This is the root of theft. A man covets more than his own, and this itch of covetousness makes him scratch what he can from another. Achan's covetous humor made him steal the wedge of gold, which wedge did cleave asunder his soul from God (Joshua 7:21).

2. The external cause of theft is Satan's solicitation: Judas was a thief (John 12:6). How came he to be a thief? Satan entered into him (John 13:27). The Devil is the great master-thief; he robbed us of our coat of innocency, and he persuades men to take up his trade: he tells men how bravely they shall live by thieving, and how they may catch an estate. And as Eve listened to the serpent's voice, so do they; and as birds of prey, live upon spoil and rapine.

Quest. 2. How many sorts of theft are there?

Res. 1. There is a stealing from God; and so they are thieves who rob any part of God's day from him. —Remember to keep holy the Sabbath-day— Not a part of the day only, but the whole day must be dedicated to God. And lest any should forget this, the Lord has prefixed a Memento, Remember. Therefore to cut God short, and after morning sacrifice, to spend the other part of the Sabbath in vanity and pleasure; this is spiritual thievery, it is to rob God of his due; and the very heathens will rise up in judgment against such Christians. For the heathens (as Macrobius notes) did observe a whole day to their false gods.

2. There is a stealing from others. (1.) A stealing away their souls; and so heretics are thieves: by robbing men of the truth, they rob them of their souls. (2.) A stealing away their money and goods from them. And under this head of stealing away others' money, there may be several arraigned for thieves.

(1.) The highway thief, who takes a purse contrary to the letter of this commandment (Leviticus 19:13): You shall not rob your neighbor. (Mark 10:19) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], Do not steal. This is not the violence which takes the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 11:12).

(2.) The house-thief, who purloins and filches out of his master's cash, or steals his wares and drugs. The Apostle says, Some have entertained angels into their houses unawares (Hebrews 13:2). But many masters have entertained thieves into their houses unawares. The house-thief is a hypocrite as well as a thief; he has demure looks, and pretends he is helping his master, when he only helps to rob him.

(3.) The thief that shrouds himself under law, as the unjust attorney or lawyer, who prevaricates and deals falsely with his client. This is to steal from the client. By deceit and prevarication the lawyer robs the client of his land, and may be the means to ruin his family. He is no better than a thief in God's account.

(4.) The church-thief, or pluralist, who holds several benefices, but seldom or never preaches to the people: he gets the golden fleece, but lets his flock starve. (Ezekiel 34:2) Woe be to the shepherds of Israel. Ver. 8. They feed themselves, and feed not my flock. These ministers will be indicted for thieves at God's bar.

(5.) The shop-thief, he steals in selling, (1.) who uses false weights and measures, and so steals from others what is their due. (Amos 5:8) Who make the Ephah small. The Ephah was a measure the Jews used in selling; they made the Ephah small, gave scant measure, which was plain stealing. (Hosea 12:7) The balances of deceit are in his hand. Men by making their weights lighter, make their accounts heavier. (2.) He steals in selling, who puts excessive prices on his commodities. He takes three times as much for a commodity as it cost him, or as it is worth. To over-reach others in selling, is to steal men's money from them. (Leviticus 19:13) You shall not defraud your neighbor, neither rob him. To defraud him is to rob him. This over-reaching others in selling, (which is a cunning way of stealing) is both against law and gospel. 1. It is against the law of God. (Leviticus 25:14) If you sell anything to your neighbor, you shall not oppress one another. And, 2. Against gospel. (1 Thessalonians 4:6) Let no man go beyond, or defraud his brother. It is stealing.

(6.) The usurer, who takes of others even to extortion: he seems to help another by letting him have money in his necessity, but gets him into bonds, and sucks out his very blood and marrow. I read of a woman whom Satan had bound (Luke 13:16). And truly, he is almost in as bad a condition whom the usurer has bound. The oppressing usurer is a robber. A usurer once asked a prodigal, when he would leave spending? Says the prodigal, Then I will leave spending what is my own, when you leave off stealing from others. Zacheus was an extortioner, and after his conversion, he made restitution (Luke 19:8). He thought all he got by extortion was theft.

(7.) The feoffee in trust, who has the orphan's estate committed to him: he is deputed to be his guardian, and manage his estate for him; and he curtails the estate, and gets a fleece out of it for himself, and wrongs the orphan. This is a thief. This is worse than taking a purse, because he betrays his trust, which is the highest piece of treachery and injustice.

(8.) The borrower, who borrows money from others with an intention never to pay them again. (Psalm 37:21) The wicked borrows and pays not again. What is it but thievery to take money and goods from others, and not restore them again? The Prophet Elisha bade the widow sell her oil, and pay her debts, and then live upon the rest (2 Kings 4:7).

(9.) & last. The last sort of thief is the receiver of stolen goods. The receiver, if he is not the principal, yet he is accessory to the theft, and the law makes him guilty. The thief steals the money, and the receiver holds the sack to put it in. The root would die if it were not watered; and thievery would cease, if it were not encouraged by the receiver. I am apt to think he who does not scruple to take stolen goods into his house, would as little scruple to take a purse.

Quest. What are the aggravations of this sin of stealing?

Resp. 1. To steal when one has no need. To be a rich thief.

2. To steal sacrilegiously. To devour things set apart to holy uses. It is a snare to the man who devours that which is holy (Proverbs 20:25). Such a one was Dionysius, who robbed the temple, and took away the silver vessels.

3. To commit the sin of theft against checks of conscience, and examples of God's justice; this is like the dye to the wool, it does dye the sin of a crimson color.

4. To rob the widow and orphan (Exodus 22:22). You shall not afflict the widow or fatherless: Peccatum clamans: If they cry to me I will surely hear them.

