Ans. 1st. The internal causes are : I. Unbelief. A man hath an high distrust of God's providence : " Can God furnish a ta- ble in the wilderness ?" Ps. Ixxviii. 19. So saith the unbeliever, " Can God spread a table for me? No, l>e cannot." Therefore he is resolved he will spread a table for himself, but it shall be at other men's cost, and both first and second course shall be
served in with stolen goods. — 2. Covetous- ness. The Greek word for covetousness signifies 'an immoderate desire of getting,' — this is the root of theft. A man covets more than his own, and this itch of cove- tousness makes him scratch what he can from another. Achan's covetous humour made him steal the wedge of gold, which wedge did cleave asunder his soul from God, Joshua vii. 21.
A. 2. The external cause of theft is, Sa- tan's solicitation : Judas was a thief, John xii. 6. How came he to be a thief? " Sa- tiin entered into him," John xiii. 27. The devil is the great master-thief, he robbed us of our coat of innocency, and he per- suades men to take up his trade; he tells men how bravely they shall live by thiev- ing, and how they may catch an estate. And as Eve listened to the serpent's voice,
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OF THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT.
so do they ; and, as birds of prey, live upon spoil and rapine.
Quest. 2. Hoiu many sorts of thefts are
there ?
Ans. 1. There is stealing from God; and Bo 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 dedi- cated to God. And lest any should forget this, the Lord hath prefixed a memento, *' remember." Therefore to cut God short, and, after morning-sacrifice, to spend the other part of the sabbath in vanity and plea- sure, this is spiritual thievery, — 'tis to rob God of his due, — and the very heathens will rise up in judgment against such Chris- tians ; for the heathens (as Macrobius notes) did observe a whole day to their false gods.
A. 2. There is a stealing from others : 1st, A stealing away their souls; and so here- tics are thieves, by robbing men of the truth, they rob them of their souls. 2dly, A stealing away their money and goods from them ; and under this head of stealing away other's money, there may be several arraigned for thieves.
1. Tlie high way -thief who takes a purse contrary to the letter of this commandment, L<!V. xix. 13., " Thou shall not defi'aud thy neiglibour." Mark x. 19., "Do not steal." This is not the violence which takes the *' kingdom of heaven," Mat. xi. 12.
2. The house-thief, who purloins and filclieth out of liis master's cash, or steals liis wares and diugs. The apostle saith, " Some have entertained angels unawares," lleb. xiii. 2., but many masters have en- tertained thieves into their houses una- \-/ares. Tlie house-thief is an hypocrite, as uell as a tliief ; lie hath demure looks, and pretends he is helping his master, when he only helps to rol) him.
3. The thief that shrouds himself under law, as the unjust attorney or lawyer, who prevaricates and deals falsely with his cli- ent. 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 ji thief in God's account.
4. The church-thief or pluralist, who holds several benefices, but seldom or never
preacheth to the people : he gets the gol- den fleece, but lets his flock starve, Ezek. xxxiv. 2., " Wo be to the shepherds of Israel !" v. 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 useth false weights and measures, and so steals from others what is their due. Amos viii. 5., " Making 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, Hos. xii. 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 pnces on his commodities. He takes thrice as much for a commodity as it cost him, or as it is worth ; to over-reach others in sel- ling, is to steal men's money from them, Lev. xix. 13., " Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him." To defraud him is to rob him; this over-reaching o- thcrs in selling — which is a cunning way of stealing — is both against law and gospel. (1.) It is against the law of God, Lev. xxv. 14., " If thou sell ought to thy neighbour, ye shall not oppress one another." And, (2.) against gospel, 1 Thess. iv. 6., " Let no man go beyond, and defraud his brother." It is stealing,