Sunday opprefs an hired Servant that is poor and needy. XII. At his Day thou shalt give him his Hire, neither Shall the Sun go down upon it, for he is poor, and fetteth his Heart upon it; left he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be Sin unto thee. This is one of those loud clamorous Sins which will not ceafe crying, 'till it bring down God's Vengeance; and therefore, though thou haft no Juftice to thy poor Brother, yet have at least fo much Mercy to thyfelf, as not to pull down Judgments on thee, by thus wronging him.

Stealing abe Goods

of our Neigh bour

SUNDAY XII.

Of Theft Stealing Of Deceit in Truft, in
Traffick; Of Reftitution, &c.

Sect. I.

T

HE fecond Part of Theft, is, The taking from our Neighbour that which is already in his Poffeffion; and this may be done either more violently and openly, or elfe more clofely and flily, the firft is, the manner of thofe that rob on the Way, or plunder Houfes, where by Force they take the Goods of their Neighbour; the other is, the way of the pilfering Thief, that takes away a Man's Goods unknown to him; I fhall not difpute which of thefe is the worst, 'tis enough that they are both fuch Acts of Injuftice,

juftice, as make Men odious to God, unfit Sunday for humane Society, and betray the Actors XII. to the greatest Mischiefs, even in this World, Death itself being by Law appointed the Reward of it; and there are few that follow this Trade long, but at laft meet with that Fruit of it. I am fure, 'tis Madness for any to believe he fhall always Steal fecurely; for he is to contend with the Industry of all those whom he fhall thus injure, whofe Loffes will quicken their Wits for the finding him out; and, which is infinitely more, he is to ftruggle with the Juftice of God, which doth ufually purfue fuch Men to Destruction, even in this World; witness the many ftrange Dif coveries that have been made of the craftieft Thieves. But, however, if he were fecure from the Vengeance here, I am fure nothing but Repentance and Reformation can fecure him from the Vengeance of it hereafter.

And

now when thefe Dangers are weigh'd, 'twill fure appear, that the Thief makes a pitiful Bargain; he Steals his Neighbour's Money, or Cattle, and, in exchange for it, he muft pay his Life, or his Soul, perhaps both; and if the whole World be too mean a Price for a Soul, as He tells us, Mark viii. 36. who best knew the Value of them, having himself bought them, what a ftrange Madness it is, to barter them away for every petty Trifle, as many do, who have got fuch an Habit of Stealing, that not the meaneft, worthless Thing can

Sunday escape their Fingers? Under this Head of XII. Theft, may be ranked the Receivers of Stoln

Deceit.

In Trust.

mon rate.

Goods, whether thofe that take them, as Partners in the Theft, or those that buy them, when they know or believe they are Stoln. This many (that pretend much to abhor Theft) are guilty of, when they can, by it, Buy the Thing a little Cheaper than the comAnd here also comes in the concealing any Goods a Man finds of his Neighbour's, which whofoever reftores not, if he know or can learn out the Owner, is not better than a Thief, for he with-holds from his Neighbour that which properly belongs to him: And fure 'twill not be uncharitable to fay, That he that will do this, would likewife commit the groffer Theft, were he by that no more in Danger of Law, than in this he is.

The third Part of Injustice, is Deceit; and in that there may be as many Acts, as there are Occafions of Intercourfe and Dealing between Man and Man.

A

2. It were impoffible to name them all, but I think they will be contained under thefe two general Deceits, in Matters of Truft, and in Matters of Traffick or Bargaining: Unless it be that of Gaming, which therefore here, by the way, I must tell you, is as much a Fraud and Deceit, as any of the reft.

3. He that deceives a Man, in any Truft that is committed to him, is guilty of a great Injuftice, and that the moft treacherous fort

of

of one, it is the joyning of two great Sins in Sunday one, Defrauding, and Promise-breaking; for XII. in all Trufts, there is a Promise imply'd, if not exprefs'd; for the very accepting of the Truft, contains under it a Promife of Fidelity: These Trufts are broken fometimes to the Living, fometimes to the Dead; to the Living there are many ways of doing it, according to the feveral kinds of the Truft; fometimes a Truft is more general, like that of Potiphar to Jofeph, Gen. xxxix. 4. a Man commits to another all that he hath; and thus Guardians of Children, and fometimes Stewards, are intrufted; fometimes again it is more limited and reftrained to fome one special Thing: A Man intrufts another to Bargain or Deal for him in fuch a Particular, or he puts fome one Thing into his Hands, to Manage and Dispose: Thus among Servants, 'tis ufual for one to be intrufted with one part of the Mafter's Goods, and another with another part of them. Now in all these, and the like Cafes, whofoever acts not for him that intrufts him, with the fame Faithfulness that he would for himfelf, but fhall either carelefly lose, or prodigally imbezle the Things committed to him, or elfe convert them to his own ufe, he is guilty of this great Sin of betraying a Trust to the Living. In like manner, he that being intrufted with the Execution of a Dead Man's Teftament, acts not according to the known Intention of the Dead Man, but enriches him

felf

Sunday felf by what is affign'd to others, he is guilty XII. of this Sin, in refpect of the Dead; which is

In Traffick

fo much the greater, by how much the Dead have no means of Remedy and Redress, as the Living may have. It is a kind of Robbing of Graves, which is a Theft, of which Men naturally have fuch a Horror, that he must be a very harden'd Thief, that can attempt it. But either of thefe Frauds are made yet more hainous, when either God or the Poor are immediately concern'd in it; that is, when any Thing is committed to a Man, for the Úfes either of Piety or Charity This adds Sacrilege to both the Fraud and the Treachery, and fo gives him Title to all thofe Curfes that attend thofe feveral Sins, which are fo heavy, that he that for the prefent Gain will adventure on them, makes as ill, nay, a much worse Bargain, than Gebazi, 2 Kings v. 27. who by getting the Raiment of Naaman, got his Leprofy too.

4. The fecond fort of Fraud, is, in Matters of Traffick and Bargain, wherein there may be Deceit both in the Seller and Buyer; that of the Seller, is commonly either in concealing the Faults of the Commodity, or elfe in over-rating it.

The Seller's 5. The ways of concealing its Faults, are Concealing ordinarily thefe; either, firft, by denying that he Faults it hath any fuch Fault, nay, perhaps, comWare. mending it for the direct contrary Quality;

of his

and this is down-right Lying, and fo adds that