5. To rob the poor. How did David disdain that the rich man should take away the poor man's lamb! As the Lord lives he shall surely die (2 Samuel 12:5). What is the enclosing of commons, but robbing of the poor?

3. There is a stealing from a man's self. A man may be a thief to himself.

Quest. How so?

Resp. 1. By niggardliness. The niggard is a thief, he steals from himself, in that he does not allow himself what is fitting. He thinks that lost which is bestowed upon himself. He robs himself of necessaries. A man to whom God has given riches, yet God gives him not power to eat thereof (Ecclesiastes 6:2). He gluts his chest and starves his belly. He is like the ass that is loaded with gold, but feeds upon thistles. He robs himself of that which God allows him. This is indeed to be punished with riches; to have an estate, and want a heart to take the comfort of it, this man is a thief to himself.

2. A man may be a thief to himself, and rob himself by prodigality, namely, wasting his estate. The prodigal lavishes gold out of the bag; he is like Crates the philosopher, who threw his gold into the sea. The prodigal boils a great estate to nothing. This is to be a thief to himself, to spend away that estate from himself, which might conduce to the comfort of life.

3. He is a thief to himself, by idleness, when he misspends his time. To spend one's hours in pleasure and vanity, this is to rob himself of that precious time which God has given him to work out salvation. Time is a rich commodity, because on the well spending this present time, a happy eternity depends. He that spends his time idly and vainly, is a thief to himself; he robs himself of his golden seasons, and by consequence of salvation.

4. A man may be a thief to himself by suretyship. Be not you one of them that are sureties for debt (Proverbs 22:26): the creditor comes upon the surety for debt, and so by paying another's debt he is a thief to himself, he undoes himself. Let not any man say, he should have been counted unkind, if he had not entered into bonds for his friend. Better your friend count you unkind, than all men count you unwise. Lend another what you can spare; or rather, give him if he needs, but never be a surety. It is no wisdom for a man so to help another, as to undo himself. This is to rob himself and his family.

Use 1. It confutes the doctrine of community; that all things are common, and one man has a right to another's estate. The Scripture confutes it. When you come into the standing corn of your neighbor's, you shall not move a sickle to your neighbor's corn (Deuteronomy 23:25). Property must be observed. God has set this eighth commandment as a hedge about a man's estate, and this hedge cannot be broken without sin. If all things are common, then there is no theft, and so this commandment were in vain.

Use 2. It reproves such as live upon stealing. Instead of living by faith, they live by their shifts. The Apostle exhorts, that every man eat of his own bread (2 Thessalonians 3:12). The thief does not eat of his own bread, but of another's. If there are any who are guilty of this sin, let them labor to recover out of the snare of the devil by repentance, and let them show their repentance by restitution. Non remittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum. Aug. Without restitution no remission. If I have taken away any thing from any man unjustly, I restore four-fold (Luke 19:8). It may suffice to restore ill-gotten goods by one's own hand, or by a proxy. Better a thousand times restore goods unlawfully gotten, than to stuff one's pillow with thorns, and have guilt trouble one's conscience upon a death-bed.

Use 3. Exhort. To all to take heed of this sin of thieving; it is a sin against the light of nature. Some may go to excuse this sin. Hear the thief's plea: It is a coarse wool will take no dye; and a bad sin indeed that has no excuse. I am (says one) grown low in the world, and trading is bad, and I have no other way to a livelihood.

Resp. 1. This shows a great distrust of God, as if he could not provide for you without your sin. 2. This shows sin is gotten to a great height, that because a man is low in the world, therefore he will Acheronta movere, go to the devil for a livelihood. Abraham would not have it said, that the king of Sodom had made him rich (Genesis 14:23). O let it never be said, that the devil has made you rich! 3. You ought not to undertake any action which you cannot pray for a blessing upon: but if you live on thieving, you cannot pray for a blessing upon stolen goods. Therefore take heed of this sin. Lucrum in arca, damnum in conscientia. Aug. Take heed of getting the world with the loss of heaven. To dissuade all from this horrid sin, consider,

(1.) Thieves are the caterpillars of the earth, enemies to civil society.

(2.) God hates them. In the law the cormorant was unclean (Leviticus 11:17), because a thievish devouring creature, a bird of prey, by which God showed his hatred of this sin.

(3.) The thief is a terror to himself, he is always in fear. Psalm 53:5: There were they in great fear — true of the thief. Guilt breeds fear. If he hears but the shaking of a tree, his heart shakes. It was said of Cataline, He was afraid of every noise. If a briar does but take hold of a thief's garment, he is afraid it is the officer to apprehend him — and fear has torment in it (1 John 4:18).

(4.) The judgments which follow this sin. Achan the thief was stoned to death (Joshua 7), and Zechariah 5:2: What do you see? And I said, A flying roll. Verse 3: This is the curse that goes over the face of the earth, I will bring it forth, says the Lord, and it shall enter into the house of the thief. Fabius, a Roman Censor, condemned his own son to die for theft. Thieves die with ignominy, the ladder is their preferment. And there's a worse thing than death — while they rob others of money, they rob themselves of salvation.

Quest. What is to be done to avoid stealing?

Response 1. Live in a calling. Ephesians 4:28: Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands, etc. Such as stand idle, the Devil hires them, and puts them into the pilfering trade. An idle person tempts the Devil to tempt him.

2. Be contented with the estate God has given you. Hebrews 13:5: Be content with such things as you have. Theft is the daughter of avarice. Study contentment. Believe that condition best which God has carved out to you. God can bless that little meal in the barrel. We shall not need these things long; we shall carry nothing out of the world with us but our winding sheet. If we have but enough to bear our charges to heaven, it is sufficient